Pick the most important HCI goals as they apply to each of the following types of applications. Justify your answer.

a. Air traffic control
b. Ticket booking software for travel agents
c. Reservation software for airline agents at the luggage check-in counter
d. Flight simulators to train airline pilots
e. An adaptation of a flight simulator as a video game for home use

a. For air traffic control, safety is the primary issue, as was pointed out in the text. Also of primary importance is efficiency – it’s important for a controller to spot a problem as quickly as possible and relay that information to the pilots. Lowest in priority is appeal: this is not optional-use software. Ease of learning is also lower in priority – this is not walk-up-and-use software, and air traffic controllers use this software continuously day in and day out.
b. Ticket booking software needs to be effective so that an agent can be confident of finding the type of ticket that best suits a customer’s desires. This needs to be relatively quick to learn and easy to use – the system itself is just a means to an end and the agent is not willing to commit a lot of time to learning a new system. Further, several companies offer software of this type, so the agent has an option of choosing another system.
c. A high priority for luggage check-in is efficiency: customers do not relish waiting in at baggage check-in at an airport. Again, appeal is not a priority because this is not optional-use software. Also, the airline companies would probably allow for some training time, so ease of learning would not be as important as ease of use. Further, the check-in agent will be using this software continually while on the job.
d. For flight simulators, utility is a high priority: the simulator should look exactly like and behave exactly like the airplane it simulates. In a certain sense, usability and effectiveness are not the responsibility of the flight simulator but of the design of the plane being simulated. Since the simulator gives pilots a chance to respond to emergency situations that they hope never to encounter in an actual flight, safety is an intrinsic feature of flight simulators. Also, simulators are appealing to non-pilots, as recreation, but that does not make appeal a priority
e. A video game is optional-use software, so it must be appealing. Ease of learning and ease of use are important: most people do not want to spend time learning before they can have fun. Safety is not a high priority; except that it’s best if the video game does not crash the operating system.