OZ: Human-Centered Computing

Since aviation is so critically dependent upon sustained, high levels of human performance, it is a domain in which HCC may make important contributions. OZ is a HCC system designed to provide an aviator with all the information needed to control an aircraft during instrument flight. OZ software manipulates separate streams of cockpit information to combine them in a fashion that reveals aircraft performance capabilities in the context of the specific aircraft situation. OZ displays this information in a human centered fashion designed to be quickly, easily, and accurately understood by the human with a minimum of effort. Although the OZ system manipulates cockpit information, the manipulations are designed to reveal relationships among aircraft parameters; they make the values of important parameters readily available to the pilot to aid in decision making. None of OZ’s manipulations hide data behind hidden or covert decisions; the goal is to enable the pilot to make the decision by making the information apparent.