As I mentioned in my former post, that study Human Computer Interaction has been of interest to me, and I said might be blogging about the areas that i will be surfing through, just like how the Cognitive Science Series works, and here I am sitting through the weekend reading “Human-Computer Interaction: David Benyon, Helen Sharp, Jenny Preece, Open University, U.K. Simon Holland Tom Carey. Yvonne Rogers; Publisher: Addison-Wesley; Copyright: 1994″. This book is a decent read, i was reading this and unknowingly i ended up to the 53rd page, its seriously an interesting read. So in this introduction, i will be talking about what exactly is this HCI about, and what are the aim of this field.
When i went through wikipedia, it says Human Computer Interaction “(HCI) or, alternatively, man-machine interaction (MMI) or computer–human interaction (symbolized as χ Chi, the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet) is the study of interaction between people (users) and computers. It is an interdisciplinary subject, relating computer science with many other fields of study and research. Interaction between users and computers occurs at the user interface (or simply interface), which includes both software and hardware, for example, general purpose computer peripherals and large-scale mechanical systems such as aircraft and power plants.”
What is Human Computer Interaction (HCI) ?
Machines are tools operated by humans to achieve certain goals by performing certain action in work, play, etc. there is an interaction between human and machine.
A Machine…
* When a machine is built, emphasis is on functionality - what it can do. (Goal)
* Little emphasis on usability – how to use it to achieve the goal, what actions required.
* Build for ‘technical expert’ who:
o Understand the machine and how it functions.
o Can and willing to be trained.
o Have motivation – to achieve personal or professional goals.
Currently, computers have increased speed, capability and memory, and reduced cost, and wide range of users (non-computing specialists), new technology (VDT, keyboard, mouse, etc), but users still complained that:
* Machines still difficult to use.
* Machines are inflexible.
* Many steps required accomplishing certain task.
The Aim of Human Computer Interaction
To optimize the performance of human and computer together as a system.
In HCI (Human Computer Interaction), considerations of users and their environment are given as much emphasis as the functionality.
1. Users should not have to adapt to the interface.
2. Must be natural and intuitive for users to learn to use it.
3. Make computers “People Literate” rather than humans “Computer Literate”.
4. Usability is given as much importance as other criteria for software quality such as functionality, reliability, efficiency, maintainability, portability, etc
This might have given you a hint of what is HCI and the aims.
