FT2283 HCI Technology

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FT228/3 HCI Technology
Human Computer Interface Technology
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Lecturer
Susan McKeever Room K201 Kevin Street Email
susan.mckeever_at_comp.dit.ie www.comp.dit.ie/smckee
ver
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Course times
Lectures
Wednesday, 3pm in A311 Thursday, 11am in A310
Labs
Wednesday, 10-11am in A115
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Course Assessment
Written examination 70
Assignment 30 -prototype a system -evaluate
an application/technology
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Course Materials
Lectures Notes - will be available on
http//www.comp.dit.ie/smckeever/
Books Interaction Design Preece Rogers and
Sharp Human Computer Interaction Beale,
Abowd, Dix and Finlay Human Computer
Interaction - Preece Web references and other
specific references will be supplied throughout
course
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HCI
Human-computer interaction (HCI) is concerned
with the design, evaluation and implementation of
interactive computing systems for human use and
with the study of major phenomena surrounding
them (ACM SIGCHI, 1992, p.6)
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Goal of HCI
Is to enhance the interaction between humans and
computer systems
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Computers
Huge range of types of computers and types of
applications - HCI is a concern for all of them
Desktop PCs
Enterprise systems
Pocket PCs
Websites
Smart fridges
Laptops
Wireless Devices
Medical systems
Nuclear systems
Mainframes
WAP phones
Airport control systems
etc etc
Desktop applications
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Usability

• Usability is generally regarded as ensuring that
  interactive products are easy to learn, effective
  to use and enjoyable from the users perspective
• Designing for maximum usability is the goal of
  design

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Evolution of HCI interfaces

• 50s - Interface at the hardware level for
  engineers - switch panels
• 60-70s - interface at the programming level -
  COBOL, FORTRAN
• 70-90s - Interface at the terminal level -
  command languages
• 80s - Interface at the interaction dialogue level
  - GUIs, multimedia
• 90s - Interface at the work setting - networked
  systems, groupware
• 00s - Interface becomes pervasive
• RF tags, Bluetooth technology, mobile devices,
  consumer electronics, interactive screens,
  embedded technology

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Examples

• Bad design of HCI can cause problems e.g.
• Office systems Garda Pulse system?
• Safety critical systems airline systems,
  nuclear facilities
• WAP phone
• Video recording

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Examples
Endless Examples of bad web design
Error message screen
URL http//www.newarchitectmag.com/
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The eye is initially drawn to the site ID in the
centre of the screen. From there, backward and
upward movement of the eye is required in order
to take in all the navigation options on the
page. The layout of elements on the page
unnecessarily increases the amount of work the
user has to do to use the page.Some of the
randomly generated background images add visual
noise to the page.
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This site uses frames to constrain the page
height to about half the browser window (at
1024x768). The results include the need for
constant user input to scroll through the page
contents and the inability to see a full screen
of information at a glance.
http//www.web4less.com.au/
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The user is instructed to 'drag icons' though
it's not immediately obvious what the icons
represent or where you are supposed to drag them
to
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Examples

• Mobile phones
• Complexity
• Size
• Buttons
• Lack of conventions
• Best designed ones?

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Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, you should be able to

• analyse the types of users for a
  system/technology and suggest appropriate
  design/devices
• describe the range of speech technologies and
  have practical use of one
• design and prototype a usable system interface
• explain the purpose and ranges of assistive
  technologies

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Learning Outcomes

• explain the role of the operating system in
  processing input/ouput
• Describe the field of ubiquitous computing and
  its latest development
• Explain the purpose of HCI standards and metrics

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Course Content

• HCI Technologies What physical
  technologyshould be used for the system/users
  involved I/O technologies, speech technologies
• Users - Types, understanding their requirements
• Usability issues How do I design a usable
  system?
• interaction styles, standards,universal design,
  Ease of use, screen design

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Course Content

• I/O technology and operating systems I/O
  Hardware,
• I/O software, accessibility features, multimedia
• HCI Standards and guidelines health, training
• Assistive Technology
• Ubiquitous /pervasive computing (new)