Computer Knows Best
Several months ago, I was at a clothing store buying some clothes, as one is prone to do in clothing stores. At the cashier, the total came out to some number that was lower than expected. The sales clerk looked at the total and shrugged, “it says it’s on sale so I guess it is.”
This little episode got me thinking about the reverse case. If you’ve ever taken an HCI class, you’ll likely have encountered either a power plant or aircraft failure case study. In the majority of these studies, somewhere along the way is an operator not believing the computer. “My fuel is dropping much faster than I’d expect, it must be a faulty gauge”.
How is it that, in one scenario, there is complete faith in the computer system’s validity and in the other, a complete lack of faith even in the face of potential disaster?
Perhaps it is the severity of the situation. Obviously, an airborne plane dropping fuel by the buckets is much more serious than the Gap losing $10 per shirt because of a misconfigured item. For the clothing store, even if the computer was mistaken, little harm is done. But then if the outcome is potentially severe, wouldn’t it be wise to assume the computer is accurately alerting you?
This leads me to think the severity is indeed a factor but not in the same way we might think. The more severe a situation, the more control we feel we need. Relinquishing control to a computer in such a situation, even for reporting errors, makes us uncomfortable. So rather than pay more attention to computers in a severe situation, we might do less. (Via OK/Cancel)
This little episode got me thinking about the reverse case. If you’ve ever taken an HCI class, you’ll likely have encountered either a power plant or aircraft failure case study. In the majority of these studies, somewhere along the way is an operator not believing the computer. “My fuel is dropping much faster than I’d expect, it must be a faulty gauge”.
How is it that, in one scenario, there is complete faith in the computer system’s validity and in the other, a complete lack of faith even in the face of potential disaster?
Perhaps it is the severity of the situation. Obviously, an airborne plane dropping fuel by the buckets is much more serious than the Gap losing $10 per shirt because of a misconfigured item. For the clothing store, even if the computer was mistaken, little harm is done. But then if the outcome is potentially severe, wouldn’t it be wise to assume the computer is accurately alerting you?
This leads me to think the severity is indeed a factor but not in the same way we might think. The more severe a situation, the more control we feel we need. Relinquishing control to a computer in such a situation, even for reporting errors, makes us uncomfortable. So rather than pay more attention to computers in a severe situation, we might do less. (Via OK/Cancel)
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