NGOMSL (Natural GOMS Language) is a variation of the
GOMS
GOMS is a specialized human information processor model for human-computer interaction observation that describes a user's cognitive structure on four components. In the book ''The Psychology of Human Computer Interaction'', written in 1983 by St ...
technique in
human computer interaction
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are great apes characterized by their hairlessness, bipedalism, and high intelligen ...
.
Overview
Natural GOMS Language technique was developed by David Kieras in 1988.
The motivation was to make GOMS/CCT (
cognitive complexity theory) simple to use, and still keep the power and flexibility of standard GOMS. This was necessary because GOMS did not have very well defined semantics. This lack of definition meant that two equally competent evaluators could do evaluations on the same system and come up with very different results. Kieras's result was the development of high-level (natural language) syntax for GOMS representation with directions for doing a GOMS evaluation. The recipe is referred to as a "top-down, breadth-first" expansion. The user's high-level goals are unfolded until only operators remain. Generally operators are considered to be keystroke-level operations, but that is not a rigid requirement.
Since NGOMSL is based on CCT, it has certain properties that make it unique. NGOMSL inherits the ability to not only give estimations for execution times but it can also estimate the time taken to learn how to use the system. It also, however, shares one of the major disadvantages all of the previous methods. NGOMSL models user interaction as a serial operation. One operation occupies the user completely, there is no multitasking, which makes NGOMSL inappropriate for analyzing tasks where the users are under time pressure, highly practiced and, in reality, do act in a parallel fashion.
See also
*
Human information processor model
Human processor model or MHP (Model Human Processor) is a cognitive modeling method developed by Stuart K. Card, Thomas P. Moran, & Allen Newell (1983) used to calculate how long it takes to perform a certain task. Other cognitive modeling method ...
*
CPM-GOMS
CPM-GOMS is a variation of the GOMS technique in human computer interaction. CPM-GOMS stands for two things: ''Cognitive Perceptual Motor'' and the project planning technique ''Critical Path Method'' (from which it borrows some elements).
Overv ...
*
KLM-GOMS
In human–computer interaction, the keystroke-level model (KLM) predicts how long it will take an expert user to accomplish a routine task without errors using an interactive computer system. It was proposed by Stuart K. Card, Thomas P. Mora ...
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CMN-GOMS
CMN-GOMS stands for Card, Moran and Newell GOMS. CMN-GOMS is the original version of the GOMS technique in human computer interaction. It takes the name after its creators Stuart Card, Thomas P. Moran and Allen Newell who first described GOMS in ...
References
Notations
* This article incorporates text fro
Dr. G. Abowd: GOMS Analysis Techniques - Final Essay which has been released into
GFDL
The GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL or GFDL) is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the rights ...
by its author (see ).
* Judith Reitman Olson, Gary M. Olson: ''The Growth of Cognitive Modeling in Human-Computer Interaction Since GOMS'', in: R. M. Baecker, J. Grudin, W. A. S. Buxton, S. Greenberg: ''Readings in Human-Computer Interaction: Towards the Year 2000.'' 1995, San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann.
* {{cite web, title=A Guide to GOMS Model Usability Evaluation using NGOMSL, last=Kieras, first=David, year=1996, accessdate=2006-11-23, url=http://www.idemployee.id.tue.nl/g.w.m.rauterberg/lecturenotes/GOMS96guide.pdf
Footnotes
Human–computer interaction