HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION

Human-computer interaction (HCI) is research in the design and the use of computer technology,
which focuses on the interfaces between people (users) and computers. HCI researchers observe
the ways humans interact with computers and design technologies that allow humans to interact
with computers in novel ways. A device that allows interaction between a human being and a
computer is known as a "Human-computer Interface (HCI)".

As a field of research, human-computer interaction is situated at the intersection of computer

science, behavioral sciences, design, media studies, and several other fields of study. The term
was popularized by Stuart K. Card, Allen Newell, and Thomas P. Moran in their 1983 book, The
Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction. The first known use was in 1975 by Carlisle. The
term is intended to convey that, unlike other tools with specific and limited uses, computers have
many uses which often involve an open-ended dialogue between the user and the computer. The
notion of dialogue likens human-computer interaction to human-to-human interaction: an
analogy that is crucial to theoretical considerations in the field.

Introduction
Humans interact with computers in many ways, and the interface between the two is crucial to
facilitating this interaction. HCI is also sometimes termed human-machine interaction (HMI),
man-machine interaction (MMI), or computer-human interaction (CHI). Desktop applications,
internet browsers, handheld computers, and computer kiosks make use of the prevalent graphical
user interfaces (GUI) of today. Voice user interfaces (VUI) are used for speech recognition and
synthesizing systems, and the emerging multi-modal and Graphical user interfaces (GUI) allow
humans to engage with embodied character agents in a way that cannot be achieved with other
interface paradigms. The human growth–the computer interaction field has led to an increase in
the quality of interaction and resulted in many new areas of research beyond. Instead of
designing regular interfaces, the different research branches focus on the concepts of
multimodality over unimodality, intelligent adaptive interfaces over command/action-based ones,
and active interfaces over passive interfaces. The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
defines human-computer interaction as "a discipline that is concerned with the design,
evaluation, and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use and with the
study of major phenomena surrounding them". An important facet of HCI is user satisfaction (or
End-User Computing Satisfaction). It goes on to say:

"Because human-computer interaction studies a human and a machine in communication, it

draws from supporting knowledge on both the machine and the human side. On the machine
side, techniques in computer graphics, operating systems, programming languages, and
development environments are relevant. On the human side, communication theory, graphic and
industrial design disciplines, linguistics, social sciences, cognitive psychology, social
psychology, and human factors such as computer user satisfaction are relevant. And, of course,
engineering and design methods are relevant. "Due to the multidisciplinary nature of HCI, people
with different backgrounds contribute to its success.
Poorly designed human-machine interfaces can lead to many unexpected problems. A classic
example is the Three Mile Island accident, a nuclear meltdown accident, where investigations
concluded that the design of the human-machine interface was at least partly responsible for the
disaster. Similarly, accidents in aviation have resulted from manufacturers' decisions to use non-
standard flight instruments or throttle quadrant layouts: even though the new designs were
proposed to be superior in basic human-machine interaction, pilots had already ingrained the
"standard" layout. Thus, the conceptually good idea had unintended results.

Human–computer interface
The human-computer interface can be described as the point of communication between the
human user and the computer. The flow of information between humans and computers is
defined as the loop of interaction. The loop of interaction has several aspects to it, including:

Visual Based: The visual-based human-computer interaction is probably the most widespread
human-computer interaction (HCI) research area.

Audio-Based: The audio-based interaction between a computer and a human is another important
area of HCI systems. This area deals with information acquired by different audio signals.

Task environment: The conditions and goals set upon the user.

Machine environment: The computer's environment is connected to, e.g., a laptop in a college
student's dorm room.

Areas of the interface: Non-overlapping areas involve the processes related to humans and
computers themselves, while the overlapping areas only involve the processes related to their
interaction.

Input flow: The flow of information begins in the task environment when the user has some task
requiring using their computer.

Output: The flow of information that originates in the machine environment.

Feedback: Loops through the interface that evaluate, moderate, and confirm processes as they
pass from the human through the interface to the computer and back.

Fit: This matches the computer design, the user, and the task to optimize the human resources
needed to accomplish the task.

Goals for computers

Human-computer interaction studies how humans make—or do not make—use of computational
artifacts, systems, and infrastructures. Much of the research in this field seeks to improve human-
computer interaction by improving the usability of computer interfaces. How usability is to be
precisely understood, how it relates to other social and cultural values, and when it is, and when
it may not be a desirable property of computer interfaces is increasingly debated. Much of the
research in the field of human-computer interaction takes an interest in:

Methods for designing new computer interfaces, thereby optimizing a design for a desired
property such as learnability, findability, and efficiency of use.

Methods for implementing interfaces, e.g., using software libraries.

Methods for evaluating and comparing interfaces concerning their usability and other desirable
properties.

Methods for studying human-computer use and its sociocultural implications more broadly.

Methods for determining whether or not the user is human or computer.

Models and theories of human-computer use as well as conceptual frameworks for the design of
computer interfaces, such as cognitivist user models, Activity Theory, or ethnomethodological
accounts of human-computer use.

Perspectives that critically reflect upon the values that underlie computational design, computer
use, and HCI research practice. Visions of what researchers in the field seek to achieve might
vary. When pursuing a cognitivist perspective, researchers of HCI may seek to align computer
interfaces with the mental model that humans have of their activities. When pursuing a post-
cognitivist perspective, researchers of HCI may seek to align computer interfaces with existing
social practices or existing sociocultural values.

Researchers in HCI are interested in developing design methodologies, experimenting with

devices, prototyping software and hardware systems, exploring interaction paradigms, and
developing models and theories of interaction.

Design
Principles

The following experimental design principles are considered, when evaluating a current user
interface, or designing a new user interface:

Early focus is placed on the user(s) and task(s): How many users are needed to perform the
task(s) is established and who the appropriate users should be is determined (someone who has
never used the interface, and will not use the interface in the future, is most likely not a valid
user). In addition, the task(s) the users will be performing and how often the task(s) need to be
performed is defined.
Empirical measurement: the interface is tested with real users who come in contact with the
interface daily. The results can vary with the user’s performance level, and the typical human-
computer interaction may not always be represented. Quantitative usability specifics, such as the
number of users performing the task(s), the time to complete the task(s), and the number of
errors made during the task(s) are determined.

Iterative design: After determining what users, tasks, and empirical measurements to include, the
following iterative design steps are performed:

Design the user interface

Test

Analyze results

Repeat the iterative design process is repeated until a sensible, user-friendly interface is created.

Methodologies

Various strategies delineating methods for human–PC interaction design have developed since
the conception of the field during the 1980s. Most plan philosophies come from a model for how
clients, originators, and specialized frameworks interface. Early techniques treated clients'
psychological procedures as unsurprising and quantifiable and urged plan specialists to look at
subjective science to establish zones, (for example, memory and consideration) when structuring
UIs. Present-day models, in general, center around a steady input and discussion between clients,
creators, and specialists and push for specialized frameworks to be folded with the sorts of
encounters clients need to have, as opposed to wrapping user experience around a finished
framework.

Activity theory: utilized in HCI to characterize and consider the setting where human
cooperation with PCs occurs. The action hypothesis gives a structure for reasoning about
activities in these specific circumstances and illuminates the design of interactions from an
action-driven perspective.

User-centered design (UCD): a cutting-edge, broadly-rehearsed plan theory established on the

possibility that clients must become the overwhelming focus in the plan of any PC framework.
Clients, architects, and specialized experts cooperate to determine the requirements and
restrictions of the client and make a framework to support these components. Frequently, client-
focused plans are informed by ethnographic investigations of situations in which clients will
associate with the framework. This training is like participatory design, which underscores the
end-client’s likelihood to contribute effectively through shared plan sessions and workshops.

Principles of UI design: these standards may be considered during the design of a client
interface: resistance, effortlessness, permeability, affordance, consistency, structure, and
feedback.
Value sensitive design (VSD): a technique for building innovation that accounts for the
individuals who utilize the design straightforwardly, and just as well for those whom the design
influences, either directly or indirectly. VSD utilizes an iterative plan process that includes three
kinds of examinations: theoretical, exact, and specialized. Applied examinations target the
understanding and articulation of the different parts of the design, and its qualities or any clashes
that may emerge for the users of the design. Exact examinations are subjective or quantitative
plans to explore things used to advise the creators' understanding regarding the clients' qualities,
needs, and practices. Specialized examinations can include either investigation of how
individuals use related advances or the framework plans.

Display designs
Displays are human-made artifacts designed to support the perception of relevant system
variables and facilitate further processing of that information. Before a display is designed, the
task that the display is intended to support must be defined (e.g., navigating, controlling,
decision-making, learning, entertaining, etc.). A user or operator must be able to process
whatever information a system generates and displays; therefore, the information must be
displayed according to principles to support perception, situation awareness, and understanding.

Thirteen principles of display design

Christopher Wickens et al. defined 13 principles of display design in their book An Introduction
to Human Factors Engineering. These human perception and information processing principles
can be utilized to create an effective display design. A reduction in errors, a reduction in required
training time, an increase in efficiency, and an increase in user satisfaction are a few of the many
potential benefits that can be achieved by utilizing these principles.

Certain principles may not apply to different displays or situations. Some principles may also
appear to be conflicting, and there is no simple solution to say that one principle is more
important than another. The principles may be tailored to a specific design or situation. Striking a
functional balance among the principles is critical for an effective design.

Perceptual principles

1. Make displays legible (or audible). A display's legibility is critical and necessary for designing
a usable display. If the characters or objects being displayed cannot be discernible, the operator
cannot effectively use them.

2. Avoid absolute judgment limits. Do not ask the user to determine the level of a variable based
on a single sensory variable (e.g., color, size, loudness). These sensory variables can contain
many possible levels.

3. Top-down processing. Signals are likely perceived and interpreted by what is expected based
on a user's experience. If a signal is presented contrary to the user's expectation, more physical
evidence of that signal may need to be presented to assure that it is understood correctly.
4. Redundancy gain. If a signal is presented more than once, it is more likely to be understood
correctly. This can be done by presenting the signal in alternative physical forms (e.g., color and
shape, voice and print, etc.), as redundancy does not imply repetition. A traffic light is a good
example of redundancy, as color and position are redundant.

5. Similarity confuses: Use distinguishable elements. Signals that appear to be similar will likely
be confused. The ratio of similar features to different features causes signals to be similar. For
example, A423B9 is more similar to A423B8 than 92 is to 93. Unnecessarily similar features
should be removed, and dissimilar features should be highlighted.

Mental model principles

6. Principle of pictorial realism. A display should look like the variable that it represents (e.g.,
the high temperature on a thermometer shown as a higher vertical level). If there are multiple
elements, they can be configured in a manner that looks like they would in the represented
environment.

7. Principle of the moving part. Moving elements should move in a pattern and direction
compatible with the user's mental model of how it moves in the system. For example, the moving
element on an altimeter should move upward with increasing altitude.

Principles based on attention

8. Minimizing information access cost or interaction cost. When the user's attention is diverted
from one location to another to access necessary information, there is an associated cost in time
or effort. A display design should minimize this cost by allowing frequently accessed sources to
be located at the nearest possible position. However, adequate legibility should not be sacrificed
to reduce this cost.

9. Proximity compatibility principle. Divided attention between two information sources may be
necessary for the completion of one task. These sources must be mentally integrated and are
defined to have close mental proximity. Information access costs should be low, which can be
achieved in many ways (e.g., proximity, linkage by common colors, patterns, shapes, etc.).
However, close display proximity can be harmful by causing too much clutter.

10. Principle of multiple resources. A user can more easily process information across different
resources. For example, visual and auditory information can be presented simultaneously rather
than presenting all visual or all auditory information.

Memory principles
11. Replace memory with visual information: knowledge in the world. A user should not need to
retain important information solely in working memory or retrieve it from long-term memory. A
menu, checklist, or another display can aid the user by easing the use of their memory. However,
memory use may sometimes benefit the user by eliminating the need to reference some
knowledge globally (e.g., an expert computer operator would rather use direct commands from
memory than refer to a manual). The use of knowledge in a user's head and knowledge in the
world must be balanced for an effective design.

12. Principle of predictive aiding. Proactive actions are usually more effective than reactive
actions. A display should eliminate resource-demanding cognitive tasks and replace them with
simpler perceptual tasks to reduce the user's mental resources. This will allow the user to focus
on current conditions and to consider possible future conditions. An example of a predictive aid
is a road sign displaying the distance to a certain destination.

13. Principle of consistency. Old habits from other displays will easily transfer to support the
processing of new displays if they are designed consistently. A user's long-term memory will
trigger actions that are expected to be appropriate. A design must accept this fact and utilize
consistency among different displays.

Current research
Topics in human-computer interaction include the following:

Social computing

Social computing is an interactive and collaborative behavior considered between technology

and people. In recent years, there has been an explosion of social science research focusing on
interactions as the unit of analysis, as there are a lot of social computing technologies that
include blogs, emails, social networking, quick messaging, and various others. Much of this
research draws from psychology, social psychology, and sociology. For example, one study
found out that people expected a computer with a man's name to cost more than a machine with a
woman's name. Other research finds that individuals perceive their interactions with computers
more negatively than humans, despite behaving the same way toward these machines.

Knowledge-driven human-computer interaction

In human and computer interactions, a semantic gap usually exists between human and computer
understandings of mutual behaviors. Ontology, as a formal representation of domain-specific
knowledge, can be used to address this problem by solving the semantic ambiguities between the
two parties.

Emotions and human-computer interaction

In the interaction of humans and computers, research has studied how computers can detect,
process, and react to human emotions to develop emotionally intelligent information systems.
Researchers have suggested several 'affect-detection channels'. The potential of telling human
emotions in an automated and digital fashion lies in improvements to the effectiveness of human-
computer interaction. The influence of emotions in human-computer interaction has been studied
in fields such as financial decision-making using ECG and organizational knowledge sharing
using eye-tracking and face readers as affect-detection channels. In these fields, it has been
shown that affect-detection channels have the potential to detect human emotions and those
information systems can incorporate the data obtained from affect-detection channels to improve
decision models.

Brain-computer interfaces

A brain-computer interface (BCI), is a direct communication pathway between an enhanced or

wired brain and an external device. BCI differs from neuromodulation in that it allows for
bidirectional information flow. BCIs are often directed at researching, mapping, assisting,
augmenting, or repairing human cognitive or sensory-motor functions.

Security interactions

Security interactions are the study of the interaction between humans and computers specifically
as it pertains to information security. Its aim, in plain terms, is to improve the usability of
security features in end-user applications.

Unlike HCI, which has roots in the early days of Xerox PARC during the 1970s, HCISec is a
nascent field of study by comparison. Interest in this topic tracks with that of Internet security,
which has become an area of broad public concern only in very recent years.

When security features exhibit poor usability, the following are common reasons:

they were added in casual afterthought

they were hastily patched in to address newly discovered security bugs

they address very complex use cases without the benefit of a software wizard

their interface designers lacked an understanding of related security concepts

their interface designers were not usability experts (often meaning they were the application
developers themselves)
Factors of change
Traditionally, computer use was modeled as a human–computer dyad in which the two were
connected by a narrow explicit communication channel, such as text-based terminals. Much
work has been done to make the interaction between a computing system and a human more
reflective of the multidimensional nature of everyday communication. Because of potential
issues, human-computer interaction shifted focus beyond the interface to respond to observations
as articulated by D. Engelbart: "If ease of use were the only valid criterion, people would stick to
tricycles and never try bicycles. "How humans interact with computers continues to evolve
rapidly. Human-computer interaction is affected by developments in computing. These forces
include:

Decreasing hardware costs leads to larger memory and faster systems

Miniaturization of hardware leading to portability

Reduction in power requirements leading to portability

New display technologies leading to the packaging of computational devices in new forms

Specialized hardware leading to new functions

Increased development of network communication and distributed computing

Increasingly widespread use of computers, especially by people who are outside of the
computing profession

Increasing innovation in input techniques (e.g., voice, gesture, pen), combined with lowering
cost, led to rapid computerization by people formerly left out of the computer revolution.

Wider social concerns leading to improved access to computers by currently disadvantaged

groups as of 2010 the future for HCI is expected to include the following characteristics:

Ubiquitous computing and communication. Computers are expected to communicate through

high-speed local networks, nationally over wide-area networks, and portably via infrared,
ultrasonic, cellular, and other technologies. Data and computational services will be portably
accessible from many if not most locations to which a user travels.
high-functionality systems. Systems can have large numbers of functions associated with them.
There are so many systems that most users, technical or non-technical, do not have time to learn
about traditionally (e.g., through thick user manuals).

The mass availability of computer graphics. Computer graphics capabilities such as image
processing, graphics transformations, rendering, and interactive animation become widespread as
inexpensive chips become available for inclusion in general workstations and mobile devices.

Mixed media. Commercial systems can handle images, voice, sounds, video, text, and formatted
data. These are exchangeable over communication links among users. The separate consumer
electronics fields (e.g., stereo sets, DVD players, televisions) and computers are beginning to
merge. Computer and print fields are expected to cross-assimilate.

High-bandwidth interaction. The rate at which humans and machines interact is expected to
increase substantially due to the changes in speed, computer graphics, new media, and new
input/output devices. This can lead to qualitatively different interfaces, such as virtual reality or
computational video.

Large and thin displays. New display technologies are maturing, enabling huge displays and
displays that are thin, lightweight, and low in power use. This has large effects on portability and
will likely enable the development of paper-like, pen-based computer interaction systems very
different in feel from present desktop workstations.

Information utilities. Public information utilities (such as home banking and shopping) and
specialized industry services (e.g., weather for pilots) are expected to proliferate. The
proliferation rate can accelerate with the introduction of high-bandwidth interaction and the
improvement in the quality of interfaces.

Scientific conferences
One of the main conferences for new research in human-computer interaction is the annually-
held Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM) Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems, usually referred to by its short name CHI (pronounced kai, or Khai). CHI is
organized by the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI). CHI
is a large conference, with thousands of attendants, and is quite broad in scope. It is attended by
academics, practitioners, and industry people, with company sponsors such as Google,
Microsoft, and PayPal.