Introduction to HCI

CS 3724Fall 2003

Who are these people?

n Scott McCrickardn Doug Bowmann Pardha Pylan Wendy Schafer

First things first...

n Why are you taking this class? (behonest)

n What do you expect to learn?n How do you expect to apply this

knowledge?

Unlike other CS classes...

n No equations (well, maybe one)n No proofsn No algorithmsn Multi-disciplinary

n psychologyn graphic designn industrial engineering

Definitions

n HCI: human-computer interactionn computer: any interactive system with

digital computation componentsn interaction: communication or dialogue

or collaboration between two parties

Interactive System

n interactive systems support humanactivity

n any device whose action follows fromthe actions of its user and whose actionis at least partly apparent to the user

n 2-way communication

User System

User Interface

n The visible parts of an interactivesystem through which the user andsystem communicate

InputDevices

UI SW System

OutputDevices

Human Factors

n human factors generally refers to:n psychology of system users (e.g. vision)n physiology of system users (e.g.

ergonomics)

n this class is really introduction to HCI

Why should you study HCI?n Myth: Interaction/UI design is the easiest

part of a system, and should be done lastn Myth: Programming is the most important

skill for system developersn We want to support human activity, so design

with users in mind! (UCSD)n Technology will not be useful unless it is also

usablen Usable systems lead to more productivity and

satisfaction

What are the criteria forsuccess?n SW Eng. goals are still important:

n robustnessn maintainabilityn cost

n HCI goal – usability:n user performance (speed, errors)n ease of learning, ease of usen user satisfaction, physical comfort

Past & Future of HCI

Why Usability Engineering?n Waterfall models of development do not work

n Too many unknowns (Brooks: No Silver Bullet)

n Need an iterative discovery-oriented processn But at the same time need to manage it

n Demands well-defined process with metricsn Specifying usability goals as objectivesn Assessing and redesigning to meet these objectivesn Manage usability as a quality characteristic, much

like modularity or nonfunctional requirements

How Should We MeasureUsability?n Bottom line is whether the users got what

they wanted, i.e., is the client satisfiedn Practically speaking, need to break this down

so that we can operationalize our objectivesn Our textbook definition:

The quality of an interactive computer system withrespect to ease of learning, ease of use, and usersatisfaction

n Can the users do what they want to do in acomfortable and pleasant fashion?

History and Future of HCI

n Much of the class will consider systemsthat are in use today

n Class projects may speculate onemerging (but feasible) paradigms

n To understand present and future,start with the emergence of HCI

History of HCIn Vannevar Bush, 1945

“As We May Think”n Vision of post-war

activities, Memexn “…when one of these

items is in view, theother can be instantlyrecalled merely bytapping a button”

History of HCI (con’d)

n JCR Licklider, 1960 “Man-ComputerSymbiosis”

n Tightly coupled human brain andmachine, speech recognition, timesharing, character recognition

History of HCI (con’d)n Douglas Engelbart, 1962

“Augmenting HumanIntellect: A ConceptualFramework”

n In 1968, workstation witha mouse, links acrossdocuments, chordedkeyboard

History of HCI (con’d)n XEROX Alto and Star

n Windowsn Menusn Scrollbarsn Pointingn Consistency

n Apple LISA and Macn Inexpensiven High-quality graphicsn 3rd party

applications

History (and future) of HCIn Large displaysn Small displaysn Peripheral displaysn Alternative I/On Ubiquitous

computingn Virtual environmentsn Implants

n Speech recognitionn Multimedian Video conferencingn Artificial intelligencen Software agentsn Recommender

systemsn ...

HCI people at VTn Doug Bowmann Dan Dunlapn Roger Ehrichn Steve Harrisonn Rex Hartsonn Deborah Hixn Philip Isenhourn Andrea Kavanaugh

n Brian Kleinern Scott McCrickardn Chris Northn Manuel Pérez-

Quiñonesn Tonya Smith-

Jacksonn Deborah Tatar

Course information

Textbooks

n Mary Beth Rossonand John M. Carroll,Usability Engineering:Scenario-BasedDevelopment of HCI(RC)

n Alan Cooper, AboutFace 2.0

Other Useful Booksn Ben Shneiderman,

Designing the UserInterface

n Deborah Hix and RexHartson, HCI

n Don Norman, Designof Everyday Things

n Fred Brooks, TheMythical Man Month

Evaluation

n Project: 55%n 5 phases @ 10% eachn Final presentation: 5%

n Mid-term and final: 15% eachn Activities, quizzes, and homework: 15%

Course Webpage

http://courses.cs.vt.edu/~cs3724/fall2003-mccrickard