1. Historical Perspective on HCI
CS 4163
Don Norman’s The Invisible Computer: Why Good Products Can Fail, The Personal Computer Is So Complex, And Information Appliances Are the Solution (The MIT Press, ©1998 by the author) has a good intro that could be used to update these slides.

2. Technological Innovations Follow a Timeline
Demand for
operators
Concern
for
usability
Technology is
the limiting
factor
Innovation
Timeline for concern about usabilty (computers and other devices)
1. Innovation - no one would claim that the Wright Flyer was usable or easy to fly. The challenge was to develop the technology at all.
2. Technology is the limiting factor.
Operators are still dedicated enthusiasts.
In the early years of aviation, every plane was custom built, usually by the pilot.
3. Technology is still the limiting factor, but the demand for more operators means that it is less controlled by enthusiasts
(eg. WW1 pilots, Red Baron...). Selection and training become critical.
human factors starts to be important - ensuring that the required skills are trainable.
The limiting factor is no longer what the technology can do, but what the operator can learn to do.
4. Once the human becomes a limiting factor, concern about usability often becomes a focus.
The field of cockpit design and cockpit ergonomics became a serious area of study during and after WWII.

3. Three Trends in CS Raise Awareness of Usability
Hardware environment
Types/sophistication of users
New applications

4. Hardware Changes 1950’s batch processing 1960’s time-sharing 1970’s
1990’s / forward
workstations
graphical displays
processing power
for multimedia
interactive
(on-line)
mini/micros
Historical Trends in computing that led to the emergence of the field of HCI.
1950’s
Batch processing: the user interfaces were card reader, printed output
1960’s
Time sharing - early 1960's
Time sharing and Distribution processing (60's) remote data entry/ display: user interfaces were Teletype.
1970's/80's
Two directions in Computing
On-line(interactive interfaces)
Minis & micros (mid 70's)
(stand-alone; personal computers)
Workstations -80's
(Xerox Parc - star, Lisa -> Macintosh)

5. User Changes Computing professionals vs. Discretionary users
Proportion has changed: more discretionary users
Users are more sophisticated and demanding

6. Application Changes 1950’s batch text CAD computational s/w
meteorological
banks
1970’s
cheaper
graphics
improved
printers
small
business
computing
1980’s
1990’s / forward
personal computer apps
(e.g. spreadsheets, word
processing)
bit-mapped graphics
hypertext
multimedia
Applications that changed over time and affected hci:
1950's Graphics Batch Text Text
CAD and
Graphics
1970's cheap
graphics
1980's bit-mapped Wysiwyg
color Hypertext

7. How to Improve UIs?
Little agreement in late 1970s and ’80s even now, many views
Follow guidelines — intuitive
Define & try prototypes — quasi-experiential
Experiments: laboratory  observational
We will look at all three approaches

8. Broader Issues (1) HCI is not
Just a simple matter to decide whether to use a menu or a command type of interface
Consider the problem broader perspective
Take into account all factors that influence us and others in regard to using computers

9. Broader Issues (2) We are not interested in ‘user friendliness’
‘User friendly’ is an anthropomorphic term. Do you wish to be friends with your computer?
It is one-dimensional The system is either user friendly or not
Anthropomorphization: See H&H §2.3.8 (pp. 43 – 44)

10. Broader Issues (3) Baecker figure No silver bullet sidebar
Fig (from Hix & Hartson)
Baeker: Ronald Baecker
A Vision of Education in User-Centered System and Interface Design
In SIGCHI Bulletin v.20 n.3 (Jan.) 1989
Figure and comment in text about figure
Point is the complexity of HCI
No Silver Bullet:
Challenges of HCI Design and Implementation
By Brad A. Myers
In interactions v.I n.1 (Jan. 1994), pp. 73 – 83.
Sidebar explaining why developing UIs is so complex and difficult (p. 75)
H&H:
Deborah Hix and H. Rex Hartson.
Developing User Interfaces: Ensuring Usability through Product & Process
©1993 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
See file h+h_1.pdf for Figures 1.1, and 1.2, and Table 1.1

11. Definitions of HCI & Usability
Human computer interaction (HCI)
Discipline concerned with:
Design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use
Study of the major phenomena surrounding interactive computing systems for human use
Usability
Is interface appropriate for the users for the task that they are using for?
This is a working definition of usability. We'll examine some models later.

12. Ensuring Usability Two components:
The product — the user interface itself
content, human factors issues, design guidelines and interaction styles
The process — how to develop the UI
lifecycle, methods, techniques and tools for developing and UI

13. Behavioural & Constructional Domains
See table 1.1 (from Hix & Hartson)
Our focus is on the behavioural domain
H&H:
Deborah Hix and H. Rex Hartson.
Developing User Interfaces: Ensuring Usability through Product & Process
©1993 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
See file h+h_1.pdf for Figures 1.1, and 1.2, and Table 1.1