As in many other fields, aerospace documents previously published on paper are being converted for display on electronic displays. In aerospace operations there are large advantages:

--Weight. Each pound of paper lifted into the air or space displaces a precious pound of other cargo.
--Shared display space.
--Cost and timeliness of update

On the other hand there are also safety concerns that require that the conversions be designed extremely carefully. The capabilities and limitations of paper and electronic media are very different. Conversion of maps and charts involves particularly interesting challenges --some of the charts used in aviation (area charts, for example) have very high information densities and symbology on shaded and colored backgrounds. In the electronic versions of some of these maps some of the symbols and area graphics move over the fixed terrain backgrounds. This makes successful management of the relative colors of the symbols and backgrounds difficult.


We are investigating issues concerning legibility and attention management as documents are moved from paper to electronic display.