the history of human-computer interaction: a summary

THE HISTORY OF HCI THEORYIntroductory slides to the course Human-Computer Interaction @ KU Leuven, Belgium http://onderwijsaanbod.kuleuven.be/syllabi/e/S0C76AE.htm By Bieke Zaman http://www.linkedin.com/in/biekezamanYou can be inspired by these slides, but please give me the credits

FROM CLASSICAL TO MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY HCI

CLASSICAL HCI-FIRST WAVE-

• Early ’80s

• Discretionary use

• Command and form-based interactions

• Difficult to learn, difficult to use

CONTEXT

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A (passive) system component

• Limited attention span, faulty memory

• De-personalised• unmotivated

Single userOften novice user

HUMAN FACTOR

CONTRIBUTIONS COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY• Basic research: that helps to explain

capabilities and limitations users • Applied basic research: Prescriptive advice for

interface design

COGNITIVE MODELING• Models the cognition that is assumed to

happen when a user caries out tasks• Predictive or prescriptive

CLASSICAL HCI THEORIES

ASSUMPTIONUsers can be analysed in the same manner as the information processing of technology

• Controlled lab experiments• User modeling• Rigid guidelines• User requirements

CLASSICAL HCI METHODS

MODERN HCI-SECOND WAVE-

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CONTEXT

• Late ’80s, early ‘90s

• Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) succeeded

• Maturation of local area networks (LANs) & internet

1. An active autonomous agent• capable of

regulating and controlling behaviour

• With individual motivation

2. Member of community of workers, often expert users

3. Acting in a setting

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HUMAN ACTORhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/76029035@N02/6829285309/sizes/z/in/photostream/

ALTERNATIVE COGNITIVE APPROACHES• Distributed Cognition• External cognition• Ecological Psychology

SOCIAL APPROACHES• Situated Action• Ethnomethodology and ethnography• CSCW theories

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MODERN HCI THEORIES

OTHER IMPORTANT APPROACHES• Grounded Theory• Activity Theory• Hybrid theories

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MODERN HCI THEORIES

ETHNOGRAPHY• Intensive, long term involvement• Participant-observations - contextual inquiries• Thick descriptions:

– why and how– accounting for unpredictable factors– Focus on interactivity and how cognition is distributed (rather

than modelling what happens inside the head)– How the environment affects action & perception

QUICK AND DIRTY METHODS• Rapid prototyping• Iterative (co-)design & evaluations

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MODERN HCI METHODS

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CONTEMPORARY HCI-THIRD WAVE-

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CONTEXT

• Mid to late 2000s• Societal and economic changes

– Post-materialism -> experiental orientation• Technological evolutions

– Internet!– Home use– New interaction paradigms, embedded

computation– Discretionary use of the moment

1. Users as designers

2. People who want to be satisfied

– also in non-work, non-purposeful & non-rational settings

– Value-driven, life goals

3. People who continuously engage in new, initial technology experiencesHUMAN CRAFTER

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldoritan/4604769875/sizes/m/in/photostream

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HUMAN SATISFACTOR

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CONTEMPORARY HCI THEORIES

TURN TO EMOTIONS AND QUALITIES• Emotions, aesthetics, hedonics, motivations

TURN TO DESIGN• Critical reflection, accountability• Creative HCI, interpretively flexible design

TURN TO CULTURE• Interpretative schemes, cultural study

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CONTEMPORARY HCI THEORIES

TURN TO THE WILD• Studying and designing in the wild• Augment people & places

TURN TO EMBODIMENT• Interaction as practical engagement with the

social and physical• Technology and practice cannot be separated• Perception and action cannot be separated either

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CONTEMPORARY HCI METHODS

EXPLORATORY, CREATIVE METHODS• Inspiration seeking

PARTICIPATORY METHODS• User involvement• Co-design, accounting for human values

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CONTEMPORARY HCI FRAMING

SOCIALLY AWARE AND RESPONSIBLE RESEARCH• aiming for life goals that reach beyond the

pragmatic or hedonic• incl. health, well-being, climate change,

feminism, multiculturalism, globalization, world peace and poverty

UCD STARTS BY UNDERSTANDING• … the human values that the technology will

be designed to serve

INVISIBLE CHILDREN____________________