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Human Computer Interaction Virtual Library
Old-fashioned displays
The place to start with human-machine interaction is, of course, computer displays. I was struck by the poverty of imagination in the computer displays, in particular, the lack of graphical interfaces -- all those tedious numbers and tables, relieved only by a few graphs and some stick figures (see chapter 15). In the computer science world of 1966, future machines seem to have been envisioned as more of the same -- bigger, more powerful perhaps, but nonetheless more of the same. That's not how it turned out. Our present-day graphics and machine interaction are far superior to what 2001 predicted. The ability of computers to provide detailed, three-dimensional, dynamic visualizations of scientific and engineering data structures and phenomena is one of computer science's most impressive advances. By comparison, the simple text and skeleton-figure displays in the movie are primitive.
Looking at human aspects of computer use in 2001, it seems clear that the designers of the film's machines were technical folks -- engineers and computer programmers. Today, we recognize that machines designed for people should be designed by those who understand people: psychologists, linguists, anthropologists. The new field of human-computer interaction is focused on appropriate ways of interacting with machines. As a result, we know that presenting information as endless tables of numbers is most definitely not the most meaningful approach. Graphic displays can present complex relationships simply and use a single picture to convey information with precision. Human perception can interpret such a display without the laborious read-remember-and-compare operations required to make sense of tables of numbers.
In a similar fashion, modern display technology is geared to providing people with good conceptual models and understanding of information. Notice, for example, the impoverished information available to the crew when HAL informs them that a transmitter module is on the verge of failure: a picture showing the location of the module and a few lines of computer code. David and Frank should have asked for evidence showing the basis of the prediction. Instead, they have to take HAL's word for it.
By the 1960s, we already had a wealth of information about designing
systems for people, even though the field of human-computer
interaction, and the related fields of cognitive ergonomics and
cognitive engineering, did not yet exist on a formal basis. The
consultants for 2001, however, were clearly technical experts, not
people experts. Look again at those display screens: Why, they even
display computer language codes -- as if they would help! Such
simple, low-level statements could not tell the astronauts anything
useful. Real computer programs are huge and contain millions of
commands, so showing a line or two of code is most unhelpful. Knowing
that the machine is executing some detailed command doesn't help users
understand what a machine is doing: what they really need to
see is the goal stack -- the list of goals the system is trying to
accomplish, and what methods it is using to accomplish them. Mind you,
the concept of the goal stack was unknown in 1968, so the only reason
for displaying the codes is stylistic. The result is a typical dilemma
when art tries to represent life: the producer had to make the movie
seem authentic by portraying the situation unauthentically.
The Cockpits of the Space Shuttles
On the space shuttle, the piloting arrangements follow the style of
airplanes: two pilots command the ship sitting side by side looking
out of the windshield and hand-manipulating the controls at landing
and takeoff. The film's main advance is using only two pilots; when
the film was made, most airplanes had three crew members. Although the
film shows a glass cockpit, like those in today's aircraft -- with
multiple display screens instead of individual instruments -- the
information displayed seems inappropriate. Our most advanced planes
(e.g., the Boeing 777) do a lot better today. Then again, if you look
closely at the displays, you can see that they don't seem to be made
for the pilots: they are positioned so that we, the movie audience,
can see them but are not readily visible to the pilots. That's O.K.,
because the images displayed aren't directly relevant to the control
process anyway. The various computer displays in the movie are meant
to convey realism, not to be real.