Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
2.2.6 Human-Computer Interaction
Human-computer interaction (HCI) is the study of interaction between people
(user) and computers. Although often confused with interface design, the remit of
HCI is considerably broader. Further, while HCI draws insights from the foun-
dations of interfaces design (design sciences and graphics), the roots of HCI lie in
the social sciences.
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the major professional
association for computer science, has a subgroup, a special interest group (SIG) on
Computer-Human Interaction (full name SIGCHI). SIGCHI was fundamental in
creating, nurturing, and defining HCI as a field. There are a number of excellent
texts that summarize the history and current activities in HCI that are shown
below. SIGCHI (Hewett et al.
1996
) defined HCI as:
… a discipline concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive
computing systems for human use and with the study of major phenomena surrounding them.
It is worth noting that HCI as a field is constantly changing in response to
technological innovations and consequent emerging user needs and demands, and
this response is also updated in the ACM's recommended curriculum where HCI is
a
core
area
of
computer
science
In 2006, Suzanne Bødker (
2006
) outlined three ''waves'' in the development of
HCI as a field. The first wave drew insights from cognitive theory and human
factors predominantly (see also Bannon
1991
). We believe this perspective is still
relevant while the perspectives of the second and third waves broaden HCI's remit,
increasing its influence. The second wave that developed through the late 1980s
into the early 2000s focused on groups working with collections of applications,
drawing on theories of ''situated action,'' ''distributed cognition,'' and ''activity
theory.'' Scholars wrestled with how to capture the effects of context on activity.
Bødker suggests that at this point ''rigid guidelines, formal methods, and sys-
tematic testing'' were no longer the central focus as HCI researchers and practi-
tioners moved to ''proactive methods such as a variety of participatory design
workshops, prototyping, and contextual inquiries…''. Finally, the third wave of
HCI acknowledges that computers are increasingly being used in private and
public spheres, moving out of workplace contexts and into everyday life for ''non-
work, non-purpose, and non-rational'' uses. This third wave necessarily addresses
the ''expansion of the cognitive'' to include emotional and esthetic aspects of
experience, but also the pragmatic and cultural-historical.
A recent report summarizes current and future teaching in HCI and documents some
of the changes that have occurred in the field since its beginnings in the early 1980s
(Churchill et al.
2013
). It is also worth noting that the role and involvement of the HCI
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