Skiffle
Report
The Usability Metrics of Skiffle and Recursive
Simplification
Report
from the British Skiffle Society Seminar (BS3, Bognor Regis, 25-27
Dec 2000
by roving
reporter Dr Name (N) SBP MBA DIC etc etc.
Day-1 Primitive Forecasting
The BS3
human-business business-human helicopter hover point interaction
specialist group (HBBHHHPISG) sponsored a one o five point two century for
muppets day (105.2FM) seminar on Skiffle usability metrics (UMs), methodology
implementation (MIs) and helicopter hover points (HHPs) in connection with the
helicopter hover point manufacturers (HHPMs) designers (HHPDs) and implementers
(HHPIs) its 2nd tri-annual meeting on the beach in Bognor Regis.
It
must be stressed (IMBS) at this point (ATP) that the seminar was organised
brilliantly and without fault by a good guy (GG) who goes by the name of Albert
Tatlock (AT) who is "the
knowledge" (TK) on Skiffle and is based at the National
Skiffle Laboratory (NSL), Telford. You may have heard of AT from our fully
featured focussed (F3) implemented "Acquiring the Target" (ATandT)
Web Site (WS) at http://www.skiffle.org.uk.
The seminar (S) attracted an audience of about 8000 people (all on the beach)
and everyone including the UMs, MIs, HHPs, HHPMs, HHPDs and HHPIs had a jolly
good time (JGT). Thanks to everyone involved (TTEI).
The virtual discussions (VD)
during the seminar and the tea breaks (TB) with or without biscuits (W/WO-B)
indicated substantial interest in the issues of Usability Metrics of Skiffle and
Recursive Simplification.
Figure
1 HHPs
Please
note that the HHP of a helicopter is significantly higher than that of a
wheelbarrow but not a fluffy cat. Providing the cat has been catapulted
vertically at 90o
In
conclusion there is obviously a trend towards taking Usability Metrics of
Skiffle and Recursive Simplification Methodology seriously as an object of study
in itself in order to improve our ability to both choose the right method for
the job at hand and acquire the target. One excellent, brilliant, fab exponent
of this trend was based on a study of the effects of expertise on the quality of
a HHP usability evaluation. It turns around and out that humans as opposed to
primate life forms are better at finding problems in an implementation the more
they know about the primitive principles.
Figure 2 Primitive Principles?
This may
come as no particular surprise, but this type of precise understanding of using
different personnel categories for usability work is essential for practical
usability engineering.
AILTP
As another
example of the autonomous approach (AA) discussed is the number of test subjects needed for tests and that the
lists of helicopter hover point verification portholes (HHPVP) encountered by
the first five thousand (5k) test subjects and the first ten thousand (10k)
subjects looked very similar. So in conclusion for most practical tests, there
is a need to run a large number of subjects in excess of 25k (twenty five
thousand)-test subjects. Thus we go back to the principle of the fluffy cat and
the adaptable systems coping with change (ASCwC).
Day-2
Adaptable Autonomous Primitives with slight Undertones (AAP-Us)
The first
speaker on AAP-Us was Sir Nigel Nigel from Westmoreland. His basic understanding
and premise (based on his work in the SBP666 numberplate usability standards
group) was that numberplate usability cannot be defined without knowing the
context in which the numberplate will be used. The conclusion to this practice
is that there is no absolute zero
criterion for numberplate usability and there are no bad
numberplates only numberplates applied in the wrong context. Furthermore, Sir
Nigel Nigel emphasised that it is not enough to understand the numberplates
personally, their tasks, and their environment, since the only constant is change
itself. The numberplate owners, tasks, and the environment will change over time
(if nothing else, then as a result of using the new numberplates). As a matter
of fact, the environment is also changing because people do not spend all their
time in their vehicles. They also work at the office, at home, in the airport
(waiting for helicopters), etc.
Figure 3 - Persona [(multiple people) MP] waiting
for a helicopter
Because of
this substantial potential for change, Sir Nigel Nigel felt the need to go to
the toilet (WC). It must be noted that the numberplate itself must be capable of
change-unless, of course, its designer is omniscient and can predict all the
changes. Since numberplate designers are not omniscient, they advocated an ecological
metaphor for numberplate development (EM4ND): The survival,
change, and adaptation of the numberplate through some kind of
"macro-selection" over time.
Sir Nigel
Nigel presented two models for achieving ecological change of numberplates;
1.
The Autonomous Adaptive numberplate system (AANS)
2.
The Darwinist numberplate system (DNS)
The AA numberplate
modifies itself through building a dynamic model of the potential owner. Sir
Nigel Nigel was very sceptical about this approach since he had never seen a
non-trivial such system that worked. The Darwinist
approach of having adaptable numberplates constructed such that
external agents can bring about change. This is done in some current numberplate
systems through primitive interaction with ones self such as the removal of ones
batch file, but unfortunately this approach means that the owners who need ones
batch file removing (the change) often cannot make it without the outside help
of the IT (I) department.
Sir Nigel
Nigel's project at Westmoreland was to develop an automatic "ecology
numberplate ultra-management system" (AENUS). In Brussels and Paris this is
communally called The European Masticators Union of Automatic ENU System (The
EMUoAENUS) to allow owners to construct their own working numberplate
environment by putting together five elements of the environment (Earth, Wind,
Fire, Water and Laylou). To construct these virtual numberplate environments (VNEs)
owners only need knowledge of their tasks and not of the underlying
implementation.
Owners can
create environments either:
·
by reference
to other specific owners ("let me have Nigel's batch file")
or
·
by reference
to the general owner groups ("give me a secretional environment
e-Drip").
With the
Atom-AENUS System (EMUoAENUS)2, innovations spread throughout the
cultural diffusion as
owners acquired the target. Throughout intimate Experiences (TIE) of each other,
Sir Nigel Nigel and his team assumed that there is no single end-point to the
development (SEP2DEV) of a numberplate system:
"It will
continue to grow". (sic)
This
diffusion principle (DP) is similar to that used by the HBBHHHPISG when
analysing video tapes (AVT)
Minnie Caldwell
from Weatherfield presented another Adaptable Autonomous Primitives with slight
Undertones (AAP-Us) approach to usability. She has built up such a reputation
that her usability laboratory
is complete with mirrors and video cameras. To help analyse the videotapes from
the usability tests, she has built a computerised tool otherwise known as; le
Automatic Right-handed Dimorphic-Integrated Leveragable Dynamic Orb (LARD-ILDO).
The tool facilitates the usability engineer to annotate the tape with codes for
various events during the testing process (TP) and helps to retrieve specific
video clips quickly (RSVCQ). The video is not currently on sale but she
mentioned that they are "definitely interested in developing it further (DI2DIF)."
I talked to others at the seminar (S) who were very interested in buying a copy,
so there seems to be a good market opportunity in making a human factors Video
Hybridised Soliloquy (VHS) commercially available. One person in particular (OPIP)
was interested in a DVD format with multiple angles and freeze frame
capabilities.
Day-3
A Framework for Evaluation Methods (aF4EM)
Bernard
Matthews presented a four hour talk on the traditional approach to HHP
evaluation involving interoperable inverted iterative design (I4D)
and experimental human to business testing. The main points noted from the
presentation were that:
·
HHHHPPP
methods can sometimes be difficult to pronounce
·
There were
not enough biscuits
·
I4D
design is not suitable for people of a nervous disposition
·
HHHHPPP
methods should be developed using Skiffle only
·
Testing is
difficult with less than 25k (twenty five thousand) fluffy cats
·
Minnie Caldwell
kept farting (Flexible Adaptable Recursive Taxonomy Instances of Neural Groping)
– AWS (and without shame)
·
RS UMs vary
widely in airports
·
Progress
depends solely on the type of underpants chosen by the HFS
·
HHHHPPP promotes
an increased understanding of the nature of Skiffle usability
Also
mentioned, were the, definition of non-human factors comma during evaluation as
an assessment of the conformity between a the helicopters performance and its
desired performance. Where the HHP can be factorised using a simple algorithm
where each function is indeterminate in correlation to the size of the
helicopter thus figure 3 explains.
Figure
3 Determining the HHP factor with an indeterminate helicopter size
It
must be stressed that multiple cows and fish may be involved due to the death of
twenty five thousand fluffy cats (25k). Cows and fish were the only test
subjects available at the time. Smaller cats could have been used, but then
smaller catapults would have been required. Thus the recursive simplification
result once transposed through the Skiffle life cycle would be determinate in
the cost rising and going out of budget. Thus an indeterminate amount of
biscuits for the seminar would have been available. Result=chaos. Enough said!
Bernard identified the pervasive proposed performance in parallel (P/P3), with the indeterminate HHP
encapsulation method of HHPP for drag (D), thus facilitating HHHHPPP without
drag (D). Therefore, the quality of the task (QofT) in relation
to the recursive costs (RC) associated with the testing eliminates (TE) the need
for fluffy cats (FC). Bernard also wanted to standardise an assessment statement
(AS) which reports any measurement studies and diagnose reasons (MS&DR) for
any shortfalls in the propulsion (SintheP) of overweight cows (OC). It was
agreed that such assessment statements could in principle be produced on the
basis of an evaluation of the MS&DR working group or a representation of the
HHHHPPP (D) such as a mock-up of the BS3 human-business
business-human helicopter hover point interaction specialist group (HBBHHHPISG).
The
evaluation can be performed using cows and fish or using some surrogate to
represent the cows and fish, such as crabs.
Minnie
Caldwell has agreed to take this phenomenal facet forward fast (PFFF).
Day-3
Evening - Identifying Key Elements of a HHP Hierarchy
Professor Frank Tank from the
Skiffle University (SU) stretched over dinner the need to focus to decrease the
cost of a usability metrics of Skiffle and Recursive Simplification evaluation
and to focus on the continual improvement process (CIP). He based his
presentation on a method called USTM (Usability Skiffle with Tank Methodology)
which Albert Tatlock was very interested in what with his WWII experience and
all. Professor Frank later mentioned his work back in 1974 when he claimed to
have invented the Solar Loop Basic Principle (SLBP) as shown in figure 4.
Figure
4 - A Solar Loop based on a Basic Principle (HOTNESS)
Professor Tank then went on to expound the virtues of the
three tier model taxonomies (TTMT). This was accompanied by a hilarious session
on the abstraction of meaning from communication in a technology-challenged
substrate. This is summarised in Figure 5.
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