Date of MSc 1984/85
Project Title
Evaluating the Usability of Laptop Computers (Sponsored by British Telecom, Ipswich)
Pre-MSc Background:
B.E. Mechanical Engineering (University of Roorkee, Roorkee, India)
Design Training programme at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, India
Pre-MSc View of HCI/Cognitive Ergonomics:
Between 1981 and 1984, I studied (Classical) Ergonomics on my own and applied this in my teaching at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad India. I had no knowledge of HCI and Cognitive Ergonomics at this time.
Post-MSc View of HCI/Cognitive Ergonomics:
In my view the inputs in HCI and Cognitive Ergonomics were ahead of time in 1984-85. Cognitive Ergonomics immensely helped me in understanding the fallibility of human-decision making and action taking in complex and dynamic real-life situations. These inputs later led me to develop a human-centred systems approach for problem solving in our business environments. This is an easy to apply approach useful for engineers, designers and business managers.
Subsequent-to-MSc View of HCI/Cognitive Ergonomics
I strongly feel that Cognitive Ergonomics is a discipline which must be taught to all the major decision makers in Education, Industry, Business, and Government. This will enable decision makers and managers to understand why so many man-made systems fail or do not perform as desired and expected. Problem solving with an understanding of the cognitive processes of humans in a target context will help evolve and implement more workable and sustainable solutions.
Additional Reflections
Educational frameworks in engineering, and business management are too narrowly focused on technology and selling respectively. However, in real-life, any user or consumer would ideally like to have a product or service that is well-integrated across aesthetics, usability, technical performance, and affordability. A collaborative and interdisciplinary problem solving approach is the key to design and manage an appropriate value to a user. Cognitive science, ergonomics, and systems thinking (which are rarely taught to the professional problem solvers) are an essential component of a holistic and integrative problem solving process.
Professor John Long has influenced me in a very significant way by leading me into the realm of cognitive science and ergonomics. This was a life changing phase particularly in the 1980s when HCI and Cognitive ergonomics were in a nascent stage (there were no books on these subjects at that time!). Back in India, these terms were totally alien even to those who were in the field of ergonomics and design. I sincerely thank Prof. John for always encouraging me, and for appreciating my work during the programme at UCL. Although I would have liked to work further at a deeper level in the area of Cognitive Ergonomics and Systems Thinking, I still could manage to contribute to the development of a new paradigm for the Industrial Design process at the educational as well as professional levels. A large body of students and working designers benefited from this new way of looking at design (it was usually aesthetics and style focused). In the 1990s a significant number of my design students joined and influenced usability and user experience design initiative of the Indian IT industry, inspired by my inputs in design projects.
Most of my thoughts, beliefs and professional work are and will continue to be based on cognitive ergonomics and systems thinking in design and management.