lASSIST Newsletter, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Winter 1978) RESODRCE SHARING THROUGH NETWORKS: PROBLEMS AND POTENTIALS FOR THE SOCIAL SCIENCE COMMUNITY Lorraine Borman Northwestern University ABSTRACT T tive gene that two purp to e user be t tool pone syst data such need tent his ter ral man mech ose : nsur com rans nt em, bas cap s, iai paper minal pur£0 y or anism 1) CO munit mitte The s nto which e spe abili utili of ti overviews s for acce se user-or the probl s: lirst provide f ntinuing s v; and 2) Q to a tu econd mech resource d would pro cific tuto ties, sy zation of mesharing th ssi ien ems eed yst pro or ani ata vid rm ste inf net e utiliz ng and m ted info inheren an inter back to em respo vide dat ial ser sm would bases e browsi g ana d m design ormation works wi ation anipu rmati t in actio the d nsi ve a on ving be t acces ng ca iagno will reso 11 no of CO lating on sys such u n moni esigne ness t how th both he int sible pabili Stic i not urces t be r mputer ne public d tem. T se could tor which rs of the o the va e system as a lear reduction by the c ties, CO nguiry fa be truly will not eached. twor ks ata bas he maio be all would inform rying n is used ning a of a t omputer ntext-s cilitie respons occur. via 1 es th r pre eviat serve ation eeds whic nd re utori info ensit s. ive and nterac- rough a raise is ed with a dual system of the h could farence al com- rmation ive and Without to user the po- INTRODUCTION Utilization of networking facil- ities to gain access to large scale computer systems and to public data base services has been increasing rapidly in the Seventies. He might, in fact, call this period the age of the data base, with hun- dreds of data bases being generated by various agencies for public con- sumption. The extent and success of network access to these re- sources by social scientists may depend, however, on the unified ef- forts of computer and information scientists, educators, psycholo- gists, linguists, data base produc- ers, and network operators. that nsa- not for cal, ing- the ica- say re- be- the osed re- data ers, rier e. Our thesis in thi while network access ble for many purpose grown to its fulles many reasons, some but others behaviora oriented. We will problems of hardware tions linkages here that they are rapi duced. The icformat havior and characte potential user commu of both experienced searchers, casual an base and computer may, however, be a to increased and sat s paper is is indispe s, it has t potential technologi 1 and learn not discuss and commun except to dly being ion seeking ristics of nity, comp and novice d frequent system us greater bar isfied usag The sharing of public data bases, accessed and manipulated by a general purpose data management system capable of providing trans- parent interfaces to specialized statistical, graphical and report generation packages, in a network environment, is the goal. A few problems immediately come to mind. The location of the terminal may be such that the user becomes sepa- rated from the computing center en- vironment and from needed user aids. These may be reference mate- rials, directories, and specialized technical documentation, or human contact with the computer operator, programmers, consultants, and sub- ject specialists. Automated system support should be available m an interactive mode, or on reguast from the terminal. The network it- self can be a useful communication medium to provide a summary of his- torical information of interest to the user. User supp active syste ronment beco tant. Some and off-line phone suppo mented, in all operatio problem are Neumann (197 prepared for Standards no of support c addressed in providing s needed on a basis, but a ering the ov of preservat storage capa Neumann cont interactive rial design, copy docum printing, a of user fee areas, tut feeaback, h Information group at th ort in auto ms in the n mes increas capabilit instructio rt have some degree nal networ as, thoug 3, p. 16) the Nation tes that "p apabilities an integr upport when highly ind t the same erall syst ion of pro city." Maj inues, sho language de integrat entation a nd further dback. T orial desig ave been st Systems a e Vogelbac mated etwor ingly ies r n an been , on ks. in a al Bu roper need ated and ividu time em ec cessi or in uld f sign, ion o nd explo wo of n an udied nd S k Co inter- k envi- impor- or on- d tele- imple- almost Several emerge. report reau of design s to be manner , where alistic consid- onomics ng and terest , ocus on tuto- f hard on-line itation these d user by the ervices mputing - 14 lASSIST Newsletter, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Winter 1978) Center, Northwestern University. Tutorial design is closely related to the problem of computer-aided instruction. A comment often heard (Nickerson, 1969, p. 12) and true to a large extent, is that the need of the future is not so much for computer-oriented people as for people- oriented computers. Neumann (1973, p. 17) points out that many authors in the field of man-termi- nal interaction are still "comput- er-oriented" people and that there is a need for inter-disciplinary efforts including computer science, linguistics, psychology, and other human-oriented disciplines. The balance of this paper will look at work done at Nortnwestern Univer- sity in the area of system perform- ance and user feedback and will relate tutorials and feedback mech- anisms to the problem of network access and resource sharing of pub- lic data bases. The first barrier to successful utilization is the difficulty of acquiring the necessary knowledge required to use the system. Marcus et al. (1971) working with the IN- TREX system, nave made some general observations regarding user behav- ior: 1. Users often fail to no- tice even the most ex- plicit instructions. 2. There is not one single method applicable to all users. 3. If there are too many in- structional options, they are all ignored; the user prefers to be given in- structions only when needed. 4. Users do not like to spend time in preparation for system use: they would rather use the sys- tem. ind 5. Users are constrained bi previous experience ny training. There is barrier against learning anything new. 5. Some users fear the ma- chine, either because they think they will ap- pear foolish, or because they fear they may damage the machine (machine fear) . Some users do not want to ask for advice (people fear) . 7. Users are overawed by the complexity of the system. and assume they need not or cannot understand the system. Such attitudes impede learning. The question, though, is how to translate these generalizations into a user support system, and this cannot be accomplished until the designers of systems know how the system is being used by the end user^ which often is quite differ- ent rrom that envisioned by the de- signer. Any user-oriented system must be responsive to the continu- ally varying needs of the user com- munity and to the different and differing levels of familiarity with the system. Provision must be included in the network protocols and the information system to moni- tor the user/system interactions to generate feedback to the system de- signers. Study of such usage data will enable, when necessary, intel- ligent redesign of the user/system interface, and will provide the necessary data for the development of the comprehensive on-line tuto- rials necessary for network access (Borman and Dominick in progress). THE USER COHHUNIII We will define the anticipated user community of a nationally available educational network sup- porting access to social science oriented public data bases as com- posed of students, faculty, and staff of academic and research in- stitutions. One example of such a network is EDUNET (EDOCOH, 1976). Within this community will be expe- rienced/inexperienced users, cas- ual/frequent users, program- ming/nonprogramming users, and others. The diversity of applica- tion areas can range from analysis of voting behavior in a recent local election to economic fore- casting based on data gathered na- ' e previoustionwide and spanning 20 years. n THE NETWORK RESOUaCES We project a network which pro- vides access to not only public data bases but which will also place additional content require- ments on the data base before it is accepted as a network resource. These would include: 1. Comprehensive description of the data: its general content, its structure, and specific variable in-ana speci formation 15 lASSIST Newsletter, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Winter 1978) 2. References to both bibli- interaction--are written into the ographic citations and to system based on or ogrammer dic- previous users of the tates. In actuality, we design and data base. implement interactive systems bsed on what we think they should ao, 3. A tutorial, context-ori- rather than on what the user would ented, developed by the expect them to do. proaucers of the data base and reflecting an- Given this situation, and we be- ticipatory usage. lieve it to be widely true, the need for a feedback. mechanism be- lt. Examples of use: re- comes apparent. An interaction search selection, report- monitor can provide various levels ing, graphical represent- of information. Some have been im- ation of the data, etc. plemented to report system-oriented data: length of session, central 5. The data. processor and peripheral processor time per search, amount of disk In addition, the network re- space used, job cost, etc. These sources would include; 1) an in- data can then be used to evaluate formation system equipped with an the impact of the system on the to- interaction monitor and the neces- tal computing environment, on the sary linkages to process the tuto- use of capabilities within the sys- rial component of the data base, tem, etc. No monitor has yet been and 2) a simple and "understanding" implemented to capture data on how set of access protocols to allow the system is used by various types the user to enter the network, en- of users with the idea that a fead- ter the inrormation system data back mechanism would be used to base, inquire about general inform- both redesign for system efficiency ation such as charging, scheduling, and usability, and to provide the news events, etc. information necessary to produce a context-oriented, data base soe- cific, learning and reference tuto- rial. THE CONCEPT OF USER TNT:2triCTT0H HDTTTTDHTTJtJ" THE 252STI0N OF CAI-TYPE TUTORIALS All interactive information sys- tems are originally designed ac- The potential utility of CAI cording to some pre-established techniques within an information guidelines. These may include op- system environment is well recog- timization for updating or search- nized and has been described by ing or reporting, or ease of ex- Dominick and Borman (1976). The portability from one hardware potential benefits can include: installation to another following the concepts of structured program- 1. Author controlled and ming and modularity. .^ost will user controlled se- also proclaim their responsiveness quences. to the user--that oft cited phrase--user-oriented. 2. Dynamic instructional strategies which can ad- The system designer begins with just to the experience, preconceptions based on the exist- performance, and informa- mg literature (almost negligible tion-seeking requirements in the area of users interacting of individual users, with numeric data bases and data management systems; larger, but of- 3. Inclusion of various lev- ten not more generally useful, re- els of preprogrammed garding use of bibliographic data spelling algorithms and bases; and a few industrially ori- synonym recognition which ented studies of the decision-mak- tend to give users the ing processes) . The aesigner, is illusion of at least a more often than not, not a user of minimum amount of system information systems. Given the intelligence, varying pressures upon design time vs. implementation time, design Given these potential benefits, usually loses. Implementation pro- why have information system tutori- ceeds, following the dictates of als failed to live up to expecta- the easiest guiaelines— those con- tions? The problem areas include: nected with hardware, software, and economics. The goal of "user-ori- 1. Tutorials function only ented" is nebulous, so features as stand-alone programs. such as language, diagnostic mes- Users, interacting with sages, prompting— everything we the tutorial sequence, taink of as user/system cannot easily and - 16 - lASSIST Newsletter, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Winter 1978) 4. immediately transfer control to the informa- tion system to try what they just learned, re- turning back to the tuto- rial whenever they en- counter problems. Most tutorials provide only extremely verbose or extremely terse informa- tion with minimal user interaction. Although many tutorials employ the concepts of teaching by example, it is not clear how effec- tive such training is if the examples are not data base specific. Most tutorials rely on user comments concerning user problems, errors, etc. to provide feedback to system designers. These are not sufficient to enable knowledgable evaluation and interface redesign. RIQS REMOTE INFORMATION A an i hens back the form al., ern hens for effi tion icl nte i ve m RIQ ati 19 Uni i ve col cie s. ude: nitia racti tuto echan S sy on Qu 76) . versi , au lecti ncy Some 1 at on m rial ism stem ery deve ty, toma ng d and temp onit sys is Syst lope con ted ata on the t to CO or, a tem and exempli The Re em (Bor d at No tains a on-line both o user data c ordinate compre- a feed- fied in mote In- man, et rthwest- compre- aonitor n system interac- ollected 1. name and department of user 3. a. 5. 6. 7. name and size of aata base time required for entry of query time required to execute the query frequency of use of sys- tem commands and capabil- ities and types of full context of errors rrequency errors Sixty five different elements of information are gathered for each 2uery and total session. Three evels on monitoring are provided to avoid any invasion of data base privacy or user application pri- vacy. THE COMPLEAT TUTOR I tuto proc RIQS tori file toma samp reco base othe tion T levi ousl brow sele prov one, brow data sele eral of t the and Ei" aval sen a sa T tuto user of lang sear sear the to t and own base base whic lect when raand nost rial to a appr tion cont tion n ad rial esso TUTO al; bro tic le f rds, pa r f s. dition in the r has R is mo It al wsmg c retrie iie des tae ssword r o n t - e n to the form of been re than so prov apabilit val and cription enforcem specif i d proce mom a fr dev simpl ides ies, disp s and en t o catio ssing tor , a ont-end eloped, y a tu- public and au- lay of sample f data ns and f unc- he RI ate s y lis sing, ctive ides rega se t base ction info he da cont appl es to espe lable ption mple utori rial s in the uaqe, ch ching inter he pr anal data F s, sa h ill ive ever Th ics a and How opria and ext-s QSTUTO ome of ted. tutor ingui capabi rdless hrough s via Us r ma tio ta bas ents a icatio whic cially are s of t record al mod for the s data b and strate Sea nal li ocesso yze da bases or eac mple s ustrat inquir a user e info re coo error automa te err to al ensiti R has the p It h ial, s iities of ex ava simple ers ca sue e I a no su n area h the rele the n he dat from e repr initi yntax ase s prov id gies rching nkage r. Us ta in or an li of t earche e comm y mod enter rmatio rdinat recov tic br or r ec low p ve tut tri robl as f earc Bro wh peri Ilab lis n s h as desc gges s a data vant ames a el the esen ally and yste es e and mod from ers eit I P he p s ar on u ed ems our hing wsin ereb ence le t or elec th ript ted nd ba an emen data m '3 xamp tip e pr the can her ubli ubii e pr sage IS n sy ed ery anch over rese or ia HEL stem with seg ing y in ntat 1 in to al- previ- modes; , and g mode y any- , can public menu t gen- e size ion of uses, disci- se may Also d de- ts and base. a full a i n i n g antics query Ies o_ s for ovides tutor search their c data c data ovided Se- nvoked P com- diag- tuto- uences to the forma- ion of f orma- full search by user text entered IftSSIST Newsletter, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Winter 1978) SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS The concept of user ii.teraction moiiitoring. multi-mode tutoring, and d feeaback irechaiiism to provide inaividuai user, and individual REFERENCES data base information, to the tuto- rial has been presented. In order Borman. Lorraine; Chalice, Robert; to interface a diverse user comma- Dillaman, Donald; Dominick, nity utiiizin>-j a computer network Wayne; and Kobbe, Ruth. RIQS witn public data bases via sophis- Remote Information SMgry System, ticated processing systems, it ap- ^Evanston, Til.: Vogelback Com- pears that such a tnree-way inter- puting Center, Northwestern Uni- race system must be aaopted. The versity, 1976) monitor, serving both as a record- ing device and a feedback mecha- , and Dominick, Wayne. An nism, can ensure system responsive- analvsis of data captured by^ an ness to the varying neeas of the iH^eracTion monitor. National user community; tne tutorial can Science Foun^aEion Grant # DI3 provide file browsing capabilities, 75-19U81, in progress. North- context-sensitive training, selec- western University, Evanston, tive inquiry facilities linked to 111. diagnostics, and internal linkages to the data base manageEent system Dominick, Wayne and Borman, Lor- itself. Only by providing such raine. User/System Interfacing personalized, and necessary, serv- in an Interactive Retrieval, ices will utilization o* public Statistical and Jraphical Analy- data bases via time-sharing net- sis Environment. Proceedings of works reach their full potential. the 5th ASIS Mid-Year Heeting. VanderEilE University, !Iasn- ville, TN, May, 1976, pp. 34-49. EDUCOM. Description of EDUNET. Bulletin of the Inter- university Communica'Eions Councirn^EDUCDHf . TT-T17~FarT7"T975r7 Holmes, D. C. Comauters in Oil 1967-1987. Computer Yearbook and ^isectory "{2na 113.) Je'd. F. H. Srille]" "JDalroif: American Data Processing) Marcus, R. S.. ; Beuenfeld, A. R,; and Kugel, P. The User Inter- face tor the INTREX Retrieval System. IHtaractiye Biblio- graahic Searcn (ea. D. 'E. wallferr THonlvale, NJ: AFIPS Press, 1971) , 159-201 . Nickerson, R. S. Man-Computer In- teraction: A Challenge for Hu- man factor Research. Ergonomics 12, 4 (July, 1969). Neumann, A. J. Network User In- formation Support National Bu- reau of Standard Tecnnical No^e BWT. (wasnington , D. c: U. j. Government Printing Office, 1973) ..