Interactions
between computers and humans should be as intuitive as conversations between
two humans—and yet many products and services fail to achieve this. So, what do
you need to know so as to create an intuitive user experience? Human
psychology? Emotional design? Specialized design processes? The answer is, of
course, all of the above.
Human-computer
interaction (HCI) is about understanding what it means to be a user of a
computer (which is more complicated than it sounds), and therefore how to
create related products and services that work seamlessly. It’s an important
skill to master, because it gives any company the perspective and knowledge
needed to build products that work more efficiently and therefore sell better.
In fact, the Bureau
of Labor Statistics predicts the Computer and IT occupation to grow by 12% from
2014–2024, faster than the average for all occupations. This goes to show the
immense demand in the market for professionals equipped with the right computer
and IT skills.
What is Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)?
Human-Computer
Interaction (HCI) is a field of study focusing on the design of computer
technology and, in particular, the interaction between humans (the users) and
computers. It encompasses multiple disciplines, such as computer science,
cognitive science, and human-factors engineering. While initially concerned
with computers, HCI has since expanded to cover almost all forms of information
technology design.
HCI
emerged in the 1980s. It was the crucial instrument in popularizing the idea
that the interaction between a computer and the user should resemble a
human-to-human, open-ended dialogue. It initially focused on using knowledge in
cognitive and computer sciences to improve the usability of computers (i.e.,
concentrating on how easy computers are to learn and use). However, since
then—and thanks to the advent of technologies such as the Internet and the
smartphone—it has steadily encompassed more fields (including information
visualization, social computing, etc.). The relevance of HCI in the 21st
century is particularly apparent in the breakthrough of new modes of
interactivity, namely voice user interfaces (VUIs).
In
many ways, HCI was the forerunner that would grow to become what we now call
“User Experience (UX) Design.” Despite that, some differences persist between
HCI and UX design. Practitioners of HCI tend to be more academically focused,
and are involved in scientific research and developing empirical understandings
of users. UX designers, on the other hand, tend to be industry-focused,
and most UX designers are involved in building a product or service—for
example, a smartphone app or a website. Regardless of this difference, the
practical considerations for products that UX designers concern themselves with
have direct links to the findings of HCI specialists about the mindsets of
users. Due to this, there is little point in separating these realms to any
great extent.
Human Computer
Interaction is the academic discipline that most of us think of as UI design.
It focuses on the way that interactions between human beings and computers
interact to ever increasing levels of both complexity and simplicity.
It’s perhaps easy
to see that until the mid to late 1970s that this discipline wasn’t
particularly important. The few people who had access to computers were
academics or professionals with a few incredibly dedicated (and wealthy)
hobbyists thrown into the mix. Without a broad base of users; it wasn’t
necessary to focus on how those users interacted with computers – they just
made do with whatever was to hand or created what they needed themselves.
It’s a Very New Discipline
Then
with the dawn of personal computing; the flood gates opened. The masses wanted
computing and they didn’t want to go through complicated rigmarole to do what
they wanted with a computer. They weren’t prepared to build and program their
own joysticks for the games they bought, they didn’t expect to design the mouse
before they could use a word processor and so on…
Cognitive Sciences
Luckily,
for the masses, there was a discipline waiting in the wings to help with the
tasks that lay ahead. Cognitive sciences (a broad and heady mix which includes
psychology, language, artificial intelligence, philosophy and even
anthropology) had been making steady progress during the 1970s and by the end
of the decade they were ready to help articulate the systems and science
required to develop user interfaces that worked for the masses.
Engineering
This
is known as “cognitive engineering” e.g. building things that work with our
thoughts. And once again the engineering discipline had also come on leaps and
bounds during the 1970s in order to support this change. In aviation, for
example, engineering had already started to simplify the user interface of
complex airplanes. It was natural for some of this work to move into the UI
field for computing devices.
Documentation
It’s
also important to recognize the challenge of documenting these developments.
New systematic approaches needed to be taken in order to record developments
and to share these with other practitioners of the new discipline worldwide.
There really is, after all, no advantage in reinventing the mouse over and over
again.
John
Carroll the Edward Frymoyer Chair Professor of Information Sciences and
Technology at the Pennsylvania State University says that the discipline of
Human Computer Interaction was born (or perhaps “emerged” is a better word) in
1980 as all these separate disciplines began to realign around a single
objective; making computing easier for the masses.
References: https://www.interaction-design.org/
