Reading 2 - Tools in the Twenty-First Century

This chapter is divided into two parts. Considering the twenty-first-century tools it examines:

1. The impact they have on human cognitive abilities
2. The forms of interaction these tools support

Impact On Cognitive Abilities

We have been reading that once we have a grip on a tool, it disappears from the conscious mind until an error is made in the operation and a corrective measure needs to be taken. However, this does not seem to be true in all cases as it could also mean the removal of people from most parts of work. For example, in a Computer Numerically Controlled machine, which is just a digital machine as compared to traditional machines, the removal of the operator has the potential to remove the opportunity to exercise skill. A study by Endsley and Kiris demonstrates that a consequence is that the operator's performance deteriorates and it becomes difficult to make effective corrections if the system becomes unstable. A comparison of traditional and CNC machine and how it affects skills is given in the table below:

Question: Does automation inevitably lead to deskilling?

Not necessarily. A survey was conducted in several hundred companies that were using CNC in Germany. One conclusion drawn from the survey was that large companies concerned with mass production employed dedicated programmers because they afford to do so. Other, smaller companies, tended to hire for other roles (machine operators, setter/fitter). Therefore, it is evident that the manner in which technology affects work is a consequence of the environment it is used apart from the design of the technology itself.

Question: Can we avoid deskilling despite it being dependent on the manner in which tech is used?

Perhaps. In a project funded by the European Union, a machining center was designed that not only supported CNC but also allowed manual control. If the machine was running automatically and the operator began to move the controls, the position and movement of controls could be recorded and stored as a program that could then be reproduced. This is similar to the teach-by-example of several industrial robots in which an operator would move the robot arm through the sequence of movements required to perform the task and that arm would replicate this sequence. Moley Robotics has developed a kitchen robot that uses the same principle of mimicking famous chefs' arm movements.

Key Takeaways:

• Automation doesn't necessarily mean mastery over a tool, it can also mean abstraction leading to deskilling.
• Deskilling can be avoided if the human remains involved in the functioning of a tool and only uses it as a means to improve/speed up the work rather than an instrument to completely rely on.

Forms of Modern Tools

Virtual Tools

Author discusses three forms that virtual tools can take:

1. Direct Manipulation - An object on the monitor can represent a either function or data storage which can then be directly manipulated through mouse pointer. For example a file icon represents a file and a save icon represents the function of saving it. Visual icons give users a better understanding of what is happening on system rather than textual commands.
2. Virtual Reality - The author seems skeptical about virtual reality without any other physical stimulus. He mentions a demonstration of 'piston stuffing' in engines through a virtual system and wonders if it really helps people to use a virtual hammer to perform the task. He thinks that games deploy sensory feedback as well with virtual reality and gives users better experience and improves the cognitive process.
3. Haptic Interfaces - The author likes the idea of kinaesthetic and tactile feedback to give the user the impression that they interacting with a physical object rather than virtual. He mentions the example of a force-feedback device (Phantom) to provide feedback to users practicing suturing. The results of using this device demonstrated that it reduced the time taken to complete the suturing task and increased the peak force application and improved the straightness of the stitch.

Key Takeaways:

• Some form of physical, tactile or kinaesthetic feedback improves user experience by giving them the feeling of interacting with a real physical object.
• It is difficult to design the feeling of virtual devices in every case.

Real Objects in Virtual Spaces

An approach to deal with the difficulty in providing real feedback from virtual experiences is to interface real objects with virtual worlds. The author explores the idea of Phicons i.e. physical icons which can be of three types:

1. Phicons that support interaction - Physical objects interfaced with computer systems to support functions that are reflected in the computer system once the user starts interacting with them.
2. Phicons that display information - Physical objects being used as some sort of indicator of activity. For instance, a wheel can be used to display network traffic. An increase in the wheel's speed demonstrates heavy traffic on the network.
3. Phicons that contain information - Smart cards or watches and badges that can be used to pay the fare, grant access to buildings contain personal digital information despite being physical objects. One interesting example is of a coffee mug that contains temperature sensors and indicates to other users by means of an LED that their colleague is having coffee and it might be a good time to have a meeting with them. IMO, that could be annoying for them though.

Key Takeaways from the Reading:

• Physical feedback, even in completely virtual worlds, can improve cognitive process and decrease the factor of deskilling that might arise due to automation of tools. This way virtual tools can behave in the same way as traditional tools.
• While there are several studies that indicate performance boost with such feedback, it is mostly a question of personal choice about how much control you want to give these devices over your personal data.