Spaceships, Radiation Therapy, and Power Users
Abstract
We build software that our users interact with daily, and it’s only natural that over time they become really, really good at navigating the interfaces we’ve designed. This is great! Except their skill makes them more prone to introducing unintended behavior to the system.
We’ll zoom in on a couple of notable interface designs from history: Apollo’s guidance computer and the Therac-25 radiation therapy machine. We’ll explore how to proactively keep power users in mind to increase efficiency and reduce frustration.
About Me
I’ve been working professionally with Ruby on Rails since 2013. I grew up in Washington State along Puget Sound but recently moved across the country to Philadelphia. I’m Lead Engineer at Vehlo and Director of Technology at McSweeney’s. My analog interests include birding, photography, and digging through disordered shelves at used bookstores.
Slide Deck
Coming soon!
Media & Resources
Video
Apollo Space Grooves
Sources & Further Reading
- Chaikin, Andrew (1994). A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts. Penguin. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/773345/a-man-on-the-moon-by-andrew-chaikin/
- Harland, David M. (1999). Exploring the Moon: The Apollo Expeditions. Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-0-387-74641-8
- Leveson, Nancy G.. Medical Devices: The Therac-25. https://www.cs.colostate.edu/~bieman/CS314/Notes/therac25.pdf
- Leveson, Nancy G.; Turner, Clark S. (1992). An investigation of the Therac-25 accidents. Springer Praxis. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5dr206s3
- Mindell, David A. (2008). Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight. MIT Press. https://web.mit.edu/digitalapollo/index.htm
- O’Brien, Frank (2010). The Apollo Guidance Computer: Architecture and Operation. Springer Praxis. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4419-0877-3
- Woods, W. David (2007). How Apollo Flew to the Moon. Springer Praxis. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4419-7179-1