HUMAN FACTORS, CHI, AND MIS - Human-Computer Interaction and Management Information Systems: Foundations - page 397

similar functionality and to appeal to prospective users who have no access to training or support,
or who may seek a particular style. Commercial product reviews cover usability and interface
style.
Zhang (2004) lists fifteen topic areas for SIGHCI, but three are emphasized: user interface
design and evaluation for e-commerce and online shopping; user studies of online behavior, “espe-
cially in the Internet era”; and the effects of Web-based interfaces on attitudes and perceptions.
Eight of ten papers published in special journal issues focus on the Internet and the Web. IJHCS
(October 2003) included papers on government home pages, use of Web-based information sys-
tems, Internet-delivered e-services, and education focused on e-commerce. It also included a paper
on behavior in general computer-mediated environments. Journal of AIS (January-March 2004)
had one paper on effects of Web site delays and one on group support systems. BIT (May-June
2004) comprised three experimental studies of Web usability and interface design, selected from
twenty-four candidates on topics that included online consumer behavior, conceptualization of
online shopping, Web site personalization, and consumer trust.
During the Internet boom, MIS rose in prominence and other academic management disci-
plines took notice. By the time the boom receded and MIS enrolments dropped, research in other
disciplines included a greater technology focus. As with HF&E, the group specializing in tech-
nology studies had lost its monopoly.
CHI
Innovations of the previous decade that had come into routine use, such as interface design and
management tools, diminished in prominence within CHI. Focus shifted to technologies that were
not yet widely adopted, where discretion reigned, such as Web tools, ubiquitous computing, and
instant messaging, as well as to the issues that accompanied them (e.g., privacy) and novel methods
(e.g., ethnography). Only at a more abstract level is there continuity of focus within CHI: explo-
ration of novel input devices, communication channels, information visualization techniques, and
design methods.
The inclination to see interface design a wholly scientific undertaking was abandoned.
Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) conferences attracted more visual designers and in 2003
Designing User Experience (DUX), with a pronounced shift toward graphic and commercial design,
was co-sponsored by SIGCHI, SIGGRAPH, and the graphic arts association AIGA.
Design's first cousin, marketing, has been poorly regarded in the CHI community, but Web site
design forces the issue. Site owners often want to keep users on a site, whereas users may prefer
to escape quickly. CHI professionals, accustomed to siding with “end users” but designing for site
owners, face an unfamiliar stakeholder conflict. Designers of individual productivity tools had no
conflict with prospective customers.
The two-decade evolution of CHI is nicely illustrated by Norman's work. His CHI '83 paper
used engineering metrics to predict user satisfaction based on technical parameters. Psychology
of Everyday Things ( POET in Figure 19.1) focused on basic usability in 1988. It was reissued as
Design of Everyday Things in 1990, and in 2004 he published Emotional Design: Why We Love
(or Hate) Everyday Things.
CHI may be declining in salience. Attendance at the annual CHI conference peaked in 2001
and has dropped steadily. Specialized conferences have thrived, focused on topics that include
ubiquitous or pervasive computing, software agents, and design. Not completely comfortable in
computer science departments, many CHI researchers have moved to information science schools
and departments.