CS152

Week 1
Introduction
• Interacting with technology has become an
essential part of everyday life for the majority of
people.
• The average user of a computer system is now
less likely to understand the technology. Since,
there are different types of technology they have
to use.
People are busy and may spend little or no time
actually learning a new system.

2
Human-Computer Interaction
OVERVIEW
What is an Interface?

• A point where two objects meet.

• A point where the human can tell the computer what to
do. (User Interface)
• A point where the computer displays the requested
information
• Everything designed into an information device
with which a human being may interact
What Tools are Used?

• A keyboard, for typing,

• A mouse, for clicking,
• A scanner, for copying,
• A camera, for images.
• A monitor, for displaying,
• A printer, for printing,
• A sound card. For audio,
• A DVD, for video.
Why study human use of computer
systems?
• Business view:
– to use humans more productively/effectively
– the human costs now far outweigh hardware and software costs
• Personal view:
– people view computers as appliances, and want it to perform as one
• Marketplace view:
– everyday people using computers
• now expect “easy to use system”
• not tolerant of poorly designed systems
• little vendor control of training
• heterogeneous group4if product is hard to use, people will seek other
products
• eg Mac vs IBM (Microsoft Windows)
Why study human use of computer
systems?
• The system view:
– complex human
– complex computer
– complex interface between the two
• The human factors view:
– humans have necessary limitations
– errors are costly in terms of
• loss of time
• loss of money
• loss of lives in critical systems
• loss of morale
– design can cope with such limitations!
What is HCI?
• HCI (human-computer interaction) is the study of
interaction between people (users) and computers.

• Interaction between users and computers occurs at

the user interface

• The golden principle in HCI is that “people should

come first”.

8
What is human-computer interaction (HCI)?

* HCI is the study and the practice of usability.

It is about understanding and creating software and other
technology that people will want to use, will be able to use, and
will find effective when used.

* HCI is the study of how people use computer systems to perform

certain tasks.
HCI tries to provide us with all understanding of the computer and
the person using it, so as to make the interaction between them
more effective and more enjoyable.

Introduction to HCI
HCI is about
• Understanding the users
• Understanding users tasks
• Understanding the surrounding environment
• GUI requirements gathering and analysis
• Design prototype
• Evaluate the system

10
Goals of HCI

• Allow users to carry out tasks

– Effectiveness
– Productivity
– Morale
– Safety

11
Usability
• Crucial issue in this area
• Combination of
– Ease of learning
– High speed of user task performance
– Low user error rate
– Subjective user satisfaction
– User retention over time

12
A Bad user-interface can:

1. be annoying, embarrassing, frustrating, and even

deadly.
2. Increase mistakes in data entry and system
operation.
3. Makes functions become completely inaccessible.
4. System failure because of user rejection.

13
GOOD BAD
What is human-computer interaction (HCI)?

* HCI concerns:
process: design, evaluation and implementation
on: interactive computing systems for human use
plus: the study of major phenomena surrounding
them
The goals of HCI
Ensuring usability.
“A usable software system is one that supports the effective and
efficient completion of tasks in a given work context” (Karat and
Dayton 1995).

The bottom-line benefits of more usable software system to

business users include:
• Increased productivity
• Decreased user training time and cost
• Decreased user errors
• Increased accuracy of data input and data interpretation
• Decreased need for ongoing technical support
The goals of HCI
The bottom-line benefits of usability to development
organizations include:
• Greater profits due to more competitive products/services
• Decreased overall development and maintenance costs
• Decreased customer support costs
• More follow-on business due to satisfied customers
• Not to use the term ‘user-friendly’ which intended to mean a
system with high usability but always misinterpreted to mean
tidying up the screen displays to make it more pleasing
 The goals of HCI
To achieve usability, the design of the user interface to any
interactive product, needs to take into account and be tailored
around a number of factors, including:
• Cognitive, perceptual, and motor capabilities and constraints of
people in general
• Special and unique characteristics of the intended user population
in particular
• Unique characteristics of the users’ physical and social work
environment
• Unique characteristics and requirements of the users’ tasks, which
are being supported by the software
• Unique capabilities and constraints of the chosen software and/or
hardware and platform for the product
Humans, Computer and Interaction

Humans good at: Sensing low level stimuli, pattern

The H recognition,inductive reasoning, multiple
strategies, adapting “Hard and fuzzy things”.

Computers good at: Counting and measuring,

The C accurate storage and recall, rapid and consistent
responses, data processing/calculation, repetitive
actions, performance over time, “Simple and
sharply defined things”.
The list of skills is somewhat complementary. Let
The I humans do what humans do best and computers do
what computers do best.
What fields does HCI cover?
• Computer Science
– the scientific and practical approach to computation and its
applications.
• Psychology (cognitive)
– the study of mind and behavior.
• Communication
– the imparting or exchanging of information or news.
• Education
– the process of facilitating learning
• Anthropology
– the study of humans, past and present.
• Design (e.g. graphic and industrial)
– the creation of a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a
system
 HCI Community

• Academics/Industry Research
– Taxonomies
– Theories
– Predictive models
• Other areas (Sociologists,
anthropologists, managers)
– Motor
– Perceptual
– Cognitive
– Social, economic, ethics
 HCI Tools
• Sound
• 3D
• Animation
• Video
• Devices
– Size (small->very
large)
– Portable (PDA,
phone)
– Plasticity
 Usability Requirements
• Goals:
– Usability
– Universality
– Usefulness
• Achieved by:
– Planning
– Sensitivity to
user needs
– Devotion to
requirements
analysis
– Testing
 Bad Interfaces

• Confusing
• Slow
• ?
Requirements
Analysis
Requirements Analysis

1. Ascertain users’ needs

2. Ensure proper reliability
3. Promote appropriate standardization, integration,
consistency, and portability
4. Complete projects on schedule and within budget
 1. Ascertain User’s Needs

• Define tasks
– Tasks
– Subtasks
• Frequency
– Frequent
– Occasional
– Exceptional
– Repair
• Ex. difference between a space
satellite, car engine, and fighter
jet
 2. Reliability

• Actions function as specified

• Data displayed must be correct
• Updates done correctly
• Leads to trust! (software, hardware,
information) – case: Pentium floating
point bug
• Privacy, security, access, data destruction,
tampering
 3. Standardization, Integration,
Consistency, Portability
• Standardization – common user-interface features across multiple
applications (Apple, Web, Windows)
• Integration – across application packages
– file formats
• Consistency – common action sequences, terms, units, layouts, color,
typography within an application
• Portability – convert data and interfaces across multiple hardware and
software environments
– Word/HTML/PDF/ASCII
 4. Complete projects on schedule and
within budget

• "On time, on spec, on budget!"

 Usability Measures

• How can we measure the

‘goodness’ of an interface?
• What are good metrics?
• ISO 9241
– Effectiveness
– Efficiency
– Satisfaction
Universal Usability
• Interface should handle diversity of users
– Backgrounds
– Abilities
– Motivation
– Personalities
– Cultures
• Question, how would you design an interface to a
database differently for:
– right-handed female and left-handed male
 Universal Usability

– Ex. Door handles

• Goal: Address the needs
of more users - unlike
yourself!
• Everyone is often not at
full faculties at all times
CONSIDERATIONS ?
 Physical Variation
• Ability
– Disabled (elderly, handicapped, vision)
– Speed
– Color deficiency
• Workspace (science of ergonomics)
– Size
– Design
• Lots of prior research
• Multi-modal interfaces
• Audio
• Touch screens
 Cognitive and Perceptual Variation

• Bloom’s Taxonomy
– knowledge, comprehension,
analysis, application, synthesis,
evaluation
• Memory
– short-term and working
– long-term and semantic
• Problem solving and reasoning
• Decision making
• Language and communication
 Personality
• Computer anxiety
• Gender
– Which games do women like?
– Pac-man, Donkey Kong, Tetris
– Why? (Hypotheses: less violent, quieter
soundtracks, fully visible playing fields,
softer colors, personality,
closure/completeness)
– Can we measure this?
• What current games are for women?
• Style, pace, top-down/bottom-up,
visual/audio learners
 Personality

• No simple taxonomy of user personality types.

• Ex. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
• The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
– an introspective self-report questionnaire designed to
indicate psychological
preferences in how people perceive the world and
make decisions.
 Usability Requirements

• Goals:
– Usability
– Universality
– Usefulness
• Achieved by:
– Planning
– Sensitivity to user
needs
– Devotion to
requirements analysis
– Testing
 Bad Interfaces

• Confusing
• Slow
• ?
 Physical Variation
• Ability
– Disabled (elderly, handicapped, vision)
– Speed
– Color deficiency
• Workspace (science of ergonomics)
– Size
– Design
• Lots of prior research
• Multi-modal interfaces
• Audio
• Touch screens
 Cognitive and Perceptual Variation

• Bloom’s Taxonomy
– knowledge, comprehension,
analysis, application, synthesis,
evaluation
• Memory
– short-term and working
– long-term and semantic
• Problem solving and reasoning
• Decision making
• Language and communication
 Personality
• Computer anxiety
• Gender
– Which games do women like?
– Pac-man, Donkey Kong, Tetris
– Why? (Hypotheses: less violent, quieter
soundtracks, fully visible playing fields,
softer colors, personality,
closure/completeness)
– Can we measure this?
• What current games are for women?
• Style, pace, top-down/bottom-up,
visual/audio learners
Personality

• No simple taxonomy of user personality

types.
• Ex. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
• The Myers–Briggs Type
Indicator (MBTI)
– an introspective self-report questionnaire
designed to indicate psychological
preferences in how people perceive the
world and make decisions.
 Personality
– Extrovert vs. introvert
– Sensing vs. intuition
– Perceptive vs. judging
– Feeling vs. thinking
• Weak link between personality types and interfaces
• Think about your application, and see if user personality is
important!
– Fighter jets vs. search engines
 Cultural and
International Diversity
• Language
• Date / Time conventions
• Weights and Measures
• Left-to-right
• Directions (!)
• Telephone #s and addresses
• Names, titles, salutations
• SSN, ID, passport
• Sorting
• Icons, buttons, colors
• Etiquette
• Evaluation:
– Local experts/usability studies
 Users with Disabilities
• Federal law to ensure access to IT, including computers and
web sites. (1998 Amendment to Rehabilitation Act)
• Disabilities:
– Vision
• Blind
• low-vision
• color-blind
– Hearing
• Deaf
• Limited hearing
Users with Disabilities

– Mobility
– Learning
• Dyslexia
• Attention deficient, hemisphere specific, etc.
• Keyboard and mouse alternatives
• Color coding
• Font-size
 Users with Disabilities

• Eye Gaze control

• Learning what helps those with
disabilities affects everyone
– Present procedures, directions, and
instructions accessible to even poor
readers
– Design feedback sequences that explain
the reason for error and help put users on
the right track
– Reinforcement techniques with other
devices
• Good target area for a final project!
 Elderly
• Reduced
– Motor skills
– Perception
– Vision, hearing, touch, mobility
– Speed
– Memory
• Other needs
– Technology experience is varied (How many
grandmothers use email? mothers?)
– Uninformed on how technology could help
them
– Practice skills (hand-eye, problem solving,
etc.)
• Touch screens, larger fonts, louder sounds
 Children
• Age changes much:
– Physical skill
• (double-clicking, click and drag, and small targets)
– Attention span
– (vaguely) Intelligence
• Varied backgrounds (socio-economic)
• Goals
– Educational acceleration
– Socialization with peers
– Psychological - improve self-image, self-confidence
– Creativity – art, music, etc. exploration
Children

• Teenagers are a special group

– Next generation
– Beta test new interfaces, trends
– Cell phones, text messages, simulations, fantasy
games, virtual worlds
• Requires Safety
Children
• They
– Like exploring (easy to reset state)
– Don’t mind making mistakes
– Like familiar characters and repetition (ever had to
babysit a kid with an Ice Age DVD?)
– Don’t like patronizing comments, inappropriate humor
• Design: Focus groups
Accommodating Hardware and
Software Diversity
• Support a wide range of hardware and
software platforms
• Software and hardware evolution
– OS, application, browsers, capabilities
– backward compatibility is a good goal
Accommodating Hardware and
Software Diversity
• Three major technical challenges are:
– Producing satisfying and effective Internet
interaction (broadband vs. dial-up & wireless)
– Enabling web services from large to small
(size and resolution)
– Support easy maintenance of or automatic
conversion to multiple languages
HCI Goals
HCI Goals

• Influence academic and industrial researchers

– Understand a problem and related theory
– Hypothesis and testing
– Study design (we’ll do this!)
– Interpret results
• Provide tools, techniques and knowledge for commercial
developers
– competitive advantage (think ipod)
HCI Goals
• Raising the computer consciousness of the general
public
– Reduce computer anxiety (error messages)
– Common fears:
• I’ll break it
• I’ll make a mistake
• The computer is smarter than me
– HCI contributes to this!
 New Interfaces

• Let’s review
– Minority Report
– Steel Battalion
– Dance Dance Revolution
– Xbox
– Nintendo Wii
– Iron Man
– Avengers