Taming HAL Designing Interfaces Beyond 2001 Asaf Degani
TAMING HAL: DESIGNING INTERFACES BEYOND 2001 Copyright Asaf Degani, 2003 S o f t c o v e r r e p r i n t o f t h e h a r d c o v e r 1 s t e d i t i o n 2 0 0 3 9 7 8-0 - 3 1 2-2 9 5 7 4-5 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published 2004 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS. Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. I S B N 9 7 8-1 - 3 4 9-3 8 8 1 4-1 I S B N 9 7 8-1 - 4 0 3 9-8 2 5 2-0 ( e B o o k ) D O I 1 0. 1 0 5 7 / 9 7 8 1 4 0 3 9 8 2 5 2 0 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Degani, Asaf. Taming Hal : designing interfaces beyond 2001 / Asaf Degani. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. User interfaces (Computer systems) I. Title. QA76.9.U83D45 2004 005.4 3 dc21 2003054934 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Design by Autobookcomp First edition: February, 2004 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents Acknowledgements v Introduction 1 Part One Foundations 1. Machines and Maps 11 2. Users and Maps 21 3. Non-determinism in User Machine Interaction 35 4. The Crash of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 49 Part Two Characteristics of Machines and Principles of User Interaction 5. Characteristics of Machines and Frugal Air-Conditioners 69 6. Cordless Phones and Population Stereotypes 79 7. VCRs and Consistency Problems 88 8. The Grounding of the Royal Majesty 100 9. Walk-in Interfaces and Internet Applications 121 10. Navigation and Internet Interaction 135 Part Three User Interaction with Automated Control Systems 11. On a Winter s Night 149 12. Incorrect Blood Pressure 163 13. Procedures, Synchronization, and Automation 177 14. Automation in Modern Aircraft 200 15. Automation, Protections, and Tribulations 214 16. Verification of User-Machine Interaction 238 17. Beyond the Interface 256 18. Conclusions and Observations 274 Notes 283 Index 305
To Earl and Gail
Acknowledgements Writing is a lonely process. The dark and fluorescent early mornings, the long dim nights, the foregone weekends, and the undulating pressure to get it out. That s what it was like for me yet I did not do it all alone. These acknowledgements mark both the beginning and end of this book. This book could not have been written without the help and support of my good friend and colleague, Michael Heymann. Many of the underlying concepts and ideas presented here are the results of our long and close collaboration; the last eight chapters in this book are the product of our mutual work on formal aspects of human-machine interaction. Michael wrote many sections in this book and had seminal impact on the approach and ideas presented. He has been with me throughout the development of this book from first proposal to final draft, helping me with the details of each chapter and providing insights, encouragement, and invaluable support. I am grateful to Earl Wiener for his mentorship and friendship, and for giving me the necessary foundations to do this work. With his wisdom and mindfulness, he helped me grow and set me on a path of scientific research. I learned a lot from Earl and received much support and generosity through many years. The groundwork for the concepts described in this book, as well as many of the devices and examples presented in chapters 5 12, comes from my dissertation work under the tutelage of Professor Alex Kirlik. With his engineering and ecological approach to understanding and describing human-machine systems, Alex introduced me to his unique way of thinking. There, at Georgia Tech, I was also influenced by Christine Mitchell and her approach to modeling human-machine systems, as well as by the work of Al Miller. These ideas, concepts, and modeling approaches run as a thread throughout this book. I would like to thank Michael Shafto for continual and gracious support during many years of work, as well as for his guidance and foresight in laying out the scope of my research plans. The initial ideas and some portions of this book were written while I was a researcher with the San Jose University Foundation. Kevin Jordan provided nourishment, comradeship, and support for many years. I further developed my modeling approach and learned to present it in a simplified way while teaching a seminar on modeling at U.C. Berkeley. I thank
vi Acknowledgements the enthusiastic students of that graduate class for helping me develop these ideas; their comments and involvement allowed me to refine my ideas and use them in chapters 1 4. Throughout the years, I have had the good fortune of teaching and working with many students on some of the topics presented in this book. Jim Lockhart, Ramak Asgari, Nancy Johnson, David Austin, Maria Romera, and Meeko Oishi gave me an opportunity to better understand my own work, and my interaction with each and every one of them has taught me valuable lessons. Maria Romero did the initial work on the visitor registration system in chapter 9 and suggested the example of the ceiling fan in chapter 1. David Austin was instrumental in doing the analysis on the VCR system described in chapter 7 and has helped me document some of technical details of the avionics systems described in chapters 13, 15, 16, and 17. The traffic light and autoland examples in chapter 17 were done in collaboration with Meeko Oishi and her advisor, Claire Tomlin. I would like to thank Rowena Morrison for helping me from the very beginning to shape and reshape the message and scope of this book and then coming back toward the end and helping me pull it together. The title of the book is her idea, and she provided me with much substance and encouragement along the way. Doug Tamkin also provided much needed editorial support. I am grateful to Smadar Shiffman for painstakingly going over the entire manuscript and helping me see places that needed further elaboration and expansion. Tony Andre gave me important insights and reviewed the initial draft of this book. I want to thank Kathleen Danielson for teaching me how to write from the heart. Cai Baker helped me find my own voice and reviewed early chapters. Mark Igler and Jennifer Cray reviewed early versions of the manuscript and gave me the benefit of their journalistic experiences. Martha Amarm, a dear friend, provided much needed support and helped me navigate the unchartered waters of agents, publishers, and the book writing process. I want to thank my literary agent, Ed Knappman, for his encouragement, especially at times when the stack of 20 some rejection letters seemed as tall and cold as Mount Everest. I am grateful to Toby Wahl, my editor at Palgrave, for his interest in humanautomation interaction and user interface design and for holding the book together as a whole while I was busy with the details. He has helped me immensely to set the tone and feel of this book and provided necessary guidance as well as detailed editorial work. Alan Bradshaw took the manuscript and turned it into a real book. Robert Mindelzun helped me along the way with medical topics, bookwriting dilemmas, and reviewed the final page proofs of the book. John Moses wrote several sections in the maritime chapter (8), and shared with me his experiences in piloting ships around Cape Cod and through the Boston Traffic lanes. My appreciation to Tracy Golden for continual support, an illuminating review of the maritime chapter (8), and sharp insights that helped me in the process of writing the Internet chapters (9 and 10). Michael Dornheim gave
Acknowledgements vii me further insights into the cruise control system discussed in chapter 11. I would like to thank David Gaba for guiding me during the analysis of the blood pressure machine in chapter 12; and Assaf Morag, Alex Targ, and Oren Abramson for reviewing that chapter and sharing with me their medical expertise. Immanuel Barshi provided aeronautical information that was used in the procedures chapter (13), and was a companion for many long walks and fruitful discussions. I owe thanks to David Simmons for insights about the topic of priming, which is discussed in chapter 13. Loukia Loukopoulos provided a detailed review of chapter 13. Randy Mumaw, Mike Moody, and Curt Graeber were of great assistance and support in my research into cockpit automation and verification of interfaces which is summarized in chapters 16 and 17. Lance Sherry offered me valuable insights about the inner workings of the automated cockpit that is described in chapter 14 and the test flight accident of chapter 15. Jimmy Holmes and David Austin provided me with their flying expertise that helped me refine many of the aviation chapters. John Lee reviewed the discussion on trust in automation, and Ben Berman shared with me his familiarity with the aviation accidents described in chapter 17. Bill Sundstrom provided insights into the history of the Luddites. I owe much to Kathy Abbott for introducing me to the world of aircraft certification, and the members of the joint FAA/JAA Flight Guidance Systems Harmonization Working Group for giving me a place to develop, test, and present some of the analytical methodologies described in this book. I wish to thank Ehud Krauss, Lisa Burnett, and the entire Zohar crew for taking me in and giving me an environment to dance away, at least for a while, from the allconsuming process of writing. I would also like to thank the following individuals for their support, generosity, and encouragement along the way Yehuda Manor, Ev Palmer, Vic Lebacqz, Todd Callantine, George Meyer, Helene Vencill, Alan Price, Rose Ashford, Lloyd Sauls, Mark Tuschman, and Helen Tait. Last but far from least is the acknowledgement which is due to my family: My dad for his love of the written word and my mom for her love and touch of the paint brush; I cherish both. The Twelfth century Sufi poet Farid A-Din Attar, in his Congregation of the Birds, wrote that whoever undertakes this journey should have a thousand hearts so that he can sacrifice one at every moment. It has not been an easy undertaking for me, and I thank my family for journeying with me along this toll road, accepting and enduring the many sacrifices that it entailed. My companion in life, Hila, has been a true light source, from the buds of an idea, through the fervor, upheavals, and difficulties that this process demands, all the way to completion and arriving at shore. Her understanding and (sometimes therapeutic) advice sustained me. Acknowledgement is also due my two daughters, Nitsan and Gal, for observing and tolerating this process that at times deprived them of attention and robbed them of precious time. Their inner strength and continual presence gave me indispensable encouragement and balance.
viii Acknowledgements In writing this book I had to collect, assemble, draw, and describe hundreds of pieces of information. Knowing myself, and despite many reviews and inspections by others, I m sure that a few errors have crept in. In this book I analyze many automated systems that either had problems or failed. I believe it is extremely beneficial to examine and understand design flaws, errors, mistakes, and resulting accidents and that if we look deeper we can learn important lessons that will prevent them in the future. In general, I have avoided naming manufacturers and those involved in the design of systems that have problems. With the exception of one or two examples, all the information used and presented in this book is publicly available and can be found in the academic and technical literature. In the endnotes for each chapter, I provide the source of the information as well as books, reports, articles, and historical facts pertaining to the topic. Finally, many of the topics discussed in this book, especially when it comes to the future of human-automation interaction and the contributing factors to some of the accidents described, are and will be debatable for years to come. I hope this book will help those who are interested in the topic of human-automation interaction by providing some light on an everyday, yet rather complex, problem. To this end, the descriptions, analysis, interpretations, and opinions presented here are solely mine and do not represent the views of any group, professional society, or any federal agency.