CSE 595, Lab #3,Using the Remote System AT&T Digital Cable and universal remote control Toshiba VCR Panasonic TV Task: using remote: Record “Buffy” on ‘blank’ tape Rewind recording Play recording

CSE 595, Lab #3,Using the Remote Participants: Picked for their participation in earlier (thematic) exercises (e.g. convenience). JCMaxwell (41 year old female) SRMaxwell (16 year old son) Results summary: Remote use is not intuitive, and error prone, primarily due to lack feedback regarding system state.

CSE 595, Lab #3,Using the Remote JCMaxwell feedback: “Why doesn’t the record button record?” [Remote requires pressing ‘record’ and ‘play’, simultaneously.] “Why doesn’t the ‘stop’ button work?” [The participant had adjusted the TV volume via the remote, and the remote was no longer in the ‘cable’ or ‘VCR’ state.] “Why doesn’t the remote know that the VCR buttons control the VCR, the channel buttons control the cable box, and the volume and power buttons control the TV?” [JCMaxwell is not a fan of the complexity used to control audio-visual equipment, and tends to avoid doing anything beyond turning the TV on and off, and changing the channel and volume.]

CSE 595, Lab #3,Using the Remote SRMaxwell feedback was minimal, as he has experience performing this task. When prompted with an overview of the feedback from participant #1, he generally agreed with the criticism, but also volunteered that learning to deal with the complexity is not, in his opinion, “too hard”.