<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">I did not get a chance to put in my reply to Ramesh's message copied to me. This is my view of menus in 1970 and used in the first Delphi Conference System that year and later in EMISARI and EIES in 1971 and 1975. I think it provides some further views on menus that i just caught up with by getting access to <a href="http://sigcis.org">sigcis.org</a> which i will continue to track. <br>
<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">
<p class="MsoNormal">If you go to the book The network Nation, hiltz and turoff
in 1978 it has the original eies menus.<span style> </span>The
book was reprinted by mit press in 1993 and you can still get it from amazon.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Menus were used largely with the tty interface that was the
only thing available in general in those early days.<span style> </span>however, they could be very efficient if done
right.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In our system we allowed users to answer questions ahead so
if they had learned what the sequence of questions is that they had to answer
to do something they could type answers ahead separated by commas so that all
of<span style> </span>them were done in one operation.<span style> </span>If you put in a ? in a sequence of questions
you could have the system stop in the sequence and get an answer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Finally, if instead of putting in a menu choice you put in a
command +command it would execute that command.<span style>
</span>One important command was +store (name=question sequence) so that you
could create your own commands to do sequences you are always doing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A map of the relationships of the menus was what most people
used to learn the system and then when they found out what they would do most
often they could create their own command structure for more experienced
interactions among those who became frequent users of the systems.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This approach can still work in todays screen oriented
system and in many cases would be ideal for more complex systems with many alternatives.
<span style> </span>EIES and EMISARI (the 1971 emergency
management system designed in the u.s. government for emergencies
like the wage price freeze were not simple systems.<span style> </span>They had many group communication features
still waiting to be rediscovered in the new social media systems.<span style> </span>If you want the full manuals for EIES and
EMISARI</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they are stored on a collection of early reports on the NJIT
library system.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://library.njit.edu/archives/cccc-materials/index.php">http://library.njit.edu/archives/cccc-materials/index.php</a>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">it is a library special collection.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal">In hte EIES system we could design special interlaces for
groups.<span style> </span>You might check out the manual
on the TOPICS system which those with group communication systems have still to
discover how useful that sort of system can be.<span style> <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style>The very first group ware system i designed has a map structure given in the article that follows and includes the complete discussion with a very good group of computing professionals (Herb Grosch, Ruth Davis, and many other well known professionals). It was a delphi conference with anonymous voting.) . The discussion and voting was about future applications of the type of system they were using. It makes very interesting historical insights. <br>
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0.3in"><span style="layout-grid-mode:line">Turoff, Murray, (1970) Delphi
Conferencing: Computer Based Conferencing with Anonymity, Journal of
Technological Forecasting and Social Change 3(2), 1970, 159-204.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>The map of menus in a complex system is great tool for
newcomers that should be designed for any system-especially a game and
especially for letting advanced users to tailor their own commands.<span style> </span>feel free to reference any of my comments and
you can reference the historical documents on EIES and EMISARI where this was
all done for real time large group communication systems long before the
current generation of social media systems.<span style>
</span>also feel free to ask roxanne or me further questions.
<p class="MsoNormal">-- </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">please send messages to <a href="mailto:murray.turoff@gmail.com">murray.turoff@gmail.com</a><span style> </span>do not use @<a href="http://njit.edu">njit.edu</a> address</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Distinguished Professor Emeritus</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Information Systems, NJIT</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">homepage: <a href="http://is.njit.edu/turoff">http://is.njit.edu/turoff</a></p>
</div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 21, 2014 at 1:16 PM, Subramanian, Ramesh Prof. <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Ramesh.Subramanian@quinnipiac.edu" target="_blank">Ramesh.Subramanian@quinnipiac.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div link="blue" vlink="purple" lang="EN-US">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:rgb(31,73,125)">Hello,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:rgb(31,73,125)">Menus were used in Murray Turoff’s early computer conferencing systems starting in 1969/1970. Menus were also used in the HCL 8C microcomputer (India, 1978)
as a way to provide an easy alternative to typing in the JCL on the keyboard. I can provide references, if needed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:rgb(31,73,125)">Regards,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:rgb(31,73,125)">-Ramesh</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:rgb(31,73,125)"> </span></p><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div></div>