Helping UNIX users : an assessment of the effectiveness of various forms of online help

The aim of online help is to make complex computer systems more usable and allow users to exploit more of the system’s power. To achieve this aim it is necessary to provide users with information needed to accomplish their currant task while also encouraging further skill development to facilitate the transition from novice to expert. This thesis investigates the relationship of individual differences to the use of computers and online help. An observational study of real users of UNIX showed that very few commands were used by users and there was great variability in the use of UNIX. “Field Dependency” was identified as a potential source of the variation between users. Two experiments were carried out to assess the effect of Field Dependency. The subjects were required to carry out a number of tasks with help provided via a human expert or an online help system. The help system developed could be configured to behave actively or passively. Two different user communities, computer science students and women trainees, were studied. Both experiments found Field Dependency to be correlated with the number of commands known by users: the more field -independent a user, the more commands are known. In the first experiment it was found that field-dependents were exposed to more help from the human expert than the field-independents. With the help system, the field-independents were exposed to more help. Field-independents were also found to benefit from increased flexibility of the system where both active and passive help was available whereas field-dependents did not.Conclusions are drawn about the effects of Field Dependency on user interaction with help systems and the effectiveness of two alternative access initiatives

Graduate Academic Catalog (1992-93)

This Graduate Catalog is provided by the Graduate Faculty of the University of Nebraska at Omaha in the hope that it will be a source of information to you on the graduate programs available through our University. We are proud of our University and of its programs. We encourage you to become acquainted with us and with the many sources available to the community through the University. The lamp of learning which you see on this page is the symbol of the scholarship and creative activity which characterizes every graduate program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. It is this emphasis which distinguishes graduate studies from undergraduate studies. We have tried to include as much information as possible, but obviously we could not include everything. If you have questions which are not answered here, please feel free to call on the Office of Graduate Studies, 204 Eppley Administration Building, telephone (402) 554-2341

1995-1999 Brock News

A compilation of the administration newspaper, Brock News, for the years 1995 through 1999. It had previously been titled Brock Campus News and preceding that, The Blue Badger