Trend Research & Analysis

Trend

The historical view regarding end users is being eroded by the internet and wireless communication, where the traditional end user is able to actively contribute and add value to the computer system. wikis are one example where end users provide the content and free the webmaster to manage the site. Another example within the computer field is free software, where end users can engage in all aspects of software development, from feature requests, through testing and reviews, to usability, documentation, and distribution. Music, pictures, and documents are remixed and edited to satisfy personal taste and demand. The consequence is that many countries and industries have been slow or unwilling to adjust to this emerging society, but some have seen the potential and are exploring economic possibilities.

Another trend is where users specify, and even develop, rules that may be fairly normal relationships (SQL) or be hard-core numerical processes that may require attention being given to serious computational characteristics, such as ill-conditioning, parallelisms. and similar issues of an ongoing nature.

[edit] Research

The human interface receives continuous attention as emerging interfaces reveal more possibilities and risks. The quest to both internationalize (i18n) and localize (L10n) software is hampered by computers designed for the English alphabet, but other major languages, such as Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic, have different requirements.

Other studies range from website accessibility to pervasive computing, with the focus ranging from the human to the computer. The issue centres around how much the human can safely and reliably adjust to the computer's I/O devices on the one hand, and how unobtrusively the computer can detect the human's needs on the other.

Furthermore, issues related to computing ontologies (example: the Language/Action perspective has found success in CRM, etc.) continue to be of interest to EUC.

[edit] Analysis

The concepts related to the end user cover a wide range (novice user to intellectual borg—see Slogan 2), hence End User Computing can have a range of forms and values. Most early computer systems were tightly controlled by an IT department; 'users' were just that. However, at any point in the evolution of computer systems through time, there was serious work in several domains that required user development. The dynamics of the power struggles between centralized and decentralized computing have been a fact; this was partially due to the emergence of the mid-sized computers (VAX, etc.). Then, the advent of the personal workstation opened up the door, so to speak, since it allowed a more pervasive type of computation to emerge. The recent advent of 'web' services has extended the issues to a more broad scope.

In the sense of serious domain computing and given the intertwining of computation into all advanced disciplines, any tool (inclusive of any type of capability related to a domain/discipline) that is provided by a computer becomes part of the discipline (methodology, etc.).

As such, the issue arises about how open the tool is to scrutiny. Some disciplines require more understanding of the tool set than do others. That is, tools that are operational in scope require less understanding than those that are ontological. As an example of the latter type of influence on disciplines, consider the impact that the computer has had on the scientific method.

Some of the issues related to End User Computing concern architecture (iconic versus language interface, open versus closed, and others). These continue to be studied. Other issues relate to IP, configuration, maintenance, ... End User Computing allows more user input into system affairs that can range from personalization to full-fledged ownership of the system.

Examples of End User Computing are systems built using the 4GLs, such as MAPPER or SQL, or one of the 5GLs, such as ICAD. ICAD (in the KBE domain) stands as a prime example since it is associated with the pervasive use of Lisp (one of the 3GLs) by Engineers to accomplish remarkable effects through a long economic cycle.