GUSTO (Gateway User Support and Training Office): Training Tailored to User Needs

摘要

The mission of the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) includes facilitating access to scientific and technical information available from hundreds of databases, online services, and networks. Currently under development at DTIC, the DoD Gateway Information System (DGIS) is designed to meet the diverse needs of its users, incorporating accessing, downloading, merging, and post-processing information from a wide variety of sources. Established in the fall of 1985, the Gateway User Support and Training Office (GUSTO) provides telephone hotline service, documentation on the system, training, and evaluation of user response to DGIS. Training courses recognize the heterogeneity of the DoD user population, ranging from professional intermediaries, highly adept at online searches, to bench researchers and scientists to managers, who really would like to 'talk' to their computers. Another critical consideration has been flexibility and rapid response to change. DGIC is a developing system, and all staff affiliated with the project are acutely attuned to adapting quickly to user needs and requests. The foremost consideration in the development of DGIS has been the disparity in needs and knowledge levels of the user population. Training and documentation have been tailored to address those issues, and GUSTO will continue to actively provide the needed service.