Objective The principal objective of the project is to provide ergonomic guidelines for the design and develop ment of user-friendly agricultural videotex systems which will promote the adoption of telematic services among non-professional (farmer and extension worker) end-users by overcoming the difficulties inherent in the man-computer dialogue. The object of the project was to provide ergonomic guidelines for the design and development of user friendly agricultural videotex systems which will promote the adoption of telematic services by farmers and their advisers. A common ergonomic methodology was developed in order to analyse end user behaviour under different technical and cultural environments. A basic questionnaire was developed for the survey of videotex users and a subset was selected for the conduct of ergonomic case studies. The survey and case studies have been carried out and analyses made. Sufficient knowledge of farmers' behaviour has been obtained to draft a manual for designers of videotex systems for farmers. The guideli for the design of agricultural videotex systems (authors:M Harkin and K Landau) are available from IfAO publishers, D-72574 Bad Urach, Teckstrasse 1 Germany.The removal of obstacles to the uptake of telematic systems in Member States will increase the efficiency of the dissemination of information and improve the competitiveness and efficiency of end-users in the farming, extension and agribusiness sectors. Ergonomically enhanced information systems will promote the emergence of economically viable videotex services in the European farming community; the technical benefits are an inherent component of this development. Social benefits associated with the adoption of the technology will "democratise" access to information and reduce the disparity between the remote and geographically more favoured farming areas. The main areas of work and methodology involve undertaking an information ergonomic analysis of real agricultural videotex usage, taking into account the educational, cultural and intellectual backgrounds involved. The resulting output will provide an ergonomic checklist and guidelines for designers and providers of agricultural videotex systems. An easy-to-use technical manual will be produced for designers and a demonstration model will be implemented by applying the information ergonomic guidelines to an operating videotex system. Fields of science social sciencespsychologyergonomics Programme(s) FP2-CAMAR - Research and technological development programme (EEC) in the field of competitiveness of agriculture and management of agricultural resources, 1989-1993 Topic(s) Data not available Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme Data not available Coordinator Universität Hohenheim EU contribution No data Address Fruwirthstraße 48 7000 STUTTGART Germany See on map Total cost No data Participants (4) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all Direccao-Geral de Planeamento e Agricultura Portugal EU contribution No data Address Da Escola Politecnica 183-2 1200 LISBOA See on map Total cost No data Direccion General de Investigacion y Capacitacion Agrarias Spain EU contribution No data Address Corazon de Maria 8 28002 MADRID See on map Total cost No data Orca Computers Ltd United Kingdom EU contribution No data Address 1 Potters Cross MK43 9JG Wootton See on map Total cost No data TEAGASC (AGRICULTURE AND FOOD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY) Ireland EU contribution No data Address Sandymount Ave. 19 4 DUBLIN See on map Total cost No data
