Learning and Using Office Automation on Personal Computers: A Voice/Phone Application
Anna M. Wichansky · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · 1987
An experiment was conducted to evaluate user performance with a voice/phone management system for a personal computer. An experimental group of 11 subjects performed seven common voice communication tasks with the automated system using a touch-tone telephone. A control group of 10 subjects performed the same tasks by calling a dedicated human secretary. Experimental subjects gave favorable subjective ratings to system features despite poor performance. Control subjects performed most tasks faster than experimental subjects. Control subjects worked with the secretary in a more direct and goal-oriented way than experimental subjects using the automated system. The main benefit of the automated system may be its availability when human support is limited.