In the lecture you will be divided into groups of two students each. Each group will be assigned one of the following numbered tasks to investigate. Some groups will be asked to concentrate on only some of the subtasks in their reports.

Report your results and answer the relevant questions on one sheet of paper (8.5" x 11") and hand it in at or before the lecture on September 12. Your report should be at most one page long; longer papers will be truncated to one page before marking. Be prepared to present your results informally and briefly (in less than 5 minutes) in the lecture session on September 12.

Note that this is not a literature research project. It is a short exercise. You are expected to think about certain aspects of your own environment and experiences, observe your and others' use of and interaction with certain artifacts, and draw initial conclusions from these observations.

In addition to answering the lettered questions below, draw general conclusions from your exercise regarding designing artifacts for human use.

1. Doors at McMaster University

At McMaster the many doors to buildings and offices are of various types, differing especially in their handles. Some have the classical round knobs, some have a handle to grip with a lever to be pressed by the thumb, some have horizontal bars of different types and shapes, some have vertical bars, others have hand plates, etc. Perform the following tasks and answer the following questions:

1. Seek and go through as many different types of these doors as you can find. Concentrate on doors you have never or only seldom gone through in the past. What confusion and difficulties, if any, did you encounter? Why?
2. Observe a number of other people going through the various types of doors. What confusion and difficulties (of all kinds) arise? How often? Why (or why not)? Under what circumstances do what difficulties arise?
3. Did some users have more difficulties than others? What does the degree of their difficulty depend on? Why?
4. In what situations do the various users open the doors, i.e., what are the users' needs and requirements?
5. What kinds of difficulties would you expect to observe if you monitored these doors for a longer period of time?
6. What aspects of doors and their handles give the user clues as to whether to push or to pull the door? When pushing, what aspects of the doors give the user clues regarding which side to push? How reliable are these clues?
7. Do the users react to these clues consciously or subconsciously? Why?
8. How, do you think, did the users become "programmed" to react to these clues?
9. Each person forms mental models of the objects in the environment. Describe your mental model of doors. What mental models of doors do others have? (Ask them to describe them to you.) Are these models essentially the same or do different people form different models? Why? If different, in what ways do their models differ? What do the differences depend on? Be as specific as possible. Consider different types of people (young, old, scientists, engineers, artists, humanities students, sociologists, historians, male, female, etc.).

Many beverages are distributed in metal cans. Their primary purpose is clear and obvious, but some people put them to other uses.

1. Identify and think up as many uses as you can for these beverage cans. Think broadly. Ask other people how they have used these cans and if they know of such other uses. Consider both unusual and "high-tech" applications in "modern, Western, first world" societies as well as other societies in the world.
2. What characteristics of metal beverage cans make them useful in their other applications?
3. What characteristics of metal beverage cans represent shortcomings or disadvantages in those other applications?
4. What were some of the negative characteristics of earlier steel and aluminum beverage cans (in the context of their primary purpose)? What design changes were made in order to make them more useful in their role as beverage containers?

Many beverages and other liquids are distributed in plastic bottles. Their primary purpose is clear and obvious, but some people put them to other uses. When answering the questions below, you may, if you desire, concentrate on plastic bottles in the 0.5 to 5 liter range.

1. Identify and think up as many uses as you can for these plastic bottles. Think broadly. Ask other people how they have used plastic bottles and if they know of such other uses. Consider both applications in "modern, Western, first world" societies as well as in other societies in the world.
2. What characteristics of plastic bottles make them useful in their other applications?
3. What characteristics of plastic bottles represent shortcomings or disadvantages in those other applications?
4. What were some of the negative characteristics of earlier plastic bottles (in the context of their primary purpose)? What design changes were made in order to make them more useful in their primary role?

The paper clip is a common object in everyday use. Its primary purpose is clear and obvious, but many are put to other uses.

1. Paper clips seldom if ever come with instructions for their use. How do their users know what to do with them and how to use them? Does everyone know what to do with them? If not, who would not know what to use them for?
2. What design changes and variations have been made in order to make paper clips more successful? Why?
3. What materials are used for paper clips? Why?
4. Identify and think up as many uses as you can which people find for paper clips. Consider both applications in "modern, Western, first world" societies as well as in other societies in the world. Ask other people how they have actually used paper clips in the past.
5. What characteristics of paper clips make them useful in their other applications?
6. What characteristics of paper clips represent shortcomings or disadvantages in those other applications?

The clothes hanger is a common object in everyday use. Its primary purpose is clear and obvious, but they are also used in many other ways.

1. Clothes hangers seldom if ever come with instructions for their use. How do their users know what to do with them and how to use them? Does everyone know what to do with them? If not, who would not know what to use them for?
2. What requirements must clothes hangers fulfill? What types of clothing do different users hang on them? Consider different types of people (young, old, students, working people, professionals, actors, performers, male, female, etc.).
3. What characteristics of clothes hangers are important to their users?
4. What problems have you and others experienced using clothes hangers?
5. What design variations and changes have been made in order to make clothes hangers more successful? Why?
6. What materials are used for clothes hangers? Why?
7. Identify and think up as many uses as you can which people find for clothes hangers. Consider both applications in "modern, Western, first world" societies as well as in other societies in the world. Ask other people how they have actually used clothes hangers in the past.
8. What characteristics of clothes hangers make them useful in their other applications?
9. What characteristics of clothes hangers represent shortcomings or disadvantages in those other applications?

When you buy something in a store, it usually comes wrapped in some sort of packaging material. Such packaging material often has more than one intended purpose. Furthermore, it is often put to still other uses, apparently not intended by the manufacturer. Select some type of product and answer the following questions about its packaging material.

1. What is the primary purpose of the product's packaging material? What properties and characteristics must the packaging material have in order to fulfill that purpose?
2. What secondary purposes were apparently intended for the packaging material?
3. Identify and think up as many uses as you can which people find for the packaging material. Consider both applications in "modern, Western, first world" societies as well as in other societies in the world. Ask other people how they have actually used that type of packaging material in the past.
4. What properties and characteristics of the packaging material make it useful for those other applications?
5. What properties and characteristics of the packaging material represent shortcomings or disadvantages in those other applications?

The common match is a well known object. Its primary purpose is clear and obvious -  to start fires - but many are put to other uses.

1. What kinds of fires are matches used to start? Identify as many different kinds of fires as you can. Ask others about the kinds of fires they have started with matches.
2. What advantages and shortcomings does the common match have for starting these various kinds of fires?
3. What potential safety problems do matches pose? How have designers of matches reduced or solved these problems? Which safety problems have not been solved? Which safety problems cannot, by the very nature of a match, be solved?
4. For what other purposes are matches used? Why? What characteristics of matches make them useful for these purposes? What characteristics of matches represent shortcomings for these purposes?