Lecture: 02

Human-Computer Interaction
HCI - What

• The term HCI stands for Human-Computer Interaction – During its

early years, it was known as the man-machine studies

• Sometimes the term Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) is also used.

Working Definition of HCI

Definition according to ACM SIGCHI

• Human-computer interaction is a discipline concerned with the

design, implementation and evaluation of interactive computing
systems for human use and with the study of major phenomenon
surrounding them.
Nature of the Field

• HCI is interdisciplinary

– No single discipline
HCI: Which Discipline ?

It is emerging as a special concern within several disciplines, each with

different emphasis.

– Computer Science (application design and engineering of human

interfaces).

– Psychology (application of theories of cognitive processes and the

empirical analysis of user behavior).
HCI: Which Discipline ?

• Sociology and anthropology (interaction between technology, work

and organization)

– Industrial design (interactive products such as Cell phone, Washing

machine, Microwave oven etc.)

• According to ACM SIGCHI, Computer Science is the basic discipline

and other disciplines serve as supporting disciplines.
Why HCI is Important…

• The study of our interface with information.

• It is not just ‘how big should I make buttons’ or ‘how to

layout menu choices’

• It can affect
- Effectiveness
- Productivity
- Safety

• Example: a car with poor HCI

History of UI

• Computers as new class of ● A shift in the responsibility for

machine design
– Programmable – from the designer of the
– Software takes hardware (the machine)
precedence now over hardware – to the designer of the
• Physical limitations are reduced software (the interface)
• Complexity is now ● Finally, HCI as a research
• completely open topic comes into play
– Engelbart and his group at SRI
● Engelbart's initial thought:
demonstrated a huge number of
– Based on his experience
conceptual leaps
using radar screens in the navy
– All based on ideas he and his
colleagues had about the way – Why couldn't people

people could work with visualize information on a screen

computers like this?

– “ Fly through information”

● Where did things go from there?

Rise and Fall of ARC

• The augmentation research • By the time of its closing, the

center lasted for about 25 years center had produced a host of
under Douglas Engelbart patents, concepts...and

● McDonnel Douglas terminated researchers

the center in 1989 after a decade ● Those people went on to

of slowly removing funding work at Xerox PARC, Apple, HP,
Sun, ARPA
** ARC (American River College)
What Came Out of ARC ?
• As the first HCI lab, the
Augmentation Research Center
was responsible for
developments in:
– the mouse
– 2-dimensional display editing
– object linking
– hypermedia
– outline processing
– flexible view control
– multiple windows
– cross-file editing
– email
– data publishing
– document version control
– teleconferencing
– computer-aided
– meetings
– context-sensitive help
– universal "user interface"
• front-end module
Where we ended up
• Research projects at Xerox PARC
would build upon the concepts
• So where did the ideas go?
begun and demonstrated at ARC
– In the early-70s the Palo Alto
– mouse
Research Center, funded by Xerox
– document control
corporation, was founded.
– display technologies
– By the mid-70s it had raided
much of the ARC team due to lack – simple programming languages

of funding for ARC.

**Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center)
 Xerox PARC
• Founded in 1970
● Pushed forward the
• Through the 1970s the team at
development of much of what we
PARC:
consider “modern” computing:
– enhanced the mouse to have a
– personal computing
– publishing ball instead of wheels
– document-centered work – invented the optical mouse
– CRT displays
– direct-object manipulation – invented the laser-printer
interfaces.
– developed the predecessor to
postscript.
**cathode ray tube (CRT)
Xerox PARC

• invented Ethernet
– developed fully object oriented
programming (SmallTalk – Alan
Kay)

• Much of this work culminated in

the highly unsuccessful Xerox
Alto

• First “ personal” workstation

1973
Xerox Alto

• A personal computer • had an operating system

– At the time that simply meant it • with a graphical interface
was self-contained – had networking capabilities
– No mainframe or timeshare
system – came with a graphical text
● Not commercially produced, editor (WYSIWYG)
but: – raster graphics display
– had a CRT display in portrait
orientation
– had a hard drive
Xerox Alto

• The importance of this machine

cannot be understated

– Not commercially successful

– Economically difficult to justify.

Xerox Star

• From the Alto, Xerox had a • The next machine was designed
demonstration of the to be commercial, something
capabilities of a major advance that businesses would purchase:
in computing – Xerox Star, 1978-8.0
– GUI became a term
– Computing in the public realm
was still in its infancy
– Businesses were still wedded to
their mainframes.
Xerox Star
Xerox Star
So the Star Succeeded, right ?
• Nope.
• Complete commercial failure
– Price: $16,000 for single
machine
– Designed for workgroup use
• purchase of 3 machines
• print server
• file server
• total cost: $100,000
– Sold 25,000 units total
• What the Star got right:
– The interface!
• Used networking to share files
and collaborate on documents
• Standard interface components
across all applications
• Standard operations on all
objects
• WYSIWYG everywhere
What the Star got right:

• No applications
• Documents were made up
• entirely of objects
• Each object could be edited
• Users opened a document
– system would load editors as
needed
• Completely document-centric.
What happened then…
• Around the same time, a highly
successful manufacturer of
home computers was designing
its next generation machine
● Apple computer had a huge
market that was being eroded by
cheaper commodity hardware.
• In 1979, Steve Jobs visited Xerox
PARC and was given a tour
• The team designing the next-
generation Apple computer saw
Star at its introduction in 1980
• Former Xerox PARC employees
were already at Apple
– Jef Raskin.
Lisa

• The result of work from 1979 to

1983

• Lisa was priced at $9,000 and

came with a hard drive and
everything needed

• Usability and power was the

main selling point.
Lisa
Welcome to Macintosh

• Lisa was a commercial failure • Apple retired the Lisa

– Businesses didn't want
• quickly and focused on reducing
• entirely new hardware that the cost
wouldn't work with any existing
• Efforts were directed at creating
software
an incredibly simple
– Retraining would be expensive
• machine that anyone could own
– Machines were still expensive
• 1984
1984

• What the Mac did not include:

• The Macintosh did not invent
many truly new concepts, but...
• The Macintosh was priced low
enough to popularize a lot of
– Object oriented programming
– Ethernet
– Laser Printing
– Document-centric model

the stuff that had been in

development since that 1968.
Macintosh

• What the Macintosh did include:

– Ball mouse
– Full WYSIWYG display
– All elements of modern UI
– Object-based interaction
– Networking
– High-resolution display
– etc.
Macintosh
More than One Path…

• At the same time that the Xerox PARC/Apple story was

unfolding:

– The X display system was being developed at MIT

– SmallTalk was influencing a generation of language designers.

UI Concepts History