FW: Beckman Distinguished Lecturer: Raj Reddy

[Faust, Mark R]

The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology Distinguished Lecture Series Presents:

Dr. Raj Reddy
Mozah Bint Nasser University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics
School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University

Thursday, March 11 * 3PM

Beckman Institute Auditorium * Reception to Follow

"To Err Is Human: Computational Limits to Human Thinking and the Implications for the Design of Human Centered Interfaces"

One of the main problems facing computer scientists and engineers is how to design systems and software that are easy to use by
non-expert computer users. In this talk, we will examine a number of intrinsic strengths and limitations of human users. For example, the
human strengths include people's ability to communicate using speech and natural language, tolerate errorful, ambiguous and imprecise
inputs, exploit vast amounts of knowledge, learn from the environment, and respond in real time. The human limitations include a tendency
to make errors, be forgetful, become impatient, get confused, want to collaborate and be lazy. We will examine the shortcomings of current
systems in their attempt to create so-called user friendly interfaces, and what needs to be done to significantly improve the ease of use.
We will present an example of designing a PC interface for an Illiterate person in a village. It appears that an illiterate will need a much more
powerful computer than a university graduate! Since such a person cannot read or write the user interface, the interface has to be radically
simple, making extensive use of video and audio for interaction, and thereby increasing the computational power and bandwidth needed.
www.beckman.illinois.edu<http://www.beckman.illinois.edu>

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Raj Reddy is the Mozah Bint Nasser University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics in the School
of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. He was an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at
Stanford from 1966-69 and a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon faculty since 1969. He served as the founding
Director of the Robotics Institute from 1979 to 1991 and the Dean of School of Computer Science from
1991 to 1999.

Dr. Reddy's research interests include the study of human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence. His
current research interests include Million Book Digital Library Project; Fiber To The Village Project; and Learning
by Doing.

He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He
was president of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence from 1987 to 89. Dr. Reddy was awarded
the Legion of Honor by President Mitterand of France in 1984. He was awarded the ACM Turing Award in
1994, the Okawa Prize in 2004, the Honda Prize in 2005, and the Vannevar Bush Award in 2006. He served as
co-chair of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) from 1999 to 2001.


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