<s>
Ecological	B-General_Concept
interface	I-General_Concept
design	I-General_Concept
(	O
EID	O
)	O
is	O
an	O
approach	O
to	O
interface	B-Application
design	O
that	O
was	O
introduced	O
specifically	O
for	O
complex	O
sociotechnical	O
,	O
real-time	O
,	O
and	O
dynamic	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EID	O
differs	O
from	O
some	O
interface	B-Application
design	O
methodologies	O
like	O
user-centered	O
design	O
(	O
UCD	O
)	O
in	O
that	O
the	O
focus	O
of	O
the	O
analysis	O
is	O
on	O
the	O
work	O
domain	O
or	O
environment	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
on	O
the	O
end	O
user	O
or	O
a	O
specific	O
task	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ecological	B-General_Concept
interface	I-General_Concept
design	I-General_Concept
was	O
proposed	O
as	O
a	O
framework	O
for	O
interface	B-Application
design	O
by	O
Kim	O
Vicente	O
and	O
Jens	O
Rasmussen	O
in	O
the	O
late	O
1980s	O
and	O
early	O
1990s	O
following	O
extensive	O
research	O
into	O
human-system	O
reliability	O
at	O
the	O
Risø	O
National	O
Laboratory	O
in	O
Denmark	O
(	O
Rasmussen	O
&	O
Vicente	O
et	O
al	O
,	O
1989	O
;	O
Vicente	O
,	O
2001	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EID	O
borrows	O
from	O
ecological	O
psychology	O
in	O
that	O
the	O
constraints	O
and	O
relationships	O
of	O
the	O
work	O
environment	O
in	O
a	O
complex	O
system	O
are	O
reflected	O
perceptually	O
(	O
through	O
an	O
interface	B-Application
)	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
shape	O
user	O
behaviour	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ecological	B-General_Concept
interface	I-General_Concept
design	I-General_Concept
attempts	O
to	O
provide	O
the	O
operators	O
with	O
the	O
necessary	O
tools	O
and	O
information	O
to	O
become	O
active	O
problem	O
solvers	O
as	O
opposed	O
to	O
passive	O
monitors	O
,	O
particularly	O
during	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
unforeseen	O
events	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
pre-UCD	O
era	O
,	O
interface	B-Application
design	O
was	O
almost	O
an	O
afterthought	O
to	O
a	O
program	O
and	O
was	O
completely	O
dependent	O
on	O
the	O
programmers	O
while	O
totally	O
neglecting	O
the	O
end	O
user	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
That	O
Interface	B-Application
Design	O
is	O
a	O
field	O
on	O
its	O
own	O
because	O
it	O
bridges	O
between	O
humans	O
and	O
the	O
program/environment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
UCD	O
approach	O
commonly	O
focuses	O
on	O
single	O
user	O
interactions	O
between	O
the	O
user	O
and	O
the	O
interface	B-Application
which	O
is	O
not	O
enough	O
to	O
deal	O
with	O
today	O
's	O
increasingly	O
complex	O
systems	O
where	O
centralized	O
control	O
of	O
information	O
is	O
needed	O
and	O
it	O
is	O
displayed	O
on	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
interfaces	O
in	O
varying	O
detail	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
constraint	O
based	O
style	O
in	O
interface	B-Application
design	O
also	O
facilitates	O
the	O
handling	O
of	O
unanticipated	O
events	O
because	O
,	O
regardless	O
of	O
the	O
event	O
,	O
the	O
constraint	O
is	O
broken	O
and	O
it	O
can	O
be	O
seen	O
by	O
the	O
user	O
who	O
in	O
turn	O
can	O
proactively	O
work	O
with	O
the	O
interface	B-Application
to	O
restore	O
the	O
constraint	O
and	O
fix	O
the	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
does	O
not	O
in	O
any	O
way	O
take	O
away	O
the	O
usefulness	O
of	O
UCD	O
but	O
stresses	O
the	O
fact	O
that	O
EID	O
offers	O
some	O
unique	O
insight	O
into	O
the	O
design	O
process	O
and	O
it	O
could	O
be	O
used	O
in	O
conjunction	O
with	O
other	O
cognitive	O
engineering	O
techniques	O
to	O
enhance	O
the	O
user	B-Application
interfaces	I-Application
and	O
increase	O
human	O
reliability	O
in	O
human	O
–	O
machine	O
interactions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
EID	O
framework	O
,	O
the	O
AH	O
is	O
used	O
to	O
determine	O
what	O
kinds	O
of	O
information	O
should	O
be	O
displayed	O
on	O
the	O
system	O
interface	B-Application
and	O
how	O
the	O
information	O
should	O
be	O
arranged	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
three	O
categories	O
essentially	O
describe	O
the	O
possible	O
ways	O
in	O
which	O
information	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
from	O
a	O
human	B-Application
–	I-Application
machine	I-Application
interface	I-Application
is	O
extracted	O
and	O
understood	O
:	O
</s>
