Tools for Communicating with Chemical Information: A Cognitive Engineering Analysis

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Abstract
A major challenge for human factors is designing specialized systems to mesh with the domain expertise and mental representations of the system users. Systems for computational chemistry are an important example. Chemists use chemical structure diagrams (CSDs) as part of their basic language of communication, along with chemical formulae, narrative text, graphs and charts. Current computer tools for communicating with CSDs in written contexts are often found by chemists to be incomplete, difficult to use, and offering inappropriate functionality. This problem arises from ineffective human computer-interfaces that, in turn, can be traced to a lack of understanding on how skilled chemists use, think about, and communicate with CSDs. A formal cognitive human factors analysis is applied to address this deficiency. The analysis is developed through critical incident interviews, question-answering protocols, and thinking aloud protocols. Its results include a GOMS-type cognitive model of the drawing/manipulation process and of the conceptual strucutres underlying that process. Existing CSD drawing tool interfaces can be seen to provide little support for the conceptual structues or cognitive processes identified. The model developed in this research is being used to develop a user-oriented HCl for chemical structure manipulation systems.