Human-Computer Interaction History and Human Factors

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

  • Definition:

    • HCI is a discipline concerned with the design, evaluation, and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use.
    • It also involves the study of major phenomena surrounding these systems.
    • Source: ACM SIGCHI Curricula for HCI [1].

  • Historical Context:

    • Computers have been around since the 1940s.
    • Interaction studies began in the 1980s.

Timeline of Notable Events in HCI History

  • 1945: Vannevar Bush publishes "As We May Think".
  • 1963: Douglas Engelbart invents the computer mouse.
  • 1962: Ivan Sutherland develops Sketchpad.
  • 1981: Xerox Star launched (first commercial computer with a GUI).
  • 1982: ACM SIGCHI formed.
  • 1983: Card, Moran, and Newell publish "The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction".
  • 1984: Apple Macintosh launched.
  • 2007: 25th Anniversary of "CHI", the SIGCHI annual conference.

Mouse Evaluation Experiment (1967) by English

  • Comparative evaluation of a computer mouse against other devices.
  • Additional devices used:
    • Joystick.
    • Lightpen.
    • Knee-controlled lever.
    • Grafacon.
  • Metrics:
    • Task completion time in seconds.
    • Error rate (ratio of missed selections to all selections).
    • Completion time for mouse was around 2.62.6 seconds.
    • Error Rate for mouse was around 0.0990.099.

Xerox Star Workstation

  • First commercial computer with a GUI (1981).
  • Introduced the "desktop" metaphor.
  • Icons used:
    • TTY.
    • Dialog.
    • Document.
    • Folder.
    • Record File.
    • File Drawer.
    • Calculator.
    • Terminal.
    • In Tray.
    • Out Tray.
    • Floppy Disk Drive.
    • Printer.
    • User.
    • User Group.

Birth of HCI Discipline

  • First ACM CHI conference in 1983.
  • Number of papers submitted and accepted:
    • Showed the trend of submissions and acceptances over the years
    • Graph indicates the volume of interest and research activity in HCI since the mid-1980s.

The Model Human Processor (MHP)

  • Developed by Card, Moran & Newell (1983).
  • A cognitive modeling method.
  • Used to calculate how long it takes to perform a certain task.

Human Factors in HCI

  • Humans are more complex than machines and are different from each other.
  • Key aspects of human factors:
    • Newell's time scales.
    • Sensor/responder vs display/control.
    • Human sensors (vision, hearing, touch, smell, taste).
    • Responders (limbs, handedness, voice, eyes).
    • Perception.
    • Language.
  • HCI researchers must understand users’ abilities and limitations.

Timing Human Action

  • Time is a key variable in HCI experiments.
  • Examples:
    • Selection techniques.
    • Menu design.
    • Auditory feedback.
    • Text entry.
    • Gestural input.
    • Web navigation.
    • User search strategies.
    • Collaborative computing.
    • Social navigation.
    • Situated awareness.
    • Workplace habits.
    • Groupware usage patterns.
    • Social networking.
    • Online dating.
    • Privacy.
    • User styles and preferences.

Human Models

  • Useful for studying human brain, sensors, and responders.
  • Human factors view of the human operator in a work environment:
    • Interface between Human and Computer
    • Sensors and Displays linking the Human Brain and the Machine State.
    • Responders and Controls allowing interaction from the Human side.

Human Sensors

  • Vision (sight).
    • Most important sense in many interaction scenarios.
    • Eyes move in fast series of fixations (200ms) and saccades (30-120ms).
    • Eye tracking often used in HCI studies.
  • Hearing (audition).
    • Increasingly important.
    • Devices used for listening to music.
    • Speech recognition & speech generation.
    • Accessibility when visual interfaces are not suited.
  • Touch (tactition).
    • (passive) identifiers on keyboards (F/J).
    • Edge, shape and resistance of keys, mouse buttons, joysticks.
    • (active) vibration phones, game controllers.
  • Smell (olfaction)
  • Taste (gustation).

Yarbus' Research on Eye Movements and Vision

  • Eye scan paths vary based on the task.
  • Example tasks:
    • Remembering the position of people and objects.
    • Estimating the ages of the people.

Responders

  • Limbs, mainly hands.
    • Design considerations for left/right handedness.
  • Voice.
  • Eyes.

Motor Homunculus

  • Shows human responders and the corresponding cortical area.
  • Includes:
    • Knee, Trunk, Shoulder.
    • Elbow, Wrist, Ankle, Toes.
    • Hand, Little, Ring, Middle, Index, Thumb.
    • Neck, Brow, Eyelid & eyeball, Face, Lips, Jaw, Tongue.

Eye Typing

  • Eye as sensor and responder.
  • Apparatus involves an on-screen keyboard.
  • Involves fixations and saccades.

Brain

  • Perception.
    • Associations & meaning.
    • Just noticeable difference (JND).
    • Ambiguity/illusions.
  • Cognition.
    • Plays key role in task of HCI experiment.
    • Thinking takes time.
  • Memory.
    • Long/short term.
    • The Magic Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two (7±2).
  • Control.
    • Brain-computer interfaces.

Language

  • Spoken vs written.
  • Language differences.
  • Redundancy & entropy.
  • In HCI, the primary interest is in systems of writing and technology that enables communication in written form.

Human Performance

  • Reaction time.
  • Human Error.
  • Attention.
  • Practice & skill.
  • Humans use their sensors, brain, and responders to do things.
  • When the three elements work together to achieve a goal, human performance arises.