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Computer Science Off Course · August 4 · 45 min

Lucy Suchman - Plans and Situated Actions

When did you last use a copy machine, and how did you do it? Did you follow a predetermined plan, use a manual, or did you figure out what to do along the way? In this episode, we discuss how people interact with machines and tackle the book "Plans and Situated Actions" (1987) by ethnographer Lucy Suchman. This book, in part, describes a famous study in which Suchman put cameras in a room with a new photocopier and observed people (smart computer people!) struggle with the interface. We discuss the impact of her work and relate it to today's AI discourse. As every week, Felienne brings great quotes, such as Suchman pointing out the "increasingly linguistic, rather than mechanistic" communication that people have with machines! Hanna is excited that we get to talk about one of the pioneers of the human-computer interaction research field and, in her homework, provides suggestions for how programmers can make (copy) machines more user-friendly. Mentions: Suchman, L. A. (1987). Plans and situated actions: The problem of human-machine communication. Cambridge University Press. Dingemanse, M., Torreira, F., & Enfield, N. J. (2013). Is “Huh?” a universal word? Conversational infrastructure and the convergent evolution of linguistic items. PloS one, 8(11), e78273. Video of people using a photocopy machine by Austin Henderson and Lucy Suchman (1983) The cognitive walkthrough Links: Felienne's blog post Hanna’s homework Audio and music credits: Song: "Curiosity Rag" (1910) by James E.C. Kelly (public domain) Sound effects and background sounds: Public domain/CC0 sounds from Freesound.org and self-recorded page-turning sounds Audio editing: Hanna at Earpolish.com

0:00 · Introduction: The Loss of Vagueness-45:05
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When did you last use a copy machine, and how did you do it? Did you follow a predetermined plan, use a manual, or did you figure out what to do along the way? In this episode, we discuss how people interact with machines and tackle the book "Plans and Situated Actions" (1987) by ethnographer Lucy Suchman. This book, in part, describes a famous study in which Suchman put cameras in a room with a new photocopier and observed people (smart computer people!) struggle with the interface. We discuss the impact of her work and relate it to today's AI discourse. As every week, Felienne brings great quotes, such as Suchman pointing out the "increasingly linguistic, rather than mechanistic" communication that people have with machines! Hanna is excited that we get to talk about one of the pioneers of the human-computer interaction research field and, in her homework, provides suggestions for how programmers can make (copy) machines more user-friendly.

Mentions:

  • Suchman, L. A. (1987). Plans and situated actions: The problem of human-machine communication. Cambridge University Press.
  • Dingemanse, M., Torreira, F., & Enfield, N. J. (2013). Is “Huh?” a universal word? Conversational infrastructure and the convergent evolution of linguistic items. PloS one, 8(11), e78273.
  • Video of people using a photocopy machine by Austin Henderson and Lucy Suchman (1983)
  • The cognitive walkthrough

Links:

Audio and music credits:

  • Song: "Curiosity Rag" (1910) by James E.C. Kelly (public domain)
  • Sound effects and background sounds: Public domain/CC0 sounds from Freesound.org and self-recorded page-turning sounds
  • Audio editing: Hanna at Earpolish.com
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