CS422 - Human Computer Interaction

1. CS422 - Human Computer Interaction Instructor: Mehwish Aziz Spring: Fall 2010 Lecture 1-3

2. COURSE OUTLINE

3. What is HCI? • HCI is the study of interaction between people (users) and computers. • User may be • An individual user, a group, an organization or temporally or spatially separated people • Computer may be • Any technology ranging from desktop PCs, to large scale distributed systems or any embedded system. • Roots of HCI? • Computer Science + psychology + cognitive sciences + social sciences and ethnography • Goal of HCI • Make systems user-friendly, highly interactive, efficient and cost effective satisfying the user’s needs – that means “TECHNOLOGY but USER CENTRIC” • Why HCI? • HCI Process

4. Roots of HCI • Human Factors: • HCI focus is more on users working specifically with computers. • HCI focus on how to implement the computer software and hardware mechanisms to support human-computer interaction. • Thus, human factors is a broader term; HCI could be described as the human factors of computers • Cognitive ergonomics: • Its a part of ergonomics, of which software ergonomics/ HCI is a part.

5. Roots of HCI • Three areas of study have substantial overlap with HCI: • Personal Information Management (PIM): • Human interactions with the computer are placed in a larger informational context - people may work with many forms of information, - some computer-based e.g., whiteboards, notebooks In order to understand and effect desired changes in world. • Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): • Emphasizes on the use of computing systems in support of the collaborative work of a group of people. • Human Interaction Management (HIM): • Extends the scope of CSCW to an organizational level and can be implemented without use of computer systems.

6. Roots of HCI Computer Science PIM HCI HIM CSCW Human Factors/ Cognitive Science

7. Goals of HCI • HCI focus on: • Methodologies and processes for designing interfaces - Given a task and a class of users, - Design best possible interface within given constraints - Optimize for a desired property such as • learning ability or efficiency of use • Methods for implementing interfaces . For example; - Software toolkits and libraries - Efficient algorithms

8. Goals of HCI • HCI focus on: • Techniques for evaluating and comparing interfaces • Developing new interfaces and interaction techniques • Developing descriptive and predictive models and theories of interaction • Summarizing, HCI is to design systems that minimize the barrier between • human's cognitive model of what they want to accomplish • computer's understanding of the user's task

9. WHY HCI?

10. Software/Hardware for a User • Can be • Hard to Learn • Hard to Remember • Slow to use OR reachability • Error Prone • Frustrating and Unsatisfying to Use • Leads to a need for transformation in technology!!!! • Lets review what Microsoft Research Ltd. Published “HCI in the year 2020”

11. Example: Hard to Learn

12. Example: Hard to Remember

13. Example: Slow to Use or Reachability

14. QUESTIONS • Of Broader Impact: • How acceptable will indirect interaction be to society? For example, will it be acceptable to provide invisible interactive services in public areas like on the beach or in the wilderness? • Will people need to always be provided with an indication they have initiated an interaction? • Should people be allowed to opt in or out of a more connected interactive world? • How should we properly police a connected society for the benefit of all without the technologies of connection becoming misused?

15. QUESTIONS • For interaction and design: • How should new interaction techniques be merged with pre-existing skills dealing with everyday objects? • If everything we see, touch or walk past is interactive, how will we know and how can we control that interaction? • How useful are conventional definitions of ‘use’ and ‘users’?

16. QUESTIONS • For Evaluation: • How do we design technologies to help people cope in an increasingly technology-dependent world when the infrastructures break down, devices malfunction or get lost? • What kinds of tasks will be appropriate for computers, and when should humans be in charge?

17. HCI Process

18. HCI Process • Design: • Understanding design applies the design of everyday things to GUIs - introducing historical roots of HCI • Designing with user includes methodologies for both designing and evaluating interfaces - with direct user involvement • Designing without the user considers strategies for design - when users are not available • Implementation: Implementing GUIs gives users’ feedbacks to perform the same process of evaluation and re-designing over built-in systems.

19. Design Principles At the design stage, few design principles are to be followed: • Early focus on user(s) and task(s) • Empirical Measurement • Iterative Design: After determining the users, tasks, and empirical measurements to include, perform the following iterative design steps: • Design the user interface • Test • Analyze results • Repeat - Repeat the iterative design process until a sensible, user-friendly interface is created

20. Human Computer Interface • Human–computer interface is point of communication b/w human and computer. • Flow of information b/w human and computer is a loop of interaction which has several aspects including: • Task Environment • Machine Environment • Areas of the Interface • Input Flow • Output Flow • Feedback • Task Environment: The conditions and goals set upon user. • Machine Environment: The environment that computer is connected to, i.e. a laptop in a college student's dorm room.

21. Human Computer Interface • Areas of the Interface: Non-overlapping areas involve processes of the human and computer not pertaining to their interaction. • Input Flow: The flow of information that begins in the task environment, when the user has some task that requires using their computer. • Output Flow: The flow of information that originates in the machine environment. • Feedback: Loops through the interface that evaluate, moderate, and confirm processes as they pass from the human through the interface to the computer and back.

22. Chapter 1 - Human