While it can be difficult to find the "first" usability study we can find interests in usability that can be dated at least to classic authors.
In fact usability can be related to Ergonomics, Human Factors and Human Computer Interaction studies, as these disciplines take into account the interaction between the human and the artefacts.
1.2.1 Ergonomics
We can define Ergonomics as the study of the design and arrangement of equipments so that people can interact with the equipments in healthy, comfortable, and efficient manner.
Ergonomic studies (and the word itself) are a relative new branch of science, but an overview of the historical precursors can show how the interest on the subject has ancient roots.
Greek and Roman authors were already aware of the problems related to Ergonomics, but we cannot find a systematic exposition of the issues.
The environment and its relation to worker health were recognized as early as the fourth century BC when Hippocrates noticed lead toxicity in the mining industry. In the first century AD, Pliny the Elder perceived health risks for people working with zinc and sulphur. He devised a face mask made from an animal bladder to protect workers from exposure to dust and lead fumes. In the second century AD, Galen accurately described the pathology of lead poisoning and recognized the hazardous exposures of copper miners to acid mists.
In the Middle Ages, guilds worked at assisting sick workers and their families. In 1556, Agricola advanced the science of industrial hygiene even further when, in his book De Re Metallica, he described the diseases of
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miners and prescribed preventive measures. The book included suggestions for mine ventilation and worker protection, discussed mining accidents, and described diseases associated with mining occupations such as silicosis.
The first systematic study in the Ergonomics field was held by Bernardino Ramazzini (1633-1714), commonly recognized as the father of work studies.
It is not known when Ramazzini commenced to work on his "De morbis artificum diatribe" (Diseases of Workers), but it is known that he lectured on this topic as early as in 1690. Published in 1700, this is the first comprehensive work on occupational diseases, and a milestone in the history of occupational medicine.
"De morbis artificum diatribe" outlined the health hazards of irritating chemicals, dust, metals, and other abrasive agents encountered by workers in 52 occupations. Among them were miners, potters, masons, wrestlers, farmers, nurses, soldiers, and many others. He even discussed the topic of overtaxed minds among "learned men". In discussing the aetiology, treatment, and prevention of these diseases Ramazzini often went back to Hippocrates, Celsus, and Galen, and, after summarizing their observations, related his own experience with the various diseases.
Three centuries in advance from ergonomic studies, he already pointed out the causes of workers illness.
"Two are, in my opinion, the causes that lead to the several and serious diseases of the workers. Diseases provoked from that same job that would have to give they the bread. The first cause, the more important, is represented from the property of the employed
substances, that produce gas and toxic powders and induce
particular diseases; the second one is represented from those violent movements and those not natural attitudes for which the same
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structure of the body turns out vitiated, so that with the time serious diseases arrive."
Similarly, it is interesting reading his description of the illnesses connected to clerical work:
"The maladies that affect the clerks arise from three causes: first, constant sitting; secondly, incessant movement of the hand and always in the same direction; and thirdly, the strain on the mind . . ."
This three hundred years old description still fits well and describes with precision the unhealthy condition of workers using computer terminals.
1.2.2 Human Factors
Different definitions of human factors have been proposed by researches.
The following are some definitions that capture different aspects1.
• "Human factors are the discipline that tries to optimise the relationship between the technology and the human" (Kantowitz and Sorkin, 1983).
• "The central approach of human factors is the application of relevant information about human characteristics and behaviour to the design of objects, facilities, and environments that people uses "
(Grandjean, 1980).
• "Human factors discovers and applies information about human behaviour, abilities, limitations, and other characteristics to the design of tools, machines, systems, tasks, jobs, and environments for productive, safe, comfortable, and effective human use "
(Chapanis, 1985).
1 Quotes were retrieved from http://webword.com/whatishumanfactors.html on August 1 2003.
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• "The goal of human factors is to apply knowledge in designing systems that work, accommodating the limits of human performance and exploring the advantages of the human operator in the process" (Wickens, 1984).
Human factors go well beyond what these definitions. Human factors are a data-based, rigorous discipline with practitioners from a variety of backgrounds doing all kinds of works and making products, systems, and web sites easier to use and easier to learn.
1.2.3 Human Computer Interaction
The term "Human Computer Interaction" (HCI) is commonly intended interchangeable with terms as "Man Machine Interaction" (MMI),
"Computer Human Interaction" (CHI) and "Human Machine Interaction"
(HMI).
In the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) web site (http://sigchi.org/cdg/) we can find a satisfying working definition of Human Computer Interaction:
"Human-Computer Interaction is a discipline concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use and with the study of major phenomena surrounding them."
Human Computer Interaction is an interdisciplinary area, that is emerging as a specialty concern within several disciplines, each with different emphases: computer science (application design and engineering of human interfaces), psychology (application of theories of cognitive processes and the empirical analysis of user behaviour), sociology and anthropology (interactions between technology, work, and organization), and industrial design (interactive products).
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Regardless of the chosen definition of computer science, HCI is clearly to be included as a part of it and is as much a part of computer science as it is a part of any other discipline.
If, for example, we adopt Newell, Perlis, and Simon's (1967) definition of computer science as "the study of computers and the major phenomena that surround them" then the interaction of people and computers and the uses of computers are certainly parts of those phe nomena. If, on the other hand, we take the recent ACM (Denning et al., 1988) report's definition as
"the systematic study of algorithmic processes that describe and transform information: their theory, analysis, design, efficiency, implementation, and application" then those algorithmic processes clearly include interaction with users just as they include interaction with other computers over networks.
Because Human Computer Interaction studies an human and a machine in communication, it draws from supporting knowledge on both the machine and the human side. On the machine side, techniques in computer graphics, operating systems, programming languages, and development environments are relevant. On the human side, communication theory, graphic and industrial design disciplines, linguistics, social sciences, cognitive psychology, and human performance are relevant. In addition, of course, engineering and design methods are relevant.
A related set of developments were attempts to pursue "man-machine symbiosis" (Licklider, 1960), the "augmentation of human intellect"
(Engelbart, 1963), and the "Dynabook" (Kay and Goldberg, 1977). Several building blocks for Human Computer Interaction come out of this line of development. Some of these building blocks include the mouse, bitmapped displays, personal computers, windows, the desktop metaphor, and point-and-click editors (Baecker and Buxton, 1987).
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According to Booth (1989), although computer technology has made great advances over the past 40 years, the designer’s knowledge and understanding of the user has not significatively changed.
Human Computer Interaction is today an important research issue, as, according to designers and developers are no longer representative of most users. The users [of computer systems] are no longer mainly computer professionals, but are mostly discretionary users. As a result, the designers are no longer typical of or equivalent to users; but the designers may not realize just how unique and therefore how unrepresentative they are.