account when develping any similar publicly a(~cessible s y s t e m . (By M. E. Modell, Commac. k , NY) [ E x c e r p t e d from COMPU[ING REVIEWS.~ M a y , 1 9 8 5 ] . W o o d s , D a v i d D. ( W e s t i n g h o u s e R e s e a r c h and Devel o p m e n L C e n t e r , Pittsburgh, PA) Visual m o m e n t u m : a c o n c e p t to i m p r o v e and the cognitive coupling of person computer. INT. J. MAN-MACHINE S T U D I E S , )~!, 3 ( S e p t . 1984), 2 2 9 - 2 4 4 . The author proposes that the concept of "visual m o m e n t u m , " based upon knowledge about human perception, be used as a heuristic: to aid in improving display design, so that users will be better able to c:ognitively process successive displays, t h u s m a x i m i z i n g the amount of information they obtain from the display system. "Visual m o m e n t u m " is defined as "a m e a s u r e oT the user's ability t,i e x t r a c t and integrate information across displays ... a of the distribution of measure attention." L o o k i n g at a CRT is a s~ubset of the psychological perceptual process involved in looking at the world. Certain g e n e r a l p r o p o s i t i o n s f r o m the psychological literature are referenced. The p r i n c i p l e of "visual momentum" c:o,~soli dat e,s s e v e r a l human performance problems with visual displays, in o r d e r to b e t t e r inspire solutions. The s t r o n g f e a t u r e of t h e paper is a carefully documented excursion into the relevant literature. The consolidation of ideas about computer display system use led to a w o r t h w h i l e theoretical statement. (By J. N. Rose, Delhi, NY) [Excerpted fron COMPUTING REVIEWS, ~]une, 1985]. factors affecting the choice of impl e m e n t a i o n technique for the intera~zti on tasks are described. A l a r g e n u m b e r of i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o p t i o n s are p r e s e n t e d , together" w i t h r e l e v a n t e r g o n o m i c: f a c t o r s and results of comparative experiments. The p a p e r m a k e s r e f e r e n c e to much e r g o n o m i c and h u m a n f a c t o r s l i t e r a t u r e which is, as yet, l i t t l e k n o w n by the computer graphics fraternity. A o,f bibliography provides a wealth background reading. The paper makes a significant contribution not by p r o v i d i n g a n s w e r s but m a k i n g d e s i g n e r s a w a r e of m o r e o p t i o n s , and of the m a n y ergonomi(~ considerations which should be t a k e n i n t o a c c o u n t . (By R. Rolph, Cambridge, England) [Excerpted from C O M P U T I N G R E V I E W S , June, 1985]. Murch, Geral M. (Tektronix, Inc., B e a v e r ton, OR) Physiological principles for the effective u s e of color. IEEE COMPUT. GRAPH, APPL. z~, if(Nov. 1984) 49-54. This paper contains the sorts of principles too o f t e n i g n o r e d by t h o s e who construct computer displays to convey information, principles which rest on the p h y s i c a l characteristics of the human information proc~essing machine. U n l i k e m a n y p a p e r s in this genre, this is a clearly written collection of facts which are not g e n e r a l l y known or w i d e l y a p p r e c i a t e d , t o g e t h e r w i t h a c l o s e l y a r g u e d list of their i m p l i c a t i o n s for the d e s i g n of effective color displays. The d e n s i t y of d i r e c t l y u s e f u l i n f o r m a t i o n in t h i s p a p e r is v e r y high. The f i r s t of two s e c t i o n s in the o$ paper deals with the physiology c o l o r , i n c l u d i n g the left.s, r e t i n a , and optic nerve. It d e s c r i b e s the basicz signal processing characteristics of the h u m a n eye. The s e c o n d s e c t i o n , on using c o l o r e f f e c t i v e l y , c o n t a i n s ten principles which show how this information can be applied. Some important and n o n - o b v i o u s c:onclusions are drawn here. (By R.A. ]histed, from Chicago, iL.) [Excerpted COMPUTING REVIEWS, ,June, 1985]. Foley, James D. (The George Washington Univ., Washington, DC); Wal I ace.~ V i c t o r L. (The Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence); and Chan, Peggy (Arthur Young & Co., and The George W a s h i n g t o n U n i v . , W a s h i n g t o n , DC) Tile h u m a n fai:::tors of c o m p u t e r g r a p h i c s interaction techniques, iEEE C O M P U T . G R A P H APPL. 4, ll(Nov. 1984), 13-4.8. The design of man-machine interfaces utilizing interactive computer g r a p h i c s is still l a r g e l y an art. This paper attempts t o provide a foundation for some aspects of this design process. The main subject matter of t.he paper c:oncerns "in~zeraction tasks." These are s i m i l a r to the "logical input devic:es" found in several device independent graphius packages. Six interaction tasks are defined: Select, Position, O r i e n t , Path, Q u a n t i f y , and Text. The Benbasat., Izak; and Wand, Yair (The Univ. of British Columbia, British ColumUia, Canada) A stru(~tured approa(~h to designing human-computer dialogues. IN[. J. MAN-MACHINE STUD. ~2.8, 2 (Aug. 1984) , 105-126. This article would be most interesting to a p r a c t i c i n g designer of i n t e r a c t i v e i n t e r f a c e s w h o is f a c e d with the f o l l o w i n g p r o b l e m . A large command language i n t e r f a c e is to be SIGCHlBulletin January 1986 Volumel7 Number 3

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