The papers in this book were inspired by a 1981 workshop on human-computer interaction. The purpose was to review, consider, and exchange ideas on current research in the area of interactive system design and human information processing. Computer users are very different from professional programmers, but the language these users encounter in interacting with the machine, the documentation, and system messages are couched in the vocabulary of the computer expert. These papers are a mixture of survey, theory, practical recommendations, and experimental results, reflecting the diversity of research efforts. In this rapidly expanding field, there is room for many approaches, and the authors hope these examples stimulate further work, and greater sensitivity to the problems of designing interactive computer systems.
