Running Head: HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION 1

The Human-Computer Interaction

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The Human-Computer Interaction

The Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) focuses on the design of computer technology to

optimize the interaction between humans and computers. This concept first surfaced in early

1980s, following the advent of personal computers including the Apple Macintosh, IBM PC

5150, and Commodore 64 (Shneiderman & Plaisant, 2010). It was then that computers became

available in offices and homes for organizational and personal use. Additionally, the HCI paved

way for all purpose consumers to use computer applications such as game units, word

processors, accounting aids and several other software. Generally, the HCI target to make it easy

and efficient for inexperienced consumers to use computers. Since its inception, HIC has

continually advanced and incorporated multiple disciplines including cognitive science,

computer science, and human-factors engineering. This paper resonates about the human-

computer interaction focusing on the components, best practices, and challenges associated with

the design.

Concepts and Components of HCI

HCI is no longer regarded a specialty in computing since it has broadened and become

more diverse than the concept of computer science itself. From the individual and generic user

behavior, HCI has advanced to social and organizational computing. Besides, elderly people, the

physically and cognitively impaired can also use the computer because of the HIC capability.

Aside from desktop office applications HCI sowed many other capabilities including learning

and education, games, health and medical applications, support collaboration and community,

and emergency planning and response (Shneiderman & Plaisant, 2010). Similarly, HCI has been

gradually advancing from simple graphical user interface to highly sophisticated interaction
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techniques including multi-modal interaction, tool support for model-based user interface and a

host of other context-aware interactions

Human-Computer Interaction has four main components, which include the user, task,

interface, and context. The user in an individual or a group individuals working on the computer.

HCI appreciates users’ senses including sight, hearing, and touch, and seeks to address them

appropriately. Different users from various mental models and conceptions regarding the

interactions have unique approaches to learning and keeping knowledge. The task refers to the

activity the user performs on the computer. The interface is the computer itself or any technology

ranging from simple desktop to massive computer systems. If the user is designing a website,

then website itself would be the interface and common devices including VCRs and mobile

phones. Context refers to the interaction between humans and machines. The primary objective

of HCI is to design a context in which these two entities can get on with each successfully (Issa

& Isaias, 2015).

HCI and the Best Practices

Designing and integrating usability functionalities into software applications has never

been an easy task for developers, especially where the human-computer interaction is involved.

For this, the developing team needs to consider several factors collectively referred to as the best

practices. According to Shneiderman & Plaisant (2010), the software developers should gather

relevant information related to the usability functionalities ideal for the application being

developed. The practice should also be accompanied the consideration of user interactivity and

the tradeoff between the software usability and other quality attributes. Similarly, it is critically

important for developers to integrate the usability functionalities into the artifacts the software

uses so as to give a clear description of the functionality requirements of the system (Issa &
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Isaias, 2015). Ideally, these functionalities are the actual activities and responses the application

software should address whenever a user works on it. For instance, if an individual is working

with word processor, the application should have an information recording capability to recover

the system status when an unexpected cancellation occurs.

Similarly, it is one of the best practices for developers to map all the software

functionalities to unique components of the design models. For instance, there is a need a

specified class in class diagrams that should be allocated to appropriate subsystem in the

architecture based on the primary style of architecture. Also, developers have to carry out all

relevant tests on the usability functionalities to the software to ensure they meet the consumer

needs the current technological standards. Tests are also needed to ensure the software meets the

predefined user interaction with minimal bugs.

According to Issa & Isaias (2015), there are conventional guidelines used in the design of

the human-computer interaction. These guidelines are part of the best practices and are often

used to differentiate between reliable and non-reliable HCI. Some of these guidelines included

but not limited to the ability to cater for universal usability, consistency, informative feedback,

easy reversal of actions, and long-term memory load. Standard HCI applications should meet all

these thresholds for them to be considered useful.

Challenges Associated with the Design of HCI

The design and implementation of HCI is quite complicated, time-consuming, and

difficult for software developers. While the present HCI applications are complex, the next

generation will even be trivial. One of the challenges is that the inability to meet the design

standards. Several platforms including Windows or Macintosh have high system standards that
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the interface require to attain (Shneiderman & Plaisant, 2010). However, the guidelines and

threshold needs are hard to interpret and apply, making the interfacing process complex. Besides,

the standards often cover a limited aspect of user interface designs and might not guarantee that

the design will yield high usability.

Graphic design is significant aspect of the user interface design. It includes layouts,

colors, icons, and design and text phones as outlined by many theories and guidelines. However,

these provisions are never sufficient is establishing how to produce quality interface. While of

the guidelines are specific, others are vague. Therefore, only successful system programs created

from various methodologies do not have specific design approach and theory. Lack of standard

rules governing the design and creation of HCI is a critical challenge (Issa & Isaias, 2015).

Conclusively, the human-computer interaction is the most impart part of computing and

its application to human practice. Human beings of all kinds in modern generations can easily

use computers because of HCI. The system comprises users, tasks, and the machine that all work

to simply human interaction with the computer and its functionalities. Even though HCI is quite

resourceful, the design and implementation is quite challenging because there are no established

rules to guide this process.

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References

Issa, T., & Isaias, P. (2015). Usability and human computer interaction (HCI). In Sustainable

design (pp. 19-36). Springer, London.

Shneiderman, B., & Plaisant, C. (2010). Designing the user interface: Strategies for effective

human-computer interaction. Pearson Education India.