About John Sorflaten, PhD

Experience	Twenty five years in designing computer applications, web sites and documentation.Believe it or not, I helped design Chinese and Japanese word processors in a small Iowa town, surrounded by corn fields. (Yes, we had translators.) Ask me anything about research on typing systems. Also, my Ph.D. work in the design of instructional materials served well when writing computer documentation. PC Magazine even reviewed one of the products. Since joining Human Factors International at its beginning in 1988, I no longer had to accept developer’s designs and “fix” them through documentation. Instead, I get to teach developers how to do it right the first or second time. I’ve taught our HFI interface design course in Europe and North America for 20 years. In between, I’ve worked on user interface standards and many design projects, including internet applications and web sites. I am also a peer reviewer for ergonomics articles submitted to the Journal of International Forum of Educational Technology & Society.
Education	Ph.D., 1994 – University of Iowa – Instructional Design and Technology / Cognitive PsychologyMS, 1977 – Maharishi University of Management – Education BA, 1968 – University of Southern California – Cinematography (1 year behind George Lucas)
Favorite Topic	In 1996 I wrote some articles for The X Journal. The editor asked columnists to describe products they couldn’t live without. I wrote: “Here’s what we can’t do without in 25 years, the year 2021. First, really need the Bionic Resonance Artificial Intelligence Neuroenhancer (B.R.A.I.N.) to help us compete. But we also need the Haptic Ethos Attention Readout Translator (H.E.A.R.T) to keep things in balance. Last, we can’t move history forward without the Create OUR Answer Gnosis Extractor (C.O.U.R.A.G.E.). Oh yes, a late-breaking report of new developments also comes from the wide-reaching OZ (Omega-Zero) corporate body. They claim that by 2021 they’ll have a new, improved Silently Enhanced Life Form (S.E.L.F.). Their corporate motto, it’s rumored, will be “Know Thy SELF”.
Areas of Interest and Design Orientation	Futurologistics: (again, something I wrote for The X Journal. It focused on X terminal topics before LCD monitors became common):”Picture frame” X terminals exist all around the house. They use video and sensor input and hologram-output. All wireless, of course. These provide ubiquitous “monitoring” of world, nation, city, friends and self. Typical uses get associated with different rooms. The kitchen sees the “X-frame” used as a phone, recipe file, and baby monitor. The living room sees it used as a TV set with 30 channels pre-selected to fit your interest profile (plus three other channels thrown in as “serendipity” excursions). The bathroom sees it used as a biofeedback device based on samples of your body outputs and infrared scans of epidermal surfaces. Upon analyzing your body chemistry balance, it gives you a daily “state of the union”. It reminds you how to eat better, think better, and depend less on computers. The den sees it used as a professional education tool. World-wide economies of scale permit customized, entertaining, up-to-the minute training to meet your personal and professional goals. The bedroom X-frame gives you training in relaxation therapy, meditation and frontal lobe functions such as goal setting, planning, and other “wisdom” tools you’ll need so you can remain relaxed while doing your job. The dog house X-frame provides AI-based relationship counseling when you overdo the computer stuff.
Hobbies and Special Interests	Transcendental Meditation. Scientific American articles. movies (I was a motion picture officer in the Air Force). brain and consciousness studies (my dissertation topic). watching my two sons iterate ontogeny. hanging ten on internet time. taking my wife with me on long consulting trips.
Favorite Coastline	Big Sur, California
Character	Midwest born, California steeped, East-coast familiar, Southeastern baked, Iowa surprised.