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The challenge of interior design
studies of hardware and the dialogues used in 'face to file communication'. The author is not interested in the qualities which make for a successful, usable system. Rather he is interested in the processes of information seeking behaviour which will lead to the use of one information as opposed to another. The book is broadly in three sections. The first is called 'basic concepts' and in addition to exploring difficult questions such as 'What is information?' it provides a useful account of the many new forms of information system now becoming available. The second part is about 'behaviour' when using these systems and contains summaries of many interesting studies of user information seeking behaviour. Unfortunately most are self-report studies and we therefore learn more about what people think they do than what they actually do. The final section is about attitudes and the process of managing change and is a recognition that a superb technical system is valueless if its users hold negative attitudes to it. The subject matter of the book is undoubtedly important and it is a pity that its style is likely to discourage many readers from making good use of it. The author belongs to the psychometric tradition in psychology and holds systematic scientific enquiry in high esteem. In particular he is an advocate of the factor analytic approach and most of the studies reported are of this kind. Much of the book reads like a doctoral thesis with details of the factor method used, tables of variance, etc. In its place this attention to detail is admirable but the book is explicitly aimed at managers and policy makers and one can only hope they read it selectively. The author also hopes to interest his fellow professional psychologists but I fear he will disappoint them with his rather narrow coverage of personality (the factor theories of Eysenck and Cattell) and the odd inclusion of a section on hypnosis. Perhaps the most interesting features of the book are the factor studies conducted by the author; of how managers spend their time, of what influences their information seeking behaviour, etc. The factors produced are interesting but, as is often the case with factor studies, the results are often rather sterile lists which leave one with a 'so what' feeling. One interesting finding is that people who seek a lot of information from one source are active seekers when using other systems. But the author does not speculate why this should be: is it their role which means they need the information or is it a question of individual differences? Despite these problems I shall value this book on my bookshelf as a valuable store of information about many studies of information seeking man that are unavailable in a collected form elsewhere.
Ken Eason
artistic base from which such a technology must derive. Readers of this journal must be pleased that Kleeman's chosen term, "interior ergonomics", owes something to the definition of ergonomics provided in the first issue of
Applied Ergonomics. The text falls into three sections. The first covers the general problems of interior design, the second considers in more detail the design of facilities for particular situations, and the third section provides six illustrative case studies. Section 1 opens by pointing out that the true client is the user of architectural space, regardless of who pays, and completes the chapter by indicating the approaches in different parts of the world to the design of mental hospitals and prisons. The US scene is described as one where people have to sue the government for the right humane conditions, exemplified for example, by the case where Prof Ricci sued the Massachusetts legislature over an institution for the mentally retarded, and won $2.6 million for its improvement. Following this chapter are six dealing with design requirements for specific areas and well complemented by anecdote, example and illustrations. The areas are anthropometry and access, the visual environment, communication distance, seating and desks. The last chapter concerns the interior and what it says to the user, drawing widely from sources not commonly viewed by ergonomists. The six chapters of Section 2 deal with space for the elderly, design and its impact on design of living spaces, design for outer space, the world of the office and, finally of the University and school room. The outer space chapter is interesting but of less general applicability than the others. A recurrent theme throughout is the necessity to see what the user wants, to involve him in defining this and, where possible, in choosing how his wants shall be provided. As a result there is less of the 'this is best' prescription and more of a realistic discussion of the good points in different possible solutions. In the third section the author is commendably frank, and in consequence instructively illuminating to the reader, about his successes and failures. The third case study deals with a mental hospital redesign and shows how both staff and patients can contribute to the changes. The results were also evaluated against a questionnaire which collected reactions to the original interior. It was noticeable that staff and patients had differing perceptions of the quality of the interior ! The last two cases give examples of comprehensive interior designs, where all factors are embraced by the design teams. As with the earlier cases, the value is not only in the specific solutions proposed but in the methods used and indications of how decisions were reached.
Reference
Short, J., Williams, E., and Christie, B. 1976 'The Social Psychology of Telecommunications', London, Wiley. The challenge of interior design Walter B. Kleeman. Jr CBI Pub Co Inc, Boston, Massachusetts. pp 228 + x
This book begins by defining a term for the design of the built interior which recognises the broad scientific and
152
Applied Ergonomics
June 1982
This is a book which is readable. Many ergonomists will find it useful, as will architects and designers. It can also be strongly recommended to managers, who will find from it many pointers to the creation of better and more effective working conditions. In Kleeman's final paragraph he says "the issue is power". Do designers tell the users what they need, or vice versa? He concludes that it is a joint process, a view not unknown now to ergonomists in most applied fields.
E.N. Corlett
Ken Eason
artistic base from which such a technology must derive. Readers of this journal must be pleased that Kleeman's chosen term, "interior ergonomics", owes something to the definition of ergonomics provided in the first issue of
Applied Ergonomics. The text falls into three sections. The first covers the general problems of interior design, the second considers in more detail the design of facilities for particular situations, and the third section provides six illustrative case studies. Section 1 opens by pointing out that the true client is the user of architectural space, regardless of who pays, and completes the chapter by indicating the approaches in different parts of the world to the design of mental hospitals and prisons. The US scene is described as one where people have to sue the government for the right humane conditions, exemplified for example, by the case where Prof Ricci sued the Massachusetts legislature over an institution for the mentally retarded, and won $2.6 million for its improvement. Following this chapter are six dealing with design requirements for specific areas and well complemented by anecdote, example and illustrations. The areas are anthropometry and access, the visual environment, communication distance, seating and desks. The last chapter concerns the interior and what it says to the user, drawing widely from sources not commonly viewed by ergonomists. The six chapters of Section 2 deal with space for the elderly, design and its impact on design of living spaces, design for outer space, the world of the office and, finally of the University and school room. The outer space chapter is interesting but of less general applicability than the others. A recurrent theme throughout is the necessity to see what the user wants, to involve him in defining this and, where possible, in choosing how his wants shall be provided. As a result there is less of the 'this is best' prescription and more of a realistic discussion of the good points in different possible solutions. In the third section the author is commendably frank, and in consequence instructively illuminating to the reader, about his successes and failures. The third case study deals with a mental hospital redesign and shows how both staff and patients can contribute to the changes. The results were also evaluated against a questionnaire which collected reactions to the original interior. It was noticeable that staff and patients had differing perceptions of the quality of the interior ! The last two cases give examples of comprehensive interior designs, where all factors are embraced by the design teams. As with the earlier cases, the value is not only in the specific solutions proposed but in the methods used and indications of how decisions were reached.
Reference
Short, J., Williams, E., and Christie, B. 1976 'The Social Psychology of Telecommunications', London, Wiley. The challenge of interior design Walter B. Kleeman. Jr CBI Pub Co Inc, Boston, Massachusetts. pp 228 + x
This book begins by defining a term for the design of the built interior which recognises the broad scientific and
152
Applied Ergonomics
June 1982
This is a book which is readable. Many ergonomists will find it useful, as will architects and designers. It can also be strongly recommended to managers, who will find from it many pointers to the creation of better and more effective working conditions. In Kleeman's final paragraph he says "the issue is power". Do designers tell the users what they need, or vice versa? He concludes that it is a joint process, a view not unknown now to ergonomists in most applied fields.
E.N. Corlett