HCI AS MIS - Human-Computer Interaction and Management Information Systems: Foundations - page 16

Figure 3.1 Human-Computer Interaction in Business

Human

Demographics
Cognitive Characteristics
Physical/Motor Skills
Psychological Characteristics

Job

Environment

HCI

Organizational Task Goals

Social Task

Characteristics

Basic Technologies:
e.g., input, output
Advanced Technologies:
e.g., attentive interfaces

Computer

Global

Source: Adapted from Zhang and Li (2004).

Although each of these HCI perspectives contributes to our understanding of the roles of the
individual and technology, neither computer science nor psychology emphasizes the importance
of other crucial variables such as information, tasks, and/or varying contexts (Dillon, chapter 2 in
this volume). We feel that the lack of emphasis on these variables creates an incomplete definition
of HCI. By contrast, business researchers, supported by the Association for Information Systems'
(AIS) special interest group on human-computer interaction (SIGHCI), define HCI as “the inter-
action between humans, information, technologies, and tasks, especially in the business, manage-
rial, organizational, and cultural contexts” (AIS, 2004). In addition to the noticeable fact that MIS
researchers put the “human” before the “computer” (while this is reversed for computer scientists'
SIGCHI), MIS researchers also take a more contextual view of HCI, considering wider task, orga-
nizational, and international issues. Thus, MIS researchers view HCI as the interplay not only
between the human and the computer, but among other factors such as job characteristics and
environmental issues (see Figure 3.1); in other words, HCI in MIS concerns the human use of
technologies to support tasks within particular contexts (Zhang and Li, 2004). This results in MIS
researchers working at a wide range of levels of analysis, from individual to cross-cultural issues. 2

THE CURRENT STATE OF HCI RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

With the wider contextual strengths of MIS, one would expect HCI to reside mainly in business
schools. HCI has represented a small, but core, element of MIS since its inception as a discipline
(e.g., Mason and Mitroff, 1973). It regularly shows up in summaries of research areas within MIS
(e.g., Banker and Kauffman, 2004; Swanson and Ramiller, 1993), and it continues to grow in impor-
tance in MIS research (Carey et al., 2004; Chan et al., 2003). However, HCI has many homes, with,
as we demonstrate next, the majority of HCI research and teaching occurring outside of business
schools.