New Directions in Human-Computer Interaction Abigail Sellen

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New Directions in Human-Computer
InteractionAbigail Sellen

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PhD Scholarship Abi Durrant
Consultants Bill Buxton, William
Newman, JoFish Kaye
Interns Lucia Terrenghi, Maryam Tohidi,
Susan Wyche Dave Kirk Yang Wang Dynal Patel
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Deeper understandings
Probes
New technology concepts
Prototypes
Technological advancements
Publications
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The past The era of HCI
Users as information processors Dominance of
cognitive psychology and engineering for
modelling behaviour
USERS
At the desktop both literally and metaphorically
TECHNOLOGY
To model users and system behaviour so as to
maximize productivity and efficiency in the
office
GOAL
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The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction
(1983). Card, Moran and Newell
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The present The mobile, pervasive and
ubicomp era
Users as players in a bigger system As entities
whose activities can be modelled, predicted,
sensed and augmented
USERS
Everywhere and anywhere (mobile, pervasive,
ubiquitous) Converging Smart environments
TECHNOLOGY
To model user and system behaviour so as to
maximize productivity and efficiency anytime,
anyplace To make users more effective through
intelligent environments and tools
GOAL
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The user as a component in a complex system
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But where has that got us?

• User understanding
• The user as information processor takes us a
  significant way forward
• Focus on usability
• Technologies
• That have successfully removed many of the
  problems of human-machine interaction
• New opportunities by dissolving space-time
  boundaries
• But we need new impetus to drive research and
  fuel imagination
• We need new assumptions, a new agenda.

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Users
OLD
NEW
Understanding users in machine terms Users can
be modelled, predicted and sensed Users as part
of a pre-defined system
Understanding users in human terms Users are
active creators of their own experiences Users
as part of complex, pre-existing ecologies
These are social and cultural matters as well as
cognitive and engineering matters
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Technology
OLD
NEW
Place-less Place agnostic Networked Convergence
Place-ness Situated Ecological Divergence
An interdisciplinary approach means new design
goals
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Goals
OLD
NEW
To maximize the productivity and efficiency of
human-technical systems To make users more
effective through intelligent environments and
technologies
To provide diversity of experience through good
design, a sensitivity to place, and an
understanding of human values To offer tools as
resources for intelligence and creative
expression
Social, cognitive, technical and design
disciplines are equal partners at the table
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Some Examples

• USERS
• Broader, richer concept of the user (as an
  intelligent, social and even moral being!)
• TECHNOLOGIES Diversity of experience
• Through physical form
• Sensitivity to place

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Some Examples

• USERS
• Broader, richer concept of the user (as an
  intelligent, social and even moral being!)
• TECHNOLOGIES Diversity of experience
• Through physical form
• Sensitivity to place

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HomeNote
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A field trial of HomeNote
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Functional uses of HomeNote
awareness reassurance
conveying information
calls for action
reminders info storage
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A broader concept of the user
affection
wonder
identity
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Some Examples

• USERS
• Broader, richer concept of the user (as an
  intelligent, social and even moral being!)
• TECHNOLOGIES Diversity of experience
• Through physical form
• Sensitivity to place

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Some Examples

• USERS
• Broader, richer concept of the user (as an
  intelligent, social and even moral being!)
• TECHNOLOGIES Diversity of experience
• Through physical form
• Sensitivity to place

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Diversity through physical form
Cellphone
PC
PDA
Laptop
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Diversity through physical form
clocks
bowls
magnets
shoeboxes
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Some Examples

• USERS
• Broader, richer concept of the user (as an
  intelligent, social and even moral being!)
• TECHNOLOGIES Diversity of experience
• Through physical form
• Sensitivity to place

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Some Examples

• USERS
• Broader, richer concept of the user (as an
  intelligent, social and even moral being!)
• TECHNOLOGIES Diversity of experience
• Through physical form
• Sensitivity to place

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Designing for place
mantelpiece
kitchen
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Designing for place
mantelpiece
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Designing for place
mantelpiece
kitchen
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Designing for place
kitchen
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Designing for place
kitchen
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Conclusions

• Working in research can be just as much about the
  human experience as about the technology
• Building prototypes can help deepen our
  understanding of this experience
• Can also lead to new concepts, and new products
• Must be achieved through partnership of
  technology, social science and design

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