MAU Mekaneselam Campus

CHAPTER ONE
Human to Computer Interaction

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 Human –computer Interaction

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 Chapter one
Introduction to Human Computer Interaction
What is HCI?
• HCI can be defined in many ways.

HCI is a disciple concerned with the design, evaluation and

implementation of interactive computing system for human use
and use the study of major phenomena surrounding them.
(Hewett)

HCI is the study of people, computer technology and the way

those influences each other. (Dix)

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• “Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is a discipline
concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of
interactive computing systems for human use and with the
study of the major phenomena surrounding them.”
• As defined by the Special Interest Group on HCI of ACM
• HCI is the scientific study of interaction between
people, computers, and the work environment
• The interaction between users and computers is achieved via an
interface – user interface
• The knowledge gained from this study is used to create
information systems and work environments which help to
make people more productive and more satisfied with their
work life”

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• HCI is emerged discipline concerned basically on the
interaction between human beings and the computing
environment.
• The way humans interact with computers
• Methodologies and processes for designing interfaces (i.e.,
given a task and a class of users, design the best possible
interface within given constraints, optimizing for a desired
property such as learnability or efficiency of use)
• Techniques for evaluating and comparing interfaces
• Alternative names for HCI
• Man-machine-interaction (MMI)
• Computer-human-interaction (CHI)

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 Generally
• The study of the interaction between people, computers and
tasks (Johnson).

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• HCI is the scientific study of interaction between people,
computers, and the work environment
• The interaction between users and computers is achieved via
an interface – user interface
• The knowledge gained from this study is used to create
information systems and work environments which help to
make people more productive and more satisfied with their
work life”

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Components of HCI
• The goal of HCI is to improve interaction
between users and computers by making
computers more user friendly and receptive to
user’s need.
• Human
• Computer
• Interaction
• What happens when a human and a computer
system interact to perform a task?
• task - write document, calculate budget, solve
equation, learn about Bosnia, drive home, make a
reservation, land a plane...

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• Consider what happens when we interact with each other ?
We are either passing information to other people, or receiving
information from them.
• So, Interaction is therefore a process of information transfer, from the
user to the computer and from the computer to the user.
Three things involved in HCI
• The user : Beginning with the users is a natural starting point for any discussion
of the human factors involved in computer systems. Focusing on users implies what
is sometimes referred to as user-oriented design, rather than machine-oriented
design. Perhaps the most important questions about users are “Who exactly are the
users?” “What are their characteristics?” and “How can user requirements be
translated into design requirements?”
• The task :The second element is the task or the job that the user has to
do with the computer. The complexity of the job, the kinds of
information the operator needs to perform the job, and the constraints
under which jobs must be performed are all relevant considerations in the
human factors design of computer systems. Task requirements are
discussed in the section on users.
• The computer (The hardware, The software ,Procesdures The work
environment )
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 Why is HCI important?
• The main goal of HCI is to enhance the quality of the interaction
between people and computer.

• HCI can assist in building products/systems that are

• Useful, accomplish what’s required
• Usable, do it easily and naturally
• Used, make people want to use them

• Increasing participation
 Ensuring interfaces and systems are accessible.

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 Historical and Intellectual Perspective
• Although the modern digital computer is grounded in ideas
developed in 18th and 19th centuries, important concepts and the
technology required to implement the ideas only became available in
1930s and 1940s.

• Then computers were viewed merely as advanced calculators.

• There was no real interaction with the computers and user

friendliness was unknown term.

• It was not important to make the computers easy to use since only
experts used them.
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• Human-computer interaction arose as a field from
intertwined roots in:
Computer graphics
Operating systems
Human factors
Ergonomics
Industrial engineering
Cognitive psychology
The systems part of computer science

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Historical roots of HCI (1)

• Computer Science
• Implementation of software
• Engineering
• Faster, cheaper equipment
• Ergonomics
• Design for human factors
• Graphic design
• Visual communication
• Technical writing
• Textual communication

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 The nature of Human-Computer Interaction

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 Humans

• Humans are limited in their capacity to process information.

This has important implications for design a system.

• Information is received and responses given via a number of

input and output channels.
• Visual channel, auditory channel, movement
Humans are Info Processor

• Language, communication and interaction

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 Cont …
• Information is stored in memory:
• Short-term (working) memory, long-term memory

• Information is processed and applied:

• Reasoning, problem solving, skill acquisition, error

• Emotion influences human capabilities.

• Users share common capabilities but with individual

difference.
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 Computers
• A computer system comprises various elements, each of which affects the
user of the system.
• Input devices for interactive use, allowing text entry, drawing and
selection from the screen.
• Output display devices for interactive use.
• Virtual reality systems which have special interaction and display
devices
• Paper output and input
• Memory
• Processing
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 Interaction
Interaction models help us to understand what is going on in the
interaction between user and system.

They address the translations between what the user wants and what
the system does.

Ergonomics (human factors)looks at the physical characteristics of the

interaction and how these influence its effectiveness.

The dialog between user and system is influenced by the style of the
interface.

The interaction takes place within a social and organizational context

that affects both user and system.
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 Paradigms
A paradigm is a distinct set of concepts, theories, methods, and
standards that constitutes a contributions to the field.

Examples of effective strategies for building interactive systems

provide paradigms for designing usable interactive systems.

The evolution of these usability paradigms also provides a good

perspective on the history of interactive computing.

These paradigms range from the introduction of time-sharing

computers, through the web to ubiquitous and context-aware
computing.
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 Interaction design basics
• Some of HCI is focused on understanding the academic study of
the way people interact with technology. However, a large part of
HCI is about doing things and making things.

• What is design?
• Achieving goals within constraints.

• Goals:

• What is the purpose of the design we are intending to produce?

• Who is it for?

• Why do they want it?

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Cont …
• Constraints:

• What materials must we use?

What standards must we adopt?

How much can it cost?

How much time do we have to develop it?

• Trade-off: Choosing which goals or constraints can be relaxed so

that others can be met.

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 Cont …
• For Human Computer Interaction the obvious materials are the
human and the computer.

So that we must:

Understand computers
• Limitations, capacities, tools, platforms

Understand people
• Psychological, social aspects, human error.

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 The process of design

• Four basic phases

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 Cont …
A. Requirements (what is wanted)
• The first stage is establishing what exactly is needed
• There are a number of techniques used for this in HCI.

• Interviewing people • Looking at the documents and

• Videotaping them objects that they work with.
• Observing them directly etc.
B. Analysis
• The results of observation and interview need to be ordered in some
way to bring out key issues and communicate with later stages of
design.

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 Cont …

C. Design

• This is all about design

• There are numerous rules, guidelines and design principles

that can be used in this phase.

• We need to record our design choices in some way and

there are various notations and methods to do this
including those used to record the existing situation.

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 Cont …

D. Iteration and prototyping

Humans are complex and we cannot expect to get designs right first time.
We therefore need to evaluate a design to see how well it is working and
where there can be improvements.

E. Implementation and deployment

• Finally, when we are happy with our design, we need to create it and
deploy it.
• This will involve writing code, perhaps making hardware, writing
documentation and manuals everything that goes into a real system
that can be given to others. MAU Mekaneselam Campus
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 The emergency of graphical user interface
The emergency of graphical user interface
 GUI:-is a type of user interface that allows  users to interact with electronic
devices using images rather than text commands.
 Graphical user interface lets you do more things with electronic devices than
just typing.
• The first interfaces were designed for the convenience of the computer.
• Keyboard input
• Text-based screen or paper output
• Human-computer dialogs styles included
• Command language
• Question and answer
• Menu selection
• Form fill-in

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Four computing eras

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 Characteristics of a GUI
A user interface is a collection of techniques and mechanisms that allow a user
to interact with a system.

• Graphical
• Primary interaction mechanism is a pointing device.

• Objects
• The user interacts with a collection of elements called objects which are
always visible to the user and are used to perform tasks.

• Actions
• The user performs actions on objects such as accessing and modifying
by pointing, selecting and manipulating.
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 Advantages of GUIs

• Symbols are easy to recognize and fast to learn.

Color is important for classifying objects.

• Symbols can aid in problem solving.

• Casual users can remember symbols easier than words.

• Visual and spatial cues can be utilized to provide more

information in a natural way.
This of course excludes the visually-impaired.

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 Cont …
Some types of error situations can be avoided.

Reduces the need for typing skills.

Immediate feedback allows for a better conceptual model of the system

for the user.

More attractive than other interfaces and thus encourages more

interaction and exploration.

Symbols have the potential to be much more universal than natural

language text.
There are many fewer symbols than words so not everything can be expressed
as a symbol.
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