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In many of the classical fields studied by engineering psychologists and human factors engineers, there is a well-known and well-studied problem called overautomation: the equipment is so good that people don’t need to be as attentive. In theory, people are supposed to supervise the automation, always watching over operations, always ready to step in if things go wrong, but this kind of supervision is very difficult when the automation works so well. In the case of some manufacturing or process control plants, there may be very little for the human operators to do for days. As a result, people simply cannot maintain their attention. (Norman, P 107)

When Norman talks about overautomation and human operator’s attention, the first thing comes to my mind would be safety. An overautomation gadget might not have appeared in real life yet, but I’ve seen enough of them in science fiction movies---production system that proceeds and supervised by robots (which we can also refer to robots produce robots); transport facilities that operated only by the machine itself, without any human interference. Yes, these machines work flawlessly in those scenes, because they were in the movies, where things work as humans wanted to. In real world, things just cannot go so smoothly. If something we use in our daily life is automation, it requires human understanding and trust on it because automation, to some extent, is artificial intelligence, which mimics mankind’s mental model. They try to work as a human brain--- with logic, with the ability of emergency management. In some way, when dealing with emergency crisis, machines can do better than humans because they don’t have sentimental emotions, which may impede decision-making. What they have is purely digital calculation. For example, if two people fell in water at the same time (I know it is a corny example but realistic really!), a human will try his best to save them both. It might get three of them kill, but still, there is a chance that he can save them both. I consider this a typical human thinking. However, for the robots, it’s highly possible that it will calculate the chance of survival for both of them and save the one that has the higher chance to live. This is exactly what happened in the movie “I, Robot”: The man commands the robot to save the girl, not him. The robot refuses his command because it calculated that the girl has only 11% chance of survival and the man has 89%. And as a result, the man was safe, but he hates himself that was not able to safe that girl and blames to the robot and ever since he has bias toward robots. I would say this scene is very likely to happen in somewhat 50 years or so.

Nowadays, the most prevail and well-known example of automation would be aviation cockpit. Not surprisingly, most of the airplanes in the world now have autopilot system that helps pilots to navigate the plane. The system is so well design and well functioning that pilot might even fall asleep during a long distance flight. This is where I would like to talk about the trust between human and machine (actually the trust is one-way though, as the machine don’t have a sense for trust at present). The pilots fall asleep during the flight because they know the system well and have faith in them. Although it is not recommended that pilots can take a nap during the flight, in fact, some pilots may do and I’m ok with that. I don’t know why I’m so calm knowing that during my 13-hour flight from Hongkong to Vancouver, one or both (very not likely I believe) of the pilots may fall asleep. I guess I just have faith in the pilots and trust the plane that it would operates well. But one of my group mates was totally freaked out by knowing that the pilot may fall asleep during the flight. She said: “ Well I’m ok if they really trust that plane and know what are they doing. BUT PLEASE DON’T TELL ME THAT!! I DON’T NEED TO KNOW!!!!!”

It is obvious that people have different attitude towards machine being automated or overautomated. Although I believe most of the technology we have at present can perform well, frankly speaking, I don’t want the technology going so fast that in the near future machines or robots would be able to do everything without human operation, at least not so soon that I will live to see them standing in front of me. 

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“It was necessary to reintroduce sounds into the circuit so people would know that the call was still being processed. ‘Comfort noise’ is what the engineers called it, their condescending way of responding to the needs of their customers. The sounds are far more than ‘comfort.’ They are implicit communication, confirming that the circuit is still active, informing the telephone caller that the system is still in the process of making the connection. And, yes, that implicit confirmation is reassuring, comforting.”(P63)

         I definitely agree with Norman’s point of “comfort noise” is needed and implicit confirmation is reassuring, comforting.  As he speaks to the hisses and the noises while the phone is progressing for a connection, it reminds me of some experiences of my childhood. My father often travelled back and forth between Guangzhou and Hongkong when I was young. In most cases, those trips were often last minute decision so he could not inform me in advance.  So I had a habit that I would call him at the exact time he got off work. Then I listened to the beep tone in the phone, because the beep tone was quite different between a domestic call and an international call (yes…calling a Hongkong number was an international call. And even now, it is still an international call!!), so I can tell whether my father was in Hongkong or on his way home in Guangzhou.  For the first couple of times, my dad would pick up the phone to tell me where he was heading. Then after a few times, he knew my intention and we kind of reaching a consensus that he would not pick up the phone because he knew exactly why I called and I did not need him to pick up the phone to tell me because the beep tone have already told me. So to me, the dialing beeps were actually communicating with me. Although the message is simple enough just to tell me “Your father is in Hongkong now” or “Your father is in Guangzhou”, it is still a communication between the phone and me.

        When interacting with a piece of technology, people need to know the progresses—what is going on?  I believe sound is a critical component to provide an informative, confirmative and reassuring feedback.  As Norman says:

       “Sounds and vibrations provide natural indicators, implicit signals of important conditions.”(P64)

      
       I believe sounds and vibrations are important indicators for an automobile, such as cars, airplanes, or even ships, that is, every transport facilities that with an engine. I travelled a lot by plane since I was 10. But I should say I am not a big fan of airplanes because basically the plane is not under my control. In here, by saying control, I do not mean that to drive or something, it is simply a sense of knowing clearly of the environment around. For cars, although I am not the one to drive it, but I can still see clearly what is happening outside. The environment is so close to me. But in an airplane, the cabin is actually sealed and the windows are not large enough to provide a panoramic view. So the sound of the engine and the vibrations when it counters turbulence are indicators of my safety. I would get nervous when I heard the sound of the engine switched to a high pitch and this nervousness would repaired me for the emergency escape if something bad indeed happened.

        Another example, which is commonly seen nowadays, some people modify their engines and switch their exhaust pipe only to magnify the sound when the car accelerates. For them, the sound increases the sense of speed.

        In summary, sound is one of the important components for the modern devises to make interaction with people. As Norman says: “ Although quiet can be good, it can also be dangerous.”(P63)Nowadays, especially for the automobile designers, they are too concentrate on reducing the noises and vibrations to create a more comfortable environment for users that they forget both these two elements can act as natural indicators and provide feedback of the environment to the users.