HCI

By Virtual University
 Introduction to Human Computer
Interaction
• Learning Goals
• As the aim of this lecture is to introduce you the
study of Human Computer Interaction, so that
after studying this you will be able to:
• Answer what is the significance of Human
Computer Interaction (HCI)
• Discuss and argue about why Human computer
Interaction (HCI) is important with reference to
the way in which technology has developed
during past forty years
 Computers penetration in our daily
life
The bright side of this invasion is:
▪ Computers are enabling new discoveries.
▪ Leading to efficiencies.
▪ Making our life easy and convenient.
On the not so bright side the result is:

▪ Computers are annoying us

▪ They are infuriating us
▪ They even kill a few of us
 Riddles for the Information Age

computerized modern Nikon CoolPix 900, which has automatic focusing, exposure, and
shutter-speed. Camera may still take pictures, but it behaves like a computer instead of a
camera
 Role of HCI
• Human designed the interfaces we hate;
human continue to use dysfunctional
machines even as the awkward interfaces
strain their eyes, ache their backs, and ruin
their wrist tendons.
• HCI plays a role to bridge up the gape
between the interfaces of machines and
human understanding
 Definition of HCI
• “Human-Computer Interaction is a discipline
concerned with the design, evaluation and
implementation of interactive computing
systems for human use and with the study of
major phenomena surrounding them” -
ACM/IEEE
 Learning Goals
• Describe the significance of HCI, particularly
adverse impact of computer technology on
humans and reasons for these adverse effects
• Describe the nature of humans and
computers
• Understand the Paradox of the computing
phenomena
• Differentiate between focus of SE and HCI
 Human verses Compute
• Complex • Dumb.
• Intelligent • Unintelligent.
• Animate • Inanimate.
• Free will • Only do what they are
• Range of emotions told to do.
• Make mistakes • Don’t make mistakes.
 Software Apartheid
• Apartheid Racial segregation; specifically: a policy
of segregation and political and economic
discrimination against non-European groups in
the Republic of South Africa. [Definition of
apartheid]

• Software Apartheid Institutionalizing obnoxious

behavior and obscure interactions of software-
based products. [Definition of software
apartheid]
 Software Engineering and HCI
Human-computer
•Software engineeringinterfaces
Human-computer emphasize
interface specialists
methodologies are goodare
at
developing
modelinga certain
1 user-centereddeepand understanding
software
aspects of domain.
of theengineers
problem are
1 2 user Formal methods haveand
characteristics
system-centered. beenadeveloped
clear to
represent data, architectural, and procedural
awareness of the tasks
aspects of a software system.
a user must
3 perform.
Software engineering approaches deal with
2 HCI specialists
managerial test design
and financial ideas on real
issues well.
4 users
Software
andengineering
use formal methodologies
evaluation aretechniques
useful for
specifying and building the functional aspects of a
tosoftware
replace intuition
system .
in guiding design. This
constant reality check improves the final
In-Flight Entertainment System (IFE)
Interior of Plane

IFE
 IFE
• Senior Staff was declining more desirable Long routes.
• Past- Manual Cash Collection.
• In Flight Entertainment with strict Cash Collection
System.
• Result:
• Loss of Customer Loyalty.
• Loss of Employee Loyalty.
• Loss of Revenue.
 What should be done
• Purposefully design humane and forgiving software,
that is
• Inclusive
• Forgiving
• Profession-blind
• Class-blind
• Software-based products affect us all, sometimes
fatally
• Software-based products not INHERENTLY hard to
use
– Wrong process is used to develop them
 Industry in Denial
• People who rush to believe in the benefits of
the computer – In their rush have abdicated
their responsibility to make these products
easy to use.
 Industry in Denial
• Computerized Devises are Everywhere
– Highly sophisticated
– Powerful

• BUT
– Dauntingly Difficult to use
– Confusing to Use
Industry in Denial – Contrasting Views

• Techies
– Satisfied
– Belief in Technology
– Power of Products

• People
– Difficult to use
– Diminishes and Degrades people who must use it
as in IFE case
 Reality
• Our lives are becoming more and more
dependent on the whims, fancies, disasters
and decisions of hi-tech industry
 Rage! Rage! Rage!

Road Rage
Trolley Rage
Air Rage
Work Rage
PC Rage
Techno Rage – The New Rage in Town

• Looks like this guy was suffering from

“Computer’s Tourette”
– In Tourette’s Syndrome people uncontrollably
swear and get into rage

• Was this clip real?

• Advertising campaign for surveillance

computers from Loronix Information Systems
in Colorado originally launched back in 1995
 Life Imitates Art
• 1 in every 4 computers has been physically attacked
by its owner - Novatech (British PC Manufacturer).
• Almost ⅓ of people have physically attacked a
computer – National Opinion Poll/Symantec.
• 67% experienced frustration, exasperation and anger
– National Opinion Poll/Symantec.
• 70% swore at their machines – National Opinion
Poll/Symantec.
 PC Rage
• Over half of all working days lost to sickness in
the UK are related to workplace stress - Priory
Healthcare
• “Hopefully as technology improves and
computers become ever more user-friendly,
these attacks will become less frequent”
 Engineers Belief
Engineers believe that since they made it, can
use it, everyone can use it

“If WE can use it, YOU can use it. If you can’t,
YOU must be STUPID”

“Users are stupid” – anonymous

“Users are dummies” – anonymous

 But wait, computers weren’t made
FOR engineers
• I though it was made for normal human
beings?!??!!
 Success Criteria in the New Economy
• Business success is all
about managing
relationships
– Companies doing business
on the Web are focusing
on how to retain and
extend relationships with
customers
 Success Criteria in the New Economy

• Success depends upon the ability of a business

to effectively and efficiently meet customer
needs and goals

Business User
Success
∝ Experience
Success Criteria in the New Economy

high

Factors Business
providing Strategy

competitive
advantage User Experience manifestation of
business strategy

enabling factor
Technology for user
experience &
business
low strategy
 Common Problems in the New
Economy
• Scenario: A web site that is
– Aesthetically beautiful
– Technically perfect
– Wonderful content
– But users can’t find information!

• Findability.
Users can only find information 42% of the time.
– Jared Spool
62% of web shoppers give up looking for the item they want to buy
online – Zona Research
 Findability
• 50% of the potential sales from a site are lost
because people cannot find the item they are
looking for
– Forrester Research
 The Result
• 40% of the users who do not return to a site
do so because their first visit resulted in a
negative experience
– Forrester Research
 Software Maintenance Costs
• 80% of software lifecycle costs occur after the
product is released, in the maintenance phase
- of that work, 80 % is due to unmet or
unforeseen user requirements; only 20 % is
due to bugs or reliability problems.
- IEEE Software
 Project Cost Estimation
• Around 63% of software projects exceed their
cost estimates. The top four reasons for this
are:
• Frequent requests for changes from users
• Overlooked tasks
• Users' lack of understanding of their own requirements
• Insufficient user-analyst communication and
understanding
- Communications of the ACM
 Return on Investment (ROI)

Scenario A Scenario B

Revenue Potential $100m $100m

User Experience Good Bad

Sales Lost 0% 50%

Revenue Lost $0m $50m

Actual Revenue $100m $50m

m - millions
 The End of Business As Usual
• Business success is directly related to the
customer experience.

• BOO.com, a $204m startup fails

– BBC News

• Poor commercial web sites will kill 80% of

Fortune 500 companies within a decade
- Jakob Nielsen
Computer + Information

+
 Sydney Olympics
• Bruce Lindsay Maguire vs Sydney Organising
Committee for the Olympics Games (SOCOG)

• Allegation: SOCOG
in breach the Disability
Discrimination Act 1992 by failing to make accessible
to him key parts of its web site

• vast majority of organisations with a web site must ensure

that their web site is (within certain limits) accessible by
disabled persons