Human Interaction with

the System &

System Back-up
Prepared By: Leandre John S. Sabado
What is Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)?

• Human–computer interaction (HCI) is research in the design and the use of computer
technology, which focuses on the interfaces between people (users) and computers. HCI
researchers observe the ways humans interact with computers and design technologies
that allow humans to interact with computers in novel ways. A device that allows
interaction between human being and a computer is known as a "Human-computer
Interface (HCI)"
Human–computer interface

• The human–computer interface can be described as the point of communication between the human user and the computer. The flow of information
between the human and computer is defined as the loop of interaction. The loop of interaction has several aspects to it, including:
• Visual Based: The visual-based human–computer interaction is probably the most widespread human–computer interaction (HCI) research area.
• Audio Based: The audio-based interaction between a computer and a human is another important area of HCI systems. This area deals with information acquired
by different audio signals.
• Task environment: The conditions and goals set upon the user.
• Machine environment: The computer's environment is connected to, e.g., a laptop in a college student's dorm room.
• Areas of the interface: Non-overlapping areas involve the processes related to humans and computers themselves, while the overlapping areas only involve the
processes related to their interaction.
• Input flow: The flow of information begins in the task environment when the user has some task requiring using their computer.
• Output: The flow of information that originates in the machine environment.
• Feedback: Loops through the interface that evaluate, moderate, and confirm processes as they pass from the human through the interface to the computer and
back.
• Fit: This matches the computer design, the user, and the task to optimize the human resources needed to accomplish the task.
Goals for computers

• Human–computer interaction studies the ways in which humans make—or do not make—use of computational artifacts, systems, and
infrastructures. Much of the research in this field seeks to improve the human–computer interaction by improving the usability of computer
interfaces. How usability is to be precisely understood, how it relates to other social and cultural values, and when it is, and when it may not be
a desirable property of computer interfaces is increasingly debated.
• Much of the research in the field of human–computer interaction takes an interest in:
• Methods for designing new computer interfaces, thereby optimizing a design for a desired property such as learnability, findability, the efficiency of use.
• Methods for implementing interfaces, e.g., by means of software libraries.
• Methods for evaluating and comparing interfaces with respect to their usability and other desirable properties.
• Methods for studying human–computer use and its sociocultural implications more broadly.
• Methods for determining whether or not the user is human or computer.
• Models and theories of human–computer use as well as conceptual frameworks for the design of computer interfaces, such as cognitivist user models,
Activity Theory, or ethnomethodological accounts of human–computer use.
• Perspectives that critically reflect upon the values that underlie computational design, computer use, and HCI research practice.
Data Backup
Data Backup Policies

• Backup is the activity of copying files or databases so that they will be preserved in case
of equipment failure or other catastrophe. Backup is usually a routine part of the
operation of large businesses with mainframes as well as the administrators of smaller
business computers. For personal computer users, backup is also necessary but often
neglected. The retrieval of files you backed up is called restoring them.
Backup Policies

• Backup Plan
• What files need to be backed up ?
• The simplest answer is "Everything". But as hard disks grow bigger and bigger and capacities inching towards terabytes of space, it is
impossible to backup "everything". Most system admins, for instance, will backup only user data, application settings, registry database, etc,
so that the system can be restored instead of reinstalled.

• Which are these important files ?

• These files, for example, Outlook settings; all mail that you "pop" from the POP server i.e. your UMKC mail account, is stored not as a
normal text file, but the messages are all compressed into a single file, say "inbox.mdx". It is these files that require backup, so that important
messages are not lost. These files may reside in a directory like "c:\documents and settings\username\Local Settings\Microsoft Outlook\"
• Knowing where these files are is important. Hence, the sysadmin should know the file system perfectly well. With large number of users
these files become difficult to track and it may happen that one of the users is left out. To avoid all this kind of human error, sysadmins write
scripts. In Unix, these may be shell scripts, in Windows, windows scripts (wsh files).
Backup Policies

• Who will backup these files ?

• The sysadmin will normally backup the files on the server. For example, all user accounts are on "Pearl". Pearl is a file server. If a backup needs to be taken, then it is
the sysadmin's responsibility to make sure that no user's data gets corrupted or accidentally lost while performing routine maintenance tasks.
• On the other hand, it is the User's responsibility to manage the same on their workstations. This is particularly true in the case of mixed environments i.e. when you
access some data off a server and rest of the data is on your local machine. The local machine is not the sysadmin's responsibility.

• Where ? When ? under what conditions should backup be performed ?

• Backups can be done in a variety of ways. For example, on a single workstation, I may partition the disk into two parts. One part is my working space and the other is
only an exact replica, just in case the working partition fails, then the data can be restored from the replica partition. This scheme doesn't however work in the case of
significant amounts of data.
• In such cases, users mostly backup their data onto CD-RWs or CD-Rs. These media are very cheap (about 50 cents per CD-R).
• In the case of large networks, Network File System (NFS) is used. There is/are dedicated machine(s) specifically used as backup devices.

• The next question is when to take backups. Prevention is always better than cure. Since backups are a long tedious and boring task, many might keep
putting off the task of backing up till the very last moment, and then its too late. Backups must follow a schedule. Say, every Friday night I will
schedule a backup of my entire system. And every night, I will do incremental backups, i.e. only those files that have changed should be backed up.
Backup Strategies

• Full Backup
• Incremental Backup
Full Backup

• Everything is backed up here. May be a partition or an entire network. This type of

backup is time consuming. Not many files change very often so it is quite unnecessary to
backup all the files. And it is not practical to perform a full backup everyday.
Incremental Backup

• This is done more frequently. Only files that have changed since the last backup are backed up. This is used when full backups are too
large.
• Unix uses a backup level concept. Full backup is level 0. Level 'n' backup saves all the files modified since the last level (n-1) backup.
• One common strategy is: Start with a full backup at the beginning of the week.
• Monday - Level 0 backup
• Tuesday - Level 1 backup incremental.
• ....
• Friday - Level 1 incremental.
• OR.
• First Monday of the month: Level 0: Full backup. All other days, incremental backup.
Backup Storage considerations

• Know where the things are. This will help you find things quickly.
• Make routine restoration easy.
• Write protect backup media just in case it may get accidentally overwritten.
• Environmental considerations. Humidity can damage media. Strong magnetic fields can ruin disks and
tapes. Dust and sunlight cause damage to CDs.
• Storage place. Choose a physically different location to keep all the backups you've taken. Handle the
media carefully, for example, it is harmful to pile floppies one on top of the other. It is advisable to stack
them vertically. Same goes for CDs too. Take security into account. Tapes should be protected from theft.