What is human-computer interaction?
It's a field of study that involves designing computer interfaces for improving the lives of human beings. If that sounds important, it is. If that sounds challenging, it is. People who are interested in human-computer interaction can come from many fields of study, including computer science, psychology, industrial design, linguistics, sociology, and library science. The idea is that if we are going to design interfaces for people, we need to include all of the various fields that study people!
When was the field of human-computer interaction created?
This depends on which event is being used to define the founding of the field. The first book that was clearly on the topic of human-computer interaction was Ben Shneiderman's book "Software Psychology," published in 1980. At the time, the idea of software psychology was a radical notion, although now, it's accepted. The first conference that clearly focused on human-computer interaction was held in Gaithersburg, Maryland in 1982, focusing on human factors in computing systems. This conference was the father of the current ACM SIGCHI conferences. In fact, CHI 2007 claims that it celebrates the 25th year of human-computer interaction, and it is referring to that original conference in Gathersburg, Maryland
