DSS2008-A1StephenButler

Human Computer Interaction (HCI) -

HCI is the study of software and hardware interfaces between humans and computers. Today it is commonly thought of #bubblec('user interface design', 'This makes me wonder: what else can it be? And what is the user interface, what its design? Do you mean software and hardware interfaces, thus mice and keyboards as well as pixels on the screen?') which can encompass desktop applications, web sites, and gaming platforms - to name a few. The field of HCI is comprised of both software and hardware interfaces. It is also concerned with the design of physical devices (phones, iPods, laptops, PDA's, Wii controller, etc). It looks at improving the look, feel, efficiency, and repetitive stresses associated with an increase in computer use.

The start of HCI can date back as far as the 40's and 50's with the introduction of vacuum tube computers and the limitations of those systems (finding and replacing broken vacuum tubes, their extreme expense, difficulties sorting and running punch cards), all of which required humans to be focused on maintenance and support of computers, rather than computers being designed to support humans. With the introduction of transistor based computers in the 50's and 60's researchers started thinking on grander scales about the potential of personal computers; including Vannevar Bush's description of a concept closely related to the World Wide Web, but in a more physical and tangible form. These new ideas and personal uses of computers spawned new directions and fields to explore. Generally those fields could be broken down into management, programming, and operations - fields which are still used today to distinguish domains and tasks. Due to the separation of these tasks, HCI spawned sub-domains. These sub-domains have ebbed and flowed with the changes in the computer industry's focus, priorities, and funding. Some of these domains include Computer Science (CS), Computer-Human Interaction (CHI), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Human Factors and Ergonomics (HF&E), Information Systems (IS), and Computer Graphics. The three sub-domains CHI, HF&E, and IS have remained distinct due to societal influences during the creation of these fields. HF&E and IS started before hands-on discretionary use was common with computers while CHI focused on end-user discretionary use. They have also remained separate sub-fields because of their choices in vocabulary, in publication methods, and in psychology's influence.

Grudin, J. 2008. A moving target: The evolution of human-computer interaction. Revised version of chapter in A. Sears & J. Jacko (Eds.), Handbook on Human-Computer Interaction. CRC Press.

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) -

This field looks at how computers can be used to support groups of people working towards common goals. It is usually associated with a groupware environment such as Wikis, Blogs, or a proprietary collaborative software package.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSCW
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Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) -

This field looks at how computers can be used to support people learning in a cooperative environment. It explores the hardware and software environments that provide flexibility temporally and spatially.

http://www.ischool.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/cscl/index.html http://www.edb.utexas.edu/csclstudent/dhsiao/theories.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Supported_Collaborative_Learning

Design of Interactive Systems -

Focuses on the user interface and providing a way that an end-user can #bubblec('interact with the computer system', 'Out of curiosity: based on this definition, do you think there are computer systems that are not also (or include) interactive systems'). This can be done through such devices as a website, desktop application, touch screen kiosk.

http://www.asktog.com/basics/firstPrinciples.html

Participatory Design -

This field tries to incorporate the end-user into the design phase of a product so that the product meets the requirements of the end-user. This field brings tries to bring together the expert user with non-expert to pull strengths from both groups.

http://cpsr.org/issues/pd/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_design

User Modeling -

Models of humans are designed to provide their knowledge and skills in order to provide cheaper and faster ways to test user interfaces.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_modeling

Collective Intelligence -

A base of knowledge that comes about through collaborative group work. It can be positively associated with an overall higher level of intelligence because of the combination of multiple individuals, or it can be associated with a stagnant 'group think' concept where it is difficult to come up with new and creative ideas because everyone thinks the same way.

http://www.community-intelligence.com/blogs/public/ http://cci.mit.edu/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_intelligence