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An Engineering Science within HCI?

An Engineering Science within HCI?. William Newman UCLIC 15 June 2007. Overview. Technology’s human-enhancement role Engineering science Past attempts within HCI What it means to do engineering science Human-human communication as a domain Opportunities within this domain

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An Engineering Science within HCI?

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  1. An Engineering Sciencewithin HCI? William Newman UCLIC 15 June 2007

  2. Overview • Technology’s human-enhancement role • Engineering science • Past attempts within HCI • What it means to do engineering science • Human-human communication as a domain • Opportunities within this domain • How this could affect HCI research

  3. Technology’s role in society • Enhancing us as human beings • Increasing... • our bodily efficiency • our sensory efficiency • our intellect (Rogers 1983) • Can we disregard the enhancement imperative?

  4. The Science of Enhancement Design’s dependency chain: • Measurement • Prediction • Models • Theories • Data Provided by engineering science.

  5. Engineering Science in HCI: Past successes • GOMS, Cognitive Walkthrough • Providing models of interaction • Supporting analyses and predictions ofhow technologies support human activities

  6. Application of Engineering Science:Project Ernestine* • Enhancement of telephone operators’ efficiency in handling calls for assistance • What to measure? Call handling time • How to predict? CPM-GOMS models • The prediction: new design 0.65s slower • Field-trial finding: 0.63s slower • How to enhance? Personal response system • New prediction: 0.9s faster *Gray, John and Atwood (1993)

  7. The Challenge for HCI • Design’s diminishing emphasis on supporting repetitive work • Can we develop an engineering science for today’s design? • What kinds of research would this involve? • What does it mean to do engineering science? • Would it divide the research community?

  8. What it means* to doEngineering Science • Select a domain of design • Collect lots of data • Try lots of analytical approaches • Identify patterns, build and test models • Identify criteria for measuring behaviours • Transform models into design tools And iterate! * according to W.G. Vincenti (1990) and others

  9. From within Rogers’s areas of human enhancement, with some additions: • enjoyment • human-human communication Selecting the Design Domain • From within Rogers’s areas of human enhancement: • bodily efficiency • sensory efficiency • intellect

  10. An Engineering Science ofHuman-Human Communication • Why? • a context for much of human-computer interaction – even in Project Ernestine! • offers a purchase for modelling (Sacks et al. 1974, Goodwin 1980, Clark 1996, ...) • room for improvements to technology • Where are some opportunities? • meetings, including face-to-face • e-mail • writing

  11. 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 percentage of pauses 1.0 0.5 0.0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 pause duration, seconds Enhancing Communication inFace-to-Face Meetings • Today’s technology designs show little consideration for the needs of conversants

  12. level of science models metrics guidelines findings implications effort Finally:How this could affect HCI research? • First, must there be a methodological divide? • Or can existing methods contribute?

  13. In summary:How this could affect HCI research? • Lengthy start-up research involved but... • Need not create a methodological divide • Intellectually challenging • Different from research that developers do • Provides what designers often need • Remains relevant while technology advances • Offers a place for truly inter-disciplinary collaborations

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