Understanding the naive computer user

To an ever increasing degree the success of computer systems is dependent upon the use made of them by people who are not themselves computer experts. These people may be managers, clerks, engineers, members of the public, scientists, process controllers—the list embraces a steadily widening sector of the population. Today's designer of a computer system is therefore faced with the problem of designing a product that can and will be used by people of one or more of these types. How should he go about it? What does he know of the attitudes, skills and expectations of these people? It is a truism to say that these people will not respond to a computer system in the same way as a computer programmer. It is also apparent that they may differ widely among themselves; the managing director is unlikely to respond in the same way as the data preparation clerk. However, although we recognise there will be differences, there is little to guide the designer except the folklore of the computer world and his own experience. Too often this leads to the designer using himself as the model of the computer user and he can only be a far from representative sample.