ABSTRACT
Current office computing systems provide many of the features considered to characterize ‘the office’. It has been claimed that computer systems, particularly those offering multiple windowing facilities, provide an effective means of completing office activities (Smith 1990a, 1990b, 1991). The continuing expansion in the use of computer systems in the office indicates that the value of using computers is widely recognised. However, it is argued that users continue to experience difficulty in the use of office systems and that not all the facilities available are used or understood. “It is becoming increasingly clear that the comfort of a good fit between man and machine is largely absent from the technology of the information age” (Sedgwick, 1993). One explanation for the discrepancy between what is available and what is used could be that users and designers of computer systems have different perceptions of what constitutes office work and of the role of computers in the office.
