Human-Centered ComputingRetreat Overview

John Canny UC Berkeley

HCC overview

HCC• Human-Centered Computing (HCC) is a research

effort at Berkeley that studies computing as an ubiquitous technology which is transforming society.

• Its an interdisciplinary “umbrella” project involving 30-40 faculty on campus.

HCC overview

HCC in a nutshell• Computing is becoming ubiquitous, quiet, and

more tightly coupled with the physical world.

• Computing in future will operate in human contexts, rather than creating contexts which humans must learn and understand.

• HCC draws on the social sciences to build a deep understanding of those contexts.

HCC overview

The problem of context• Context is more than when and where an action

takes place.

• It includes the activity, task, long-term goals, and psychological state of people and groups of people.

HCC overview

HCC is a two-way street• Understanding social behavior is important for

computer applications that will assist people. i.e. computer scientists gain from knowledge of the social sciences.

• Computing is permeating the daily lives of most people. It has changed the nature of work, and is changing the way people learn, buy goods and recreate. It is both a transformative force and an extraordinary tool for studies in the social sciences. Social scientists benefit from seeing emerging technologies up close, and in using computational tools for large-scale studies.

HCC overview

HCC Overview• Changes caused by information technology:

Creation of the knowledge worker and informational companies.

The agile corporation: temps, outsourcing, offshore labor, retraining.

Ubiquitous networking and communication is creating new kinds of social ties and reshaping social networks.

The promise of education: learner autonomy and life-long learning.

• HCC seeks to tie social and behavioral sciences with information science and engineering.

HCC overview

Why now?• Computing seems to be a great success …

(credited for the relentless climb of the Dow).

• BUT, the future success of information technology depends on scaling barriers which are increasingly non-technical.

HCC overview

Where the walls are:• Natural human-machine interaction.

• Computer literacy and life-long learning.

• Face-to-face vs. electronic interaction.

• Codified vs. tacit knowledge.

• Engineering vs. the social sciences.

HCC overview

HCC Overview• HCC is not a single research project, but

provides an umbrella for interdisciplinary projects across wall # 5.

• Some themes that you’ll hear about: Natural interaction. Pens, gesture, speech. Design of learning tools, tools for learning design. Design as practice, tools for doing it. CMC tools based on the psychology of interaction. Mining tacit knowledge, social & computer networks.

HCC overview

Who we are:

From Electrical Engineering• Ron Fearing• Nelson Morgan• Richard Newton• Kris Pister• Avideh Zakhor

From GSE: Graduate School of Education

• Andy diSessa• Marcia Linn• Michael Ranney

From Sociology• Barry Wellman (Toronto)• Elisa Bienenstock (Stanford)• Manuel Castells• Claude Fischer

From Computer Science• John Canny• Jerry Feldman• David Forsyth• Michael Jordan• Anthony Joseph• Randy Katz• James Landay• Jitendra Malik• Robert Wilensky

From Psychology• Dacher Keltner• Jerry Mendelsohn

HCC overview

HCC Faculty Researchers

IEOR: Industrial Engineering and Operations Research

• Ken Goldberg

From Mechanical Engineering

• Alice Agogino• Homi Kazerooni• Paul Wright

From SIMS: School of information Management and Systems

• Marti Hearst• Nancy Van House• Hal Varian

From Business• Robert E Cole• Jim Lincoln

HCC overview

Where it would be:

• LAB space (2000 sq ft) in South Hall (SIMS), to contain video editing eqpt., CMC tools, eqpt for usability studies (head tracker etc.).

• Centrally located on campus. Surrounded by other small offices for temporary use.

HCC overview

Goals of the Retreat

• Survey the research at UCB (long-term views). Introduce our industry participants. Think about breakout group topics (today).

• Sample some active research projects (talks and posters). Brainstorm about the center’s future. How we should build it up, set priorities, make connections (tomorrow).

• Summarize the discussions and get feedback (Friday).