​Apple’s Computer Launch Leads to Study of User Experience

Apple’s Computer Launch Leads to Study of User Experience

苹果电脑的发布引领了用户体验研究

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

　　By Dan Friedell

　　27 January 2024

　　Many people first heard about Apple's Macintosh computer through a television commercial during the American football Super Bowl game in 1984.

　　However, the commercial did not show a computer at all. It showed a woman throwing a hammer at a large screen. On the screen was a man giving a speech. The screen exploded and an announcer said, "Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. ... And you'll see why 1984 won't be like ‘1984.'"

　　1984 is George Orwell's book about an authoritarian government. And Apple aimed to tell people that the new computer would be different. It would be easy to use.

　　Made with humans in mind

　　Many computers at the time only did one or two things. And they required the user to type complex commands to start the programs.

　　Jacob O. Wobbrock is a professor of information at the University of Washington. He wrote about Apple's commercial in The Conversation.

　　Apple "was selling a product for human beings to use," Wobbrock writes. After the commercial, he suggests, Apple became known for design and the world started paying attention to the idea of user experience, or human-computer interaction.

　　"The Macintosh was one of the first products to really prioritize user experience and focus on making something useable and understandable, learnable even guessable. So that people didn't have to always read a manual to learn how to use it."

　　Mackenzie Bristow is a former language teacher and researcher who now works in user experience in Atlanta, Georgia. She said Macintosh was one of the first products to think about "the user."

　　"What is the role of the person? What is the role of the user?" she asked. She explained that in design, the rule is "first, understand the person" before thinking about what the product looks like and what it can do.

　　Forty years after the launch of the Macintosh computer, we now see computer screens everywhere – at restaurants, at airports and even in cars. All of those devices have been designed by experts in user experience.

　　STEM plus ‘soft skills'

　　Many colleges and universities now offer study programs in user experience.

　　While it is part of STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – Wobbrock said students from different areas of study, including psychology or communication, could be successful.

　　"The kind of student that thrives in user experience is a student who has above all else, a real curiosity about how people interact with technology. ... And students whose first language is not English can absolutely do well in user experience."

　　One of those students is Kartik Sundaram of India. He studied computer science at the University of Michigan and chose user experience for his graduate study. He finished last year and is now teaching the subject.

　　"I never felt like I had a personal desire to pursue [computer science]," he said. He called the work "very isolating." For fun, he took a photography class. While in the class, he met someone who was studying in the User Experience Research and Design program.

　　"He told me about how, you know, it's like this blend of design and people and technology, and that kind of lit a fire in my heart to say ok, this seems a lot more interesting, ... ‘let's jump right in, let's learn more about it and let's apply to that school."

　　Sundaram said user experience is good for people who are "personable and good at making connections." Some of those are called ‘soft skills,' he said. And "the soft skills really matter."

　　While he grew up speaking English, Sundaram said the world of user experience is more and more open to people who are learning English or who may speak with an accent.

　　"I don't think it's an expectation that your English is flawless," he said.

　　Bristow said the ability to speak more than one language "is kind of a super power in user experience," because those people are comfortable interacting with many different kinds of people. "That's really something to be celebrated," she said.

　　Future of UX and job outlook

　　Sundaram is teaching but also looking for work in the field. Wobbrock is a professor and Bristow works on training programs for a large company.

　　They each spoke about the need for user experience professionals to work in the expanding field of artificial intelligence, or AI.

　　Sundaram said "We're not going to be restricted to a text box in ChatGPT for much longer. There are going to be other ways to interact with it."

　　Bristow said the ability to understand language is important. AI programs will need experts who understand how language changes based on where people live, their level of education and their age.

　　Wobbrock said user experience professionals are starting to work on projects called human-AI interaction. "There will be a great need for user experience professionals to help understand how people and AI can interact and work together in profitable ways," he added.

　　But Sundaram warned that user experience study programs, also known as UX, are becoming very popular. He said some students see UX as a field to make a lot of money with few certification requirements. And several companies are letting go of people with experience in the field.

　　Sundaram said, "It's definitely a difficult market, but it's an incredible field and there are new interfaces coming out that need our work."

　　I'm Dan Friedell. And I'm Jill Robbins.

　　Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

　　作者：Dan Friedell

　　日期：2024年1月27日

　　许多人是在1984年美国超级碗橄榄球赛期间的电视广告中首次听说苹果的Macintosh电脑的。

　　然而，广告中并没有展示电脑。它展示的是一个女人向一块大屏幕扔锤子。屏幕上是一个男人正在发表演讲。屏幕爆炸后，播音员说：“苹果电脑将推出Macintosh……你将看到为什么1984年不会像‘1984年’那样。”

　　1984是乔治·奥威尔关于威权政府的书。苹果的目标是告诉人们，新电脑将会有所不同。它将易于使用。

　　以人为本的设计

　　当时的许多电脑只能做一两件事。而且它们需要用户输入复杂的命令来启动程序。

　　Jacob O. Wobbrock是华盛顿大学的信息学教授。他在The Conversation中写到了苹果的广告。

　　Wobbrock写道，苹果“正在销售一个供人类使用的产品”。他建议，广告之后，苹果因其设计而闻名，世界开始关注用户体验或人机交互的概念。

　　“Macintosh是最早真正优先考虑用户体验并专注于制造易用、易懂、易学甚至易猜的产品之一。这样人们就不必总是阅读手册来学习如何使用它。”

　　Mackenzie Bristow是一位前语言教师和研究员，现在在乔治亚州亚特兰大从事用户体验工作。她说Macintosh是最早考虑“用户”的产品之一。

　　“人的角色是什么？用户的角色是什么？”她问道。她解释说，在设计中，规则是“首先，理解人”再考虑产品的外观和功能。

　　在Macintosh电脑发布四十年后，我们现在在各处都可以看到电脑屏幕——在餐馆、机场甚至汽车中。所有这些设备都是由用户体验专家设计的。

　　STEM加上“软技能”

　　现在许多学院和大学都提供用户体验的学习项目。

　　虽然它是STEM——科学、技术、工程和数学的一部分，但Wobbrock说，来自不同学习领域的学生，包括心理学或通信，都可能成功。

　　“在用户体验中表现出色的学生首先是对人们如何与技术互动有真正的好奇心的学生……而且，英语不是母语的学生在用户体验中绝对可以做得很好。”

　　其中一位学生是来自印度的Kartik Sundaram。他在密歇根大学学习计算机科学，并选择用户体验作为他的研究生学习方向。他去年完成了学业，现在正在教授这门课程。

　　他说：“我从未感觉到我有个人的愿望去追求[计算机科学]。”他称这项工作“非常孤立”。为了娱乐，他参加了一门摄影课。在课堂上，他遇到了一位正在用户体验研究和设计项目中学习的人。

　　“他告诉我，你知道，这就像是设计、人和技术的混合，这在我心中点燃了一种火，让我说好的，这看起来更有趣，……‘让我们深入了解，让我们更多地了解它，让我们申请那所学校。'"

　　Sundaram说，用户体验适合那些“善于交际和建立联系”的人。他说，其中一些被称为‘软技能'。而“软技能真的很重要”。

　　虽然他从小就说英语，但Sundaram说，用户体验的世界对于正在学习英语或可能带有口音的人来说，越来越开放。

　　“我不认为有期望你的英语是无懈可击的。”他说。

　　Bristow说，能说多种语言的能力“在用户体验中是一种超能力”，因为这些人习惯于与许多不同类型的人交往。“这真的是值得庆祝的事情。”她说。

　　用户体验的未来和就业前景

　　Sundaram正在教书，但也在寻找这个领域的工作。Wobbrock是一位教授，Bristow在一家大公司负责培训项目。

　　他们都谈到了用户体验专业人员在不断扩大的人工智能或AI领域工作的需求。

　　Sundaram说：“我们不会再被限制在ChatGPT的文本框中很长时间。将会有其他方式与它互动。”

　　Bristow说，理解语言的能力很重要。AI程序将需要理解语言如何根据人们居住的地方、教育程度和年龄而变化的专家。

　　Wobbrock说，用户体验专业人员开始在被称为人工智能交互的项目上工作。“将会有很大的需求，需要用户体验专业人员来帮助理解人们和AI如何以有利的方式互动和合作。”他补充说。

　　但Sundaram警告说，用户体验研究项目，也被称为UX，正在变得非常流行。他说，一些学生将UX视为一个可以赚大钱、凭证要求少的领域。并且有几家公司正在裁员，其中包括在这个领域有经验的人。

　　Sundaram说：“这绝对是一个困难的市场，但这是一个令人难以置信的领域，有新的界面需要我们的工作。”

　　我是Dan Friedell。我是Jill Robbins。

　　Dan Friedell为Learning English写了这个故事。

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

　　这个故事中的词汇

　　commercial –n. 另一个用于电视广告的名称

　　authoritarian – adj. 描述一个权力集中在一个或极少数人手中的限制性政府

　　prioritize –v. 把某事物放在重要性的首位

　　focus – v. 把某事物作为关注的中心

　　manual –n. 一本关于如何操作某物的说明或指导书

　　thrive –v. 做得好或产出优秀的工作

　　interact – v. 一种事物如何与另一种事物混合

　　graduate –adj. 研究生学习项目，获得学士学位后的高级学位

　　isolating – adj. 孤独的，远离其他人的

　　blend –n. 两种或两种以上事物的混合物

　　flawless –adj. 没有错误或错误的

　　certification – n. 证明你知道如何做或执行任务的测试

　　interface –n. 允许两种不同事物相互连接的系统