Human-Computer Interaction
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IntroductionAs the name implies, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) studies the way we (people) interact with various computer systems. Because computer systems are becoming so prevalent in our daily lives, it is more important than ever that they are easy to use. The types of systems that are studied range from desktop or laptop computers, to mobile phones, and even other machines that may not look anything like the computers we know. |
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What is Human-Computer Interaction?
“Human-computer interaction is a discipline concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use and with the study of major phenomena surrounding them.” [ACM SIGCHI Curricula for Human-Computer Interaction]
HCI draws on many disciplines, but it is in computer science and systems design that it must be accepted as a central concern. HCI draws on many disciplines, but in computer science and systems design it is a central concern. From this perspective, HCI involves the design, implementation and evaluation of interactive systems in the context of the user’s task and work.
HCI is not just about creating attractive user interfaces, but it is about understanding who will use those interfaces, how users will interact with them and what users will use them for.
Why Is HCI Important
Because computer systems are becoming more and more intertwined with everything we do, it is important that they are easy and efficient to use. The main goals of HCI are exactly that, to make interaction between users and computers as easy and efficient as possible. Some of the main ways of ensuring these goals are: increasing the speed of interaction with the system, lowering error rates, and ensuring that users are satisfied with the system they are using.
There are also many secondary reasons that the study of HCI is extremely important. Because different users may have different abilities or disabilities (colour-blindness is common in many males) the design of programs and systems must keep a large number of design concepts in mind. Some of these concepts include how quickly users learn what steps they must take to complete specific tasks, and how well users will be able to remember the system the next time they use it. By designing interactive systems with these ideas, more people are able to use the system as it was meant to be used.
Terminology
User Interface: is the vehicle for human-computer interaction. The user interface is everything designed into an information device with which a human being may interact -- including display screen, keyboard, mouse, light pen, the appearance of a desktop, illuminated characters, help messages, and how an application program or a Web site invites interaction and responds to it.
Interaction: means any communication between a user and computer, be it direct and indirect. Direct interaction involves a dialog with feedback and control throughout performance of the task. The actions the user must invoke to perform a task and the corresponding responses.
Paradigm: is a mode of viewing the world that underlies the theories and methodology of science, etc. in a particularly period of history.
Methods of Interaction
There are many ways that we interact with computers on a daily basis. The most obvious examples are the ones we see all the time: a monitor with a keyboard and mouse. But, there are many other ways we interact with computer systems regularly. Mobile phones often feature buttons, and more recently, many also have full screen touch-pads. Some of the less noticeable interfaces are those in appliances and tools. A stove or microwave has an interface that allows the user to give instructions for the device to carry out.
All of these interfaces have a few things in common. They allow a user to input commands, and they relay commands to a computer that controls how the device will react, and possibly display relevant information. The interface allow users to input commands. The interface relays commands to a computer that controls how the device will react. Then, depending on the device, an interface may output relevant information to the user. While many systems have interfaces that do not require much change, there are almost always things to improve.
Why care about Interfaces?
When you design a real-world system you are writing systems for people other than yourself. Bad user interfaces cost money, lives, and time. Interface design is a hard job. When you create an application, the variability in users and their tasks are important concerns. You have to vary levels of expertise and take differing physical/cognitive abilities into consideration. Specific usability goals are highlighted when making the design of a system.
Goals of HCI
The first step when creating a new interface is producing primary usability goals. A usability goal addresses the issue of meeting specific criteria.
Most common goals are:
Effectiveness: whether the system is doing what it generally says it will do. Safety:prevents users from making serious/unrecoverable errors. Efficiency: considers how much time it will take users to perform their tasks. Utility: provides sufficient functionality to accommodate range of user’s tasks. Learnability: considers how easy is to learn the system. Memorability: once learned, how easy is the system to remember.
Design Principles
Design principles describe features of usable systems. Design Principles guidelines concerning what to include and what not to include in an interface. They are the result of practice theory, and research.
Visibility – make core user functions clearly apparent to users and hide secondary functions.
Feedback- continuously inform the user about what the system is doing
Constraints- restrict the kinds of user actions that can take place for any given mode of interaction.
Mapping- relates controls to the intuitive understanding of how they should be used.
Consistency- all the interface has the same type of graphics, language, terminology, input, etc. throughout all the system.
Overview of HCI history
The history of human-computer interaction can be studied by the changes in paradigms of interfaces.
Those paradigms are:
Batch interfaces (~1945-1965)
-The user provides the system with all instructions in a single batch job.
-Instructions entered on punch cards, magnetic tape paper tape.
-No interactivity is held at all.
-System time is far more expensive than human time.
Conversational interfaces or Command-Line interfaces
-Users enter commands in text at the command-line.
-System executes command.
-Users have to be experts.
-Users have to recall rather than recognize.
Graphical interfaces (1985- now)
-Users are in control of the interaction.
-System waits for input and then the system responds.
-The user needs recognition of the system characteristics rather than recall.
-Users do not need to be experts to perform any task.
-Systems can be used by a broader audience.
Ubicomp (developing paradigm)
-Ubiquitous computing (Ubicomp) is currently an active research area.
-The goal of Ubicomp is to create language of interaction so close to task domain that the computer and its interface essentially become invisible.
-This new paradigm tries to make users not conscious of the fact that we are interacting with a computer.
Future of HCI
There are many fascinating topics being actively studied in the field of HCI. These include things from the mundane to those that seem to be from science fiction. The Internet has allowed for many people to be connected to the same information, and this has lead to the need for new ways of interacting with information in groups. Another topic that is currently receiving attention is the integration of computer systems into many everyday objects. These could include things such as interactive desks and walls, or pens that record what you write as it is being written.
While it seems like something to come out of a science fiction book or movie, augmented reality is another topic that is being studied. What augmented reality hopes to achieve is the ability to overlay important information on objects that a user is currently working with. There are a number of possible ways of doing this, including projecting images from overhead or worn projectors, or glasses that have both cameras as well as displays built into them.
External Resources
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~amulet/papers/uihistory.tr.html
http://www.scribd.com/doc/5592295/HCI
http://www.computer.org/education/cc2001/cc2001.pdf
http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/human_computer_interaction_hci.html
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