Human Computer Interaction

Lecture 2

Dr. Syed Asim Jalal

Department of Computer Science
University of Peshawar

Dr Asim Jalal 1

Rise of HCI:

 HCI surfaced in the 1980s with the advent of personal

computing started turning up in homes and offices in
society.

 Until the late 1970s, the only people who interacted

with computers were IT professionals.

 As computers were no longer room-sized, expensive

tools exclusively built for experts in specialized
environments, computers became affordable for
common people, the importance of focus on
interaction for less experienced users became
increasingly vital.

2
Dr Asim Jalal
 – Computer graphics and information retrieval had
emerged in the 1970s, and rapidly came to
recognize that interactive systems were the key to
progressing.
– Interactive systems based on graphics were called
Graphical User Interface (GUI)
– At that time WIMP became a milestone in Human
Computer Interaction.
 i.e. WIMP: Windows Icons, Menu, Pointers

3
Dr Asim Jalal

GUI to address commands remembering problems:

– With a GUI, the user issues a command to the

computer by selecting a command from a menu
rather than typing it on the keyboard.
– Menus require recognition vs Typing requires recall
– It is known that recognition is preferred over recall
in user interfaces at least for novices, but a new
problem then surfaces.

4
Dr Asim Jalal
Emergence of Ergonomics

‘Human factors’ is another phrase

for the concept of ergonomics.

Ergonomics deals with the

correct body position to help
lower the possibilities of
strains and injuries while
using computer systems (or
industrial systems).

5
Dr Asim Jalal

Health Issues Associated with Poor

Ergonomics

6
Dr Asim Jalal
Moving to non-desktop environment
 Initially, HCI researchers focused on improving the
usability of desktop computers (i.e., how easy
computers are to learn and use).

 However, with the rise of technologies such as the

Internet and the Smart Phones, computer use would
increasingly move away from the desktop to embrace
the mobile world.

 Now most of HCI work is about non-desktop

environment.

7
Dr Asim Jalal

Interaction Design become more

important as HCI expanded
 HCI steadily encompassed the following
fields:
– Multimodal Interactions
– Visualization
– Healthcare Applications
– Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality
– E-Learning
– Accessibility (Elders, Children, physically impaired)
– ICT for Development (ICT4D)
– Wearable Technologies
– IoT
8
Dr Asim Jalal
 Some Examples of Earlier Major
Achievements in HCIs

9
Dr Asim Jalal

Sketchpad (1962)

 Ivan Sutherland developed Sketchpad in the early

1960s as part of his PhD research in electrical
engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (M.I.T.).
 Sketchpad was a graphics system that supported
the manipulation of geometric shapes and lines
(objects) on a display using a light pen.
 With Sketchpad, commands were not typed. Users
did not “write letters to” the computer. Instead,
objects were drawn, resized, grabbed and moved,
extended, deleted—directly, using the light pen.
 The use of a pointing device for input makes
Sketchpad the first direct manipulation interface—a
sign of things to come.
10
Dr Asim Jalal
 11
Dr Asim Jalal

Invention of the mouse (1963)

Moving beyond typing Commands

 If there is one device that symbolizes the

emergence of HCI, it is the computer mouse.
Invented by Douglas Engelbart in 1963.
 The mouse was destined to fundamentally change
the way humans interact with computers.
 Instead of typing commands, a user could
manipulate a mouse to control an on-screen
tracking symbol, or cursor.
 With the cursor positioned over a graphic image
representing the command, the command is
issued with a select operation—pressing and
releasing a button on the mouse.
12
Dr Asim Jalal
 13
Dr Asim Jalal

Mouse Testing: HCI First User Study

 Initial testing of the mouse focused on selecting and
manipulating text, rather than drawing and manipulating
graphic objects.

 Engelbart was second author of the first published

evaluation of the mouse.

 This was, arguably, HCI’s first user study.

 Engelbart, along with English and Berman conducted a

controlled experiment comparing several input devices
capable of both selection and x-y position control of an on-
screen cursor.

 Besides the mouse, the comparison included a light pen, a

joystick, a knee-controlled lever, and a Grafacon.
14
Dr Asim Jalal
User Studies come at the very core of HCI
– because it informs the system designers
about if the system is working for the
users or not and what problems exist in
the interaction with the system?

15
Dr Asim Jalal

16
Dr Asim Jalal
Result of the first HCI user study

Time to complete the given

task using different
devices.

Error rate during task

completion using different
devices.

17
Dr Asim Jalal

Xerox star (1981)

 The Xerox Star was the first commercially released
computer system with a GUI.
 It had windows, icons, menus, and a pointing
device (WIMP).
 It supported direct manipulation and what-you-see-
is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) interaction.

18
Dr Asim Jalal
 One novel feature of the Star was use of the desktop
metaphor. Metaphors are important in HCI.

Xerox Star was basically a “Serious Business Personal

Computers” – which was still overpriced for common
people. It was priced at $9,995 for a base system

19
Dr Asim Jalal

Launch of the Apple Macintosh (1984)

20
Dr Asim Jalal
 The Macintosh, priced between $1,995 and $2,495, aimed to
change the way computers were used by “person in the street”.

 It was the first computer developed for home users with an

affordable price that used window-and-mouse system.

 It changed how people (Humans) interacted with computers.

 The Mac was not only cool, the interface was simple and intuitive.
Anyone could use it. It was sleek and sported the latest input
device, a computer mouse.

 The operating system and applications software indicated the

new age of the GUI with direct manipulation and point-select
interaction.

 Part of the simplicity was its one-button mouse. With one button,
there was no confusion on which button to press.

21
Dr Asim Jalal

Early HCI Research Focus and

Examples

These examples will give you an idea of

the types of the issues and problems
studied by earlier HCI researchers.

22
Dr Asim Jalal
Early HCI Research Examples

 Initially the focus of human-computer interaction was

on research in the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency
of interfaces.
– Example:
– How quickly and accurately can people do
common tasks using a GUI versus a text-based
command-line interface?
– Given two or more variations in a GUI
implementation, which one is quicker or more
accurate?

These or similar questions formed the basis of

much empirical research in the early days of HCI.

23
Dr Asim Jalal

Other Early HCI research examples:

– A classic example of early research topic in

HCI is how to design menus.
 For example, if there were numerous commands in
a menu, how should they be organized?
 One approach is to organize menu commands in a
hierarchy that includes depth and breadth. The
question then arises:
– what is the best structure for the hierarchy?
Consider the case of 64 commands organized
in a menu.
– The menu could be organized with depth = 2
and breadth = 8 or depth=6 and breadth = 2, or
with.

24
Dr Asim Jalal
 25
Dr Asim Jalal

Early HCI Research Examples

 Should items be ordered alphabetically or by

functionality?

 Is access improved if an icon is added to the label?

 Do people in different age groups respond differently

to broad versus deep menu hierarchies?
– Diversity in people is considered here.
– Such knowledge can help in customization of
interfaces.

26
Dr Asim Jalal