NGOMSL
Encyclopedia
NGOMSL stands for Natural GOMS Language, it is a variation of the GOMS
technique in human computer interaction.
) simple to use, and still keep the power and flexibility of standard GOMS. This was necessary because GOMS did not have very well defined semantics. This lack of definition meant that two equally competent evaluators could do evaluations on the same system and come up with very different results. Kieras's result was the development of high level (natural language) syntax for GOMS representation with directions for doing a GOMS evaluation. The recipe is referred to as a "top down, breadth first" expansion. The user's high level goals are unfolded until only operators remain. Generally operators are considered to be keystroke level operations but this is not a rigid requirement.
Since NGOMSL is based on CCT
it has certain properties that make it unique. NGOMSL inherits the ability to not only give estimations for execution times but it can also estimate the time taken to learn how to use the system. It also, however, shares one of the major disadvantages the all of the previous methods. NGOMSL models user interaction as a serial operation. One operation occupies the user completely, there is no multitasking. This makes NGOMSL inappropriate for analyzing tasks where the users are under time pressure, highly practiced and, in reality, do act in a parallel fashion.
Method for accomplishing goal of moving a file using the drag and drop option:
Method for accomplishing goal of moving a file using the cut and paste option:
Selection rule set for goal: Move a file into a subfolder in Windows XP
Return with goal accomplished.
GOMS
GOMS is a kind of specialized human information processor model for human computer interaction observation. Developed in 1983 by Stuart Card, Thomas P. Moran and Allen Newell, it was explained in their book The Psychology of Human Computer Interaction...
technique in human computer interaction.
Overview
Natural GOMS Language technique was developed by David Kieras in 1988. The motivation was to make GOMS/CCT (cognitive complexity theoryCognitive Complexity Theory
Cognitive complexity describes cognition along a simplicity-complexity axis. It is the subject of academic study in fields including personal construct psychology, organisational theory and human-computer interaction.-In psychology:...
) simple to use, and still keep the power and flexibility of standard GOMS. This was necessary because GOMS did not have very well defined semantics. This lack of definition meant that two equally competent evaluators could do evaluations on the same system and come up with very different results. Kieras's result was the development of high level (natural language) syntax for GOMS representation with directions for doing a GOMS evaluation. The recipe is referred to as a "top down, breadth first" expansion. The user's high level goals are unfolded until only operators remain. Generally operators are considered to be keystroke level operations but this is not a rigid requirement.
Since NGOMSL is based on CCT
Cognitive Complexity Theory
Cognitive complexity describes cognition along a simplicity-complexity axis. It is the subject of academic study in fields including personal construct psychology, organisational theory and human-computer interaction.-In psychology:...
it has certain properties that make it unique. NGOMSL inherits the ability to not only give estimations for execution times but it can also estimate the time taken to learn how to use the system. It also, however, shares one of the major disadvantages the all of the previous methods. NGOMSL models user interaction as a serial operation. One operation occupies the user completely, there is no multitasking. This makes NGOMSL inappropriate for analyzing tasks where the users are under time pressure, highly practiced and, in reality, do act in a parallel fashion.
Example
Goal: Move a file into a subfolder in Windows XPMethod for accomplishing goal of moving a file using the drag and drop option:
- Step 1: Locate the icon of the source file on the screen
- Step 2: Move mouse over the icon of the source file
- Step 3: Press and keep holding the left mouse button
- Step 4: Locate the icon of the destination folder on the screen
- Step 5: Move mouse over the icon of the destination folder
- Step 6: Release left mouse button
- Step 7: Return with goal accomplished
Method for accomplishing goal of moving a file using the cut and paste option:
- Step 1: Recall that the first command is called "cut"
- Step 2: Recall that the command "cut" is in the right click menu
- Step 3: Locate the icon of the source file on the screen
- Step 4: Accomplish the goal of selecting and executing the "cut" command
- Step 5: Recall that the next command is called "paste"
- Step 6: Recall that the command "paste" is in the right click menu
- Step 7: Locate the icon of the destination folder on the screen
- Step 8: Double click with left mouse button
- Step 9: Locate empty spot on screen
- Step 10: Move mouse to the empty spot
- Step 11: Accomplish the goal of selecting and executing the "paste" command
- Step 12: Return with goal accomplished
Selection rule set for goal: Move a file into a subfolder in Windows XP
- If custom icon arrangement is used Then
- accomplish goal: cutting-and-pasting.
- If no custom icon arrangement is used Then
- accomplish goal: drag-and-drop.
Return with goal accomplished.
Notations
- This article incorporates text from Dr. G. Abowd: GOMS Analysis Techniques - Final Essay, which has been released into GFDL by its author (see http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:GOMS&oldid=19999716).
- Judith Reitman Olson, Gary M. Olson: The Growth of Cognitive Modeling in Human-Computer Interaction Since GOMS, in: R. M. Baecker, J. Grudin, W. A. S. Buxton, S. Greenberg: Readings in Human-Computer Interaction: Towards the Year 2000. 1995, San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann.