Human Factors and the Design of Time Sharing Computer Systems 1

Abstract

The advent of computer time sharing poses an extraordinary challenge to human factors research during the next decade. Before time sharing, two facts combined to de-emphasize the importance of human factors considerations in the design of computer systems: (1) the cost of the computer's time was exorbitantly high relative to the cost of users' time, and (2) the users constituted a select, highly skilled and highly motivated group of specialists. Two of the promises of time sharing, however, are (1) a drastic reduction in the cost of computer time to the individual user, and (2) the large scale availability of computer facilities to individuals untrained in any areas of computer technology. Human factors considerations then become important both for economic and psychological reasons. This paper briefly notes what a few of these considerations are.