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NGOMSL

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NGOMSL is an acronym for Natural GOMS Language, which is a structured natural language used to represent the user's methods and selection rules. NGOMSL models thus have an explicit representation of the user's methods, which are assumed to be strictly sequential and hierarchical in form. The execution time for a task is predicted by simulating the execution of the methods required to perform the task. Each NGOMSL statement is assumed to require a small fixed time to execute, and any operators in the statement, such as a keystroke, will then take additional time depending on the operator. The time to learn how to operate the interface can be predicted from the length of the methods, and the amount of transfer of training from the number of methods or method steps previously learned. Thus estimating times for learning and execution both require counting the number of NGOMSL statements involved; details on this process will be provided in this article.

One important feature of NGOMSL models is that the "how to do it" knowledge is described in a form that can actually be executed – the analyst, or an appropriately programmed computer, can go through the GOMS methods, executing the described actions, and actually carry out the task. A GOMS model is also a way to characterize a set of design decisions from the point of view of the user, which can make it useful during, as well as after, design. It is also a description of what the user must learn, and so can act as a basis for training and reference documentation.

NGOMSL is based on the cognitive modeling of human-computer interaction by Kieras and Polson (Kieras & Polson, 1985; Bovair, Kieras, & Polson, 1990). As summarized by John and Kieras (1994), NGOMSL is useful for many desktop computing situations in which the user's procedures are usefully approximated as being hierarchical and sequential.[1]

  1. Definition - What is NGOMSL? UMich