Human computer interaction

Chapter one Introduction

With today's technology and tools, and our motivation to create really effective and usable
interfaces and screens, why do we continue to produce systems that are inefficient and confusing
or, at worst, just plain unusable? Is it because:
1.We don't care?
2.We don't possess common sense?
3.We don't have the time?
4.We still don't know what really makes good design?

➢ Human–computer interaction (HCI), alternatively man–machine interaction (MMI) or computer–

human interaction (CHI) is the study of interaction between people (users) and computers. Because
human-computer interaction studies a human and a machine in communication, it draws from supporting
knowledge on both the machine and the human side. On the machine side, techniques in computer
graphics, operating systems, programming languages, and development environments are relevant. On
the human side, communication theory, graphic and industrial design disciplines, linguistics, social
sciences, cognitive psychology, and human performance are relevant. And, of course, engineering and
design methods are relevant.
➢ Human–computer interaction (commonly referred to as HCI) researches the design and use of
computer technology, focused on the interfaces between humans (users) and computers. Researchers in
the field of HCI observe the ways in which humans interact with computers and design technologies
that let humans interact with computers in new ways
✓ Human: are the users of the computers. HCI should always consider about what users
expect and need, what physical abilities and limitations they may have, how their
perceptual systems work, and what they find attractive and enjoyable when they use
computers. When humans interact with computers, they bring to the encounter a lifetime
of experience. Designers must decide how to make products attractive without distracting
users from their tasks.
✓ computer: carries on its business in a much less obvious way. The information a computer
contains and the operations it performs are represented inside the computer in a form that
we can’t directly observe- binary digits encoded as two levels of electrical charge. What a
computer displays does not arise naturally from what it is doing inside. Any feedback the
user might need must be explicitly planned out and programmed.

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✓ Interaction: Interaction between users and computers occurs at the user interface which
includes both software and hardware. People have to use the computers or different
embedded devices for different purposes. For this they have to interact with these
machines. Researchers have built different interfaces and methods for those. The designers
and programmers look for a reasonable balance between what can be programmed within
the necessary schedule and budget, and what would be ideal for the users.
➢ 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.
➢ Human–computer interaction is a specialty in many fields, and is therefore multidisciplinary, but it
has an intrinsic relationship as a subfield to computer science. Most interactive computing systems are
for some human purpose and interact with humans in human contexts. The notion that computer science
is the study of algorithms has virtue as an attempt to bring foundational rigor, but can lead to ignoring
constraints foundational to the design of successful interactive computer systems. A lesson repeatedly
learned in engineering is that a major source of failure is the narrow optimization of a design that does
not take sufficient account of contextual factors. Human users and their contexts are major components
of the design problem that cannot be wished away simply because they are complex to address. In fact,
that largest part of program code in most interactive systems deals with user interaction. Inadequate
attention to users and task context not only leads to bad user interfaces, it puts entire systems at risk
➢ The problem is how to take into account the human and contextual part of a system with anything like
the rigor with which other parts of the system are understood and designed – how to go beyond fuzzy
platitudes like ‘know the user’ that are true, but do not give a method for doing or a test for having
done. This is difficult to do, but inescapable, and, in fact, capable of progress. Over the years, the need
to take into account human aspects of technical systems has led to the creation of new fields of study:
applied psychology, industrial engineering, ergonomics, human factors, man–machine systems.
Human–computer interaction is the latest of these, more complex in some ways because of the breadth
of user populations and applications, the reach into cognitive and social constraints, and the emphasis
on interaction. The experiences with other human-technical disciplines lead to a set of conclusions
about how a discipline of human–computer interaction should be organized if it is to be successful.
First, design is where the action is. An effective discipline of human–computer interaction cannot be based
largely on ‘usability analysis’, important though that may be. Usability analysis happens too late;

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there are too few degrees of freedom; and most importantly, it is not generative. Design thrives on
understanding constraints, on insight into the design space, and on deep knowledge of the materials
of the design, that is, the user, the task, and the machine. The classic landmark designs in human–
computer interaction, such as the Xerox Star and the Apple Lisa/Macintosh, were not created from
usability analysis (although usability analysis had important roles), but by generative principles for
their designs by user interface designers who had control of the design and implementation.
Second, although the notion of ‘user-centered design’ gets much press, we should really be emphasizing
‘task-centered design’. Understanding the purpose and context of a system is key to allocating
functions between people and machines and to designing their interaction. It is only in deciding what
a human–machine system should do and the constraints on this goal that the human and technical
issues can be resolved. The need for task-centered design brings forward the need for methods of
task analysis as a central part of system design.
Third, human–computer interaction needs to be structured to include both analytic and implementation
methods together in the same discipline and taught together as part of the core. Practitioners of the
discipline who can only evaluate, but not design and build are under a handicap. Builders who cannot
reason analytically about the systems they build or who do not understand the human information
processing or social contexts of their designs are under a handicap. Of course, there will be
specialists in one or another part of human–computer interaction, but for there to be a successful
field, there must be a common core.
Finally, what makes a discipline is a set of methods for doing something. A field must have results that
can be taught and used by people other than their originators to do something. Historically, a field
naturally evolves from a set of point results to a set of techniques to a set of facts, general
abstractions, methods, and theories.
GOALS of HCI
A basic goal of HCI is
✓ To improve the interactions between users and computers
✓ By making computers more usable and receptive to the user's needs.
✓ To design systems that minimize the barrier between the human's cognitive model of
what they want
✓ To accomplish and the computer's understanding of the user's task
Usability
Usability is one of the key concepts in HCI. It is concerned with making systems easy to learn
and use. A usable system is:

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✓ easy to learn
✓ easy to remember how to use
✓ effective to use
✓ efficient to use
✓ safe to use
✓ enjoyable to use
Human verses Computer
Human species
Human beings are the most interesting and fascinating specie on planet. They are the most complex
living being on the earth. It has very much diversity in its nature. It is intelligent in its deeds.
Human beings think and decide according to their own will. Yes, they are free in nature. They like
freedom. They think on a problem dynamically and they can find many solutions that may not
exist before. They can invent. They are not only rational but they also have emotions. They also
think emotionally. They act emotionally. And fortunately, or unfortunately they make mistakes. They
make mistakes which some time become fatal for them and some time they become blessing for them.
Computer species
On contrast, computers are the invention of human being. They are also complex but they are also
pretty dumb. It can also think but it can’t think on its own will, it thinks how it has been directed
to think. No doubt its speed is marvelous. It does not tire. It is emotionless. It has no feelings, no
desires. It works how it has been commanded to work. And they do not make mistakes. Before
penetration of computers in our daily life, human beings were performing their tasks at their on
responsibility. In a business domain human being were dealing and interacting with each other’s.
For example, a store manager was dealing with all the workers performing their different duties
in the store. Some one was registering the new arrivals of products, some one was numbering the
products and many more…and store manager has to interact with all these human beings. If
someone was a salesperson, he used to interact with different clients and used to deal with them
according to their mood and desire. He could judge their mood with their tone, their attitude and
with their body language. He could provide answers relevant to their questions.
But now in this age of information technology we are expecting computers to mimic human
behavior e.g. ECommerce systems, now there is no need for a salesperson. Web sites are
behaving as a salesperson or as a shopping mal. That is now; a dumb, unintelligent and inanimate
object will perform the complex task which was performed by some human being.

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Factors in HCI
There are a large number of factors which should be considered in the analysis and design of a
system using HCI principles. Many of these factors interact with each other, making the analysis
even more complex. The main factors are listed in the table below:

✓ Organization Factors: - Training, job design, politics, roles, work organization

✓ Environmental Factors: - Noise, heating, lighting, ventilation, Health and Safety Factors
✓ The User: - Cognitive processes and capabilities, Motivation, enjoyment, satisfaction,
personality, experience, comfort factors, seating, equipment, layout.
✓ User Interface: - Input devices, output devices, dialogue structures, use of colour, icons,
commands, navigation, graphics, natural language, user support, multimedia,
✓ Task Factors: Easy, complex, novel, task allocation, monitoring, skills.
✓ Constraints: Cost, timescales, budgets, staff, equipment, buildings System
✓ Functionality: - Hardware, software, application
✓ Productivity Factors: Increase output, increase quality, decrease costs, decrease errors,
increase innovation

Disciplines contributing to HCI

The field of HCI covers a wide range of topics, and its development has relied on contributions
from many disciplines. Some of the main disciplines which have contributed to HCI are:
➢ Computer Science
✓ Technology, software design, development & maintenance,
✓ User Interface Management Systems (UIMS) & User Interface Development
Environments (UIDE)
✓ prototyping tools, graphics
➢ Cognitive Psychology
✓ information processing, capabilities , limitations ,cooperative working
performance prediction
➢ Social Psychology
✓ social & organizational structures

➢ Ergonomics/Human Factors: - hardware design and display readability

➢ Linguistics: - natural language interfaces
➢ Artificial Intelligence: - intelligent software
➢ Engineering & Design: - graphic design and engineering principles

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HCI Technologies
HCI design is about designing the computer system for the people and not the people for the
computers. There are a lot of important factors that have to be considered by designers. Example
of factors is:
✓ Physiology such as the human behavior and mental processes.
✓ Organizational such as the influence of one individual in a group with the other member
as attitude and behavior.
✓ Ergonomics such as how people interact with different artifacts
HCI design should consider many aspects of human behaviors and needs to be useful. The
complexity of the degree of the involvement of a human in interaction with a machine is sometimes
invisible compared to the simplicity of the interaction method itself. The existing interfaces differ
in the degree of complexity both because of degree of functionality/usability and the financial and
economical aspect of the machine in the market. For instance, an electrical kettle need not to be
sophisticated in interface since its only functionality is to heat the water and it would not be cost-
effective to have an interface more than a thermostatic on and off switch.
On the other hand, a simple website that may be limited in functionality should be complex enough
in usability to attract and keep customers. Therefore, in design of HCI, the degree of activity that
involves a user with a machine should be thoroughly thought. The user activity has three different
levels: physical, cognitive, and affective. The physical aspect determines the mechanics of
interaction between human and computer while the cognitive aspect deals with ways that users can
understand the system and interact with it. The affective aspect is a more recent issue and it tries
not only to make the interaction a pleasurable experience for the user but also to affect the user in
a way that make user continue to use the machine by changing attitudes and emotions toward the
user
The existing physical technologies for HCI basically can be categorized by the relative human
sense that the device is designed for. These devices are basically relying on three human senses:
vision, audition, and touch. Input devices that rely on vision are the most used kind and are
commonly either switch-based or pointing devices. The switch-based devices are any kind of
interfaces that use buttons and switches like a keyboard. The pointing devices examples are mice,
joysticks, touch screen panels, graphic tablets, trackballs, and pen-based input. Joysticks are the

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ones that have both switches and pointing abilities. The output devices can be any kind of visual
display or printing device.
The recent methods and technologies in HCI are now trying to combine former methods of
interaction together and with other advancing technologies such as networking and animation.
These new advances can be categorized in three sections: wearable devices, wireless devices, and
virtual devices. The technology is improving so fast that even the borders between these new
technologies are fading away and they are getting mixed together. Few examples of these devices
are: GPS navigation systems, military super-soldier enhancing devices thermal,vision, tracking
other soldier movements using GPS, and environmental scanning), radio frequency identification
(RFID) products, personal digital assistants (PDA), and virtual tour for real estate business. Some
of these new devices upgraded and integrated previous methods of interaction.
Future Directions in HCI
During the 1990s, the concerns of HCI started to shift towards communication between people
enabled by computers. This mirrored the growth in communication networks linking computers
together. If, earlier, the concern of HCI was to determine how to let users interact, efficiently and
effectively with a computer, now researchers have started asking how users might interact with
each other via a computer. Researchers with a background in more socially-oriented sciences, like
Anthropology and Sociology, began to engage with HCI. These disciplines not only emphasized
the effects of computing on groups of people (or users) but also how computers were interpreted
and appropriated by those same groups of users. These disciplines also brought a concern for the
social, emotional, as well as technical ways in which the relationship with technology develops.
Eventually the approaches of these disciplines were amalgamated so that concerns that had been
central before, such as those related to cognitive processing and so forth, were supplemented (and
in some ways replaced) by more complex social modeling views and techniques.
There are few recommendations for how to bring about a new way of undertaking HCI research
and design and to make it more relevant to today’s world.
1. Explore New Ways of Understanding Users
2. Explore New Ways of Designing and Making

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Explore New Ways of Understanding Users

This will require the articulation of diverse methodologies. Over the last decade we have seen, for
example, techniques rooted in design-based practices (such as cultural probes) come to
prominence. These have complemented existing techniques of understanding that have emerged
from scientific and engineering traditions – Human Factors and Cognitive Science, for instance.
Other ways of extending and complementing existing techniques will be required beyond design;
these may include views from more diverse disciplines and cultural traditions. The use of
conceptual analysis as the first stage of a new HCI is a case in point. This technique derives from
analytic philosophy, and entails clarifying the systems of meaning and value any particular set of
activities involve

Explore New Ways of Designing and Making

The design and building of prototypes of new devices will need to be undertaken in ways that are
directed at particular kinds of user value. These will have to complement and extend existing ways
of designing and building which emphasize usability and closeness of fit between prototyped and
engineered solutions. In the future, more lightweight, rapid prototyping and design iteration
processes will be required, and ones that will allow complex eco-system experiences to be
investigated as well as simpler, human-machine relationships. New prototyping tools and
technologies will be especially important, allowing the rapid and easy assembly of novel hardware
and software to test alongside and within everyday artifacts and living spaces.