History

1
History Frameworks of HCI

• Key people, events and ideas in HCI
• Course Project introduction

2
Agenda

• Review HCIs history
• Key people and events
• Frameworks
• Ways of thinking about systems

3
History of HCI

• Digital computer grounded in ideas from 1700s
  1800s
• Technology became available in the 1940s and
  1950s
• The user concept is relatively new

4
History of HCI

• Mechanical Computers http//www.thocp.net
• 1623 Schickard makes "Calculating Clock".
  6-digit machine can add, subtract, bell
  indicates overflow.
• 1674 Leibniz designs his "Stepped ReckonerCan
  multiply, with operands of up to 5 and 12
  digits.User turns a crank for each unit in each
  digit
• 1820 de Colmar makes "ArithmometerFirst
  mass-produced calculator. Does multiplication
  division. It is also the most reliable
  calculator yet. Continue to be sold for about 90
  years.
• 1889 Felt invents the first printing desk
  calculator.
• 1935 IBM introduces "IBM 601", punch card machine
  capable of 1 multiplication /second. 1500 are
  made.
• 1945 Mauchly Eckert "ENIAC for ballistics. 30
  tons, 1000 ft2 of floor, 140 kilowatts of
  electricity, 17,468 vacuum tubes

5
Batch Processing

• Computer had one task,performed sequentially
• No interaction between operator and computer
  after starting the run
• Punch cards, tapes for input
• Serial operations

6
Paradigm Shifter Vannevar Bush

• As We May Think - 1945 Atlantic Monthly
• publication has been extended far beyond our
• present ability to make real use of the record.
• Postulated Memex device
• Stores all records/articles/communications
• Items retrieved by indexing, keywords, cross
  references (now called hyperlinks)
• (Envisioned as microfilm, not computer)
• Interactive and nonlinear components are key

7
Mid 1960s

• Timesharing mode of computing
• Computers too expensive for individuals
  timesharing increased accessibility
• interactive systems, not jobs
• text processing, editing
• email, shared file system

8
Paradigm Shifter J.R. Licklider

• 1960 - Postulated man-computer symbiosis
• Couple human brainsand computing
  machinestightly to revolutionizeinformation
  handling

9
Video Display Units

• More suitable medium than paper
• Sutherlands Sketchpad as landmark system
• Computers used for visualizing and manipulating
  data

10
Paradigm Shifter Ivan Sutherland

• SketchPad - 63 PhD thesis at MIT
• Hierarchy - pictures subpictures
• Master picture with instances (ie, OOP)
• Constraints
• Icons
• Copying
• Light pen for input
• Recursive operations

11
Computers as Toolkits

• Multipurpose toolkits
• Abstracting out common tasks (tools)
• Reusable elements
• At the disposal of humans

12
Paradigm Shifter Douglas Engelbart

• Landmark system/demo
• Mouse, windows
• Hypertext
• Multimedia
• High-res display,
• Shared files, CSCW,
• Electronic messaging, teleconferencing, ...
• Inventor of mouse

13
Paradigm Shifter Alan Kay

• Personal Computing
• Dynabook Notebook sized computer loaded with
  multimedia and can store everything
• Desktop interface metaphor

14
Paradigm Shifter Ted Nelson

• Computers can help people, not just business
• Coined term hypertext

15
Personal Computers

• 1974 IBM 5100
• 1981 Datamaster
• 1981 IBM XT/AT
• Text and command-based
• Sold lots
• Performed lots of tasks the general public
  wanted done
• A good basic toolkit
• 1978 VisiCalc

16
Personal Computing

• System is more powerful if its easier to use
• Small, powerful machines dedicated to individual
• Importance of networks and time-sharing
• Kays Dynabook, IBM PC
• Time names The Computer Man of the Year, 1982
  (http//www.time.com/time/special/moy/1982.html)

17
WIMP

• Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointers
• Timesharingmultiusers now we need multitasking
• WIMP interface allows you to do several things
  simultaneously
• Has become the familiar GUI interface
• Xerox Alto, Star early Apples

18
PCs with GUIs

• Xerox PARC - mid 1970s
• Alto
• local processor, bitmap display, mouse
• Precursor to modern GUI,windows, menus,
  scrollbars
• LAN - ethernet

19
Xerox Star - 81

• First commercial PC designed forbusiness
  professionals
• desktop metaphor, pointing, WYSIWYG, consistency
  and simplicity
• First system based on usability
• Paper prototyping and analysis
• Usability testing iterative refinement
• Commercial flop
• 15k cost
• closed architecture
• lacking key functionality (spreadsheet)

20
Apple Lisa - 82

• Based on ideas of Star
• More personal rather than office tool
• Still
• Failure (why?)

21
Apple Macintosh - 84

• Aggressive pricing - 2500
• Not trailblazer, smart copier
• Good interface guidelines
• 3rd party applications
• High quality graphics and laser printer

22
Direct Manipulation

• 82 Shneiderman describes appeal of
  graphically-based interaction
• object visibility
• incremental action and rapid feedback
• reversibility encourages exploration
• replace language with action
• syntactic correctness of all actions
• WYSIWYG, Apple Mac

23
Metaphor

• All use is problem-solving or learning to some
  extent
• Relating computing to real-world activity is
  effective learning mechanism
• File management on office desktop
• Financial analysis as spreadsheets
• The dreaded dead metaphor
• Examples?

24
Speech, Language?

• Actions do not always speak louder than words
• Interface as mediator or agent
• Language paradigm
• How good does it need to be?
• Tricks, vocabulary, domains
• How human do we want it to be?
• (HAL, Bob, PaperClip)

25
Multimodality

• Mode is a human communication channel
• Not just the senses e.g., speech and non-speech
  audio are two modes
• Emphasis on simultaneous use of multiple
  channels for I/O

26
Hypertext

• Think of information not as linear flow but as
  interconnected nodes
• Nelsons hypertext
• Bushs MEMEX
• Non-linear browsing
• WWW 93
• Hypermedia

27
The Interconnected Web

• The Network is the Computer
• e.g. seti_at_home

28
CSCW

• Computer-Supported Cooperative Work
• No longer single user/single system
• Micro-social aspects are crucial
• E-mail as prominent success but other groupware
  still not widely used

29
Ubiquity

• Person is no longer user of virtual device but
  occupant of virtual, computationally-rich
  environment
• Can no longer neglect macro-social aspects
• Late 90s - PDAs, VEs, ...
• Now?

30
HCI Frameworks

• How we can conceptualize humans who use computing
  systems

31
Human Role

• How is human viewed in HCI
• What is human role?
• Different roles engender different frameworks

32
Human Roles

• Human as
• 1. Sensory processor
• Experimental psych, sensory psych
• e.g. Model-Human Processor (Card, Moran Newell)
• 2. Interpreter/Predictor
• Cognitive psych, AI
• e.g. Distributed cognition (Hutchins)
• 3. Actor in environment
• Activity theory, ethnography, ecol psych
• e.g. Situated action (Suchman)
• e.g. Activity theory (Vygotsky, Nardi)

33
What Makes a System Usable

• Usability results when the system
• 1. Sensory processor - Fits within human limits
• 2. Interpreter/Predictor - Fits with knowledge
• 3. Actor in environment - Fits with task
  and social context

34
Evaluation Methods

• Evaluation methods
• 1. Sensory processor - Quantitative experiments
• 2. Interpreter/Predictor - Task analysis,
  cognitive walkthrough
• 3. Actor in environment - Ethnographic field
  work, participatory design

35
Two Views of Interaction

• Interaction with
• Software system is a tool or machine
• Interface is a usability-engineered membrane
• Human-as-processor -interpreter models
• Interaction through
• Software is a medium used to interact with task
  objects or other people
• Interface plays a role in social context
• Human-as-interpreter -actor models

36
Upcoming

• Videos of the Future
• Usability Principles
• Bad Designs, and the Design Process
• Human capabilities
• SWIKI (add pictures if you want)
• Project teams and ideas