HUMAN FACTORS, CHI, AND MIS - Human-Computer Interaction and Management Information Systems: Foundations - page 395

present changed dramatically. As discretionary computer use spread from programmers to other
professions and the general public, CHI's focus on the psychology of programming dissipated.
Earlier work on command naming and abbreviation gave way to research into GUI features and
user interface construction tools and management systems. As text editor or word processor use
shifted from discretionary to unavoidable in many settings, CHI studies of editing and word pro-
cessing diminished. As PCs were networked and Internetworked, a focus on collaboration arose
with the CHI-sponsored Computer Supported Cooperative Work conferences.
These shifts had profound indirect effects. CHI researchers who had worked to establish a the-
oretical foundation for the field found that the reference tasks on which they had labored (com-
mand naming, text editing) were no longer of interest. The space of psychological variables and
technical parameters greatly expanded. Discretionary use was discovered to be a moving target,
driven by Moore's Law. Published results and theory, however solid, could lose relevance. Many
researchers had come from cognitive psychology, where paradigms persisted (some had arisen in
engineering psychology during World War II). For some, this was unsettling, and interest in the-
ory never fully recovered.
In 1985 Human-Computer Interaction was established as a top-tier HCI journal with a strong
emphasis on psychological science. In 1994 ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction
appeared with more of a computer science orientation. This reflected CHI shifting away from
cognitive psychology and cognitive science departments and becoming a core element of com-
puter science curricula.
CHI as a purely scientific pursuit was difficult to sustain. As monochrome displays gave way
to color with animation and sound, visual and aesthetic design became significant in appealing to
discretionary users. A Visual Interaction Design interest area formed in 1992. In 1995 the first
SIGCHI-sponsored Design of Interactive Systems conference series was held; visual designers
were not involved, but attracting them became a priority. 5
SINCE 1995: THE WEB, AIS SIGHCI, AND INVISIBLE COMPUTERS
Slow enterprise adoption gave HF&E and MIS time to prepare for GUIs, but the Web, connecting
people with organizations and organizations with one another, had a rapid impact on MIS. The
steady growth of the Internet infrastructure over the previous decade was accompanied by hands-on
computer use by managers and who were now ready to make use of opportunities presented by
the Web (Grudin, 2004b).
With technology in broad use, most researchers must consider aspects of technology use in
one way or another. Do we need groups to study computer use in general? In 1988, Don Norman
wrote that “the invisible computer of the future” would be no more noticeable than the motors that
surround us today. Research, he said, would focus on objects in which software is embedded. A
decade after he wrote, with the Internet bubble and Y2K crisis, computers were more noticeable
than ever. Today, however, HCI research shows signs of dispersion in each of the three fields.
Human Factors and Ergonomics
As computer use has become routine in homes and businesses, human factors research and appli-
cation have grown. Publication outlets expanded. IJMMS became IJHCS and shifted to monthly
publication. It was joined by IJHCI , organizationally related to the biannual HCI International con-
ference, which in 2003 included over a thousand paper presentations. Behaviour and Information