Editing JOSS (section)

===Initial idea===
In 1959, [[Willis Ware]] wrote a RAND memo on the topic of computing in which he stated future computers would have "a multiplicity of personal input-output stations, so that many people can interact with the machine at the same time."{{sfn|Marks|1971|p=1}} The memo gained the interest of the [[US Air Force]], Rand's primary sponsors, and in 1960, they formed the Information Processor Project to explore this concept, what would soon be known as [[time-sharing]]. The project was not specifically about time-sharing, but aimed to improve human-computer interaction overall. The idea at the time was that constant interaction between the user and the computer in a back-and-forth manner would make such interactions more natural.{{sfn|Marks|1971|p=1}} As JOSS director [[Keith Uncapher]] later put it:

{{Blockquote|There were two perceptions that I think drove the experiment. One was, from at least 1950, when I joined Rand, there was always a focus in the [[computer science]] part of Rand toward smooth user interaction. It was just built into us. We learned it from Gunning. ... all we thought about. The other was, seeing the mathematicians struggling with Marchant calculators, not being able to use JOHNNIAC in its raw form. It was just too hard. They had to learn to be programmers. It was just a frustrating experience for them. We wanted something that would look to them as being a natural way of thinking about an aid to the solution of their problems without very much training, and without any perception of becoming a programmer, because that would have kept them away.<ref>{{cite interview |last=Norberg |first=Arthur |date=10 July 1989 |title=An Interview with Keith Uncapher |url=https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/107692/oh174ku.pdf |page=7}}</ref>}}

A formal proposal to develop what became JOSS on the [[JOHNNIAC]] computer was accepted in March 1961.{{sfn|Marks|1971|p=1}}