Since I am in Brasil doing research in the realm if Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), its only fitting to discuss what HCI is and what I am currently doing in Brasil. As you may assume, HCI is the discipline where humans interact with computers. Yes. But, there is much more to it than this simple idea. It would be like saying Math is the discipline dealing with numbers. Okay, but there is more to math than just numbers, even though that's the basis of math. Well, humans interacting with computers is the basis for HCI, but there is much more that both humans and computers can delve into. I'll start with a definition, as well as my idea of what HCI is.
According to ACM SIGCHI, HCI is, "The discipline concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use and the study of the major phenomena surrounding them" (Hewett, 1996). This is taken directly from SUNY Oswego's HCI webpage. The definition gives insight into what someone who works in HCI does (which can be quite helpful for job interviews). Still, the definition does not completely capture the essence of what HCI is; still too much of an abstract idea for something that is very application driven (unless you were told, before coming into the program, that you will come out of the program as someone who has a"theoretical" HCI skill set. Which I'm slowly starting to believe, but there is still application within the realm of theoretical HCI).
The bet way to describe what HCI is, is to discuss HCI in terms of application. Before this summer, applying HCI occurred in two places for me. One, in the context of a classroom where we were learning the skills needed to apply HCI methods (see the HCI methods course for the program) and two, Project I, where students are expected to think of a research study within the realm of HCI, and then conduct the research. Here in Brasil, it is applying HCI methods to help others improve upon their applications.
Currently, half-way through my stay in Brasil, I am working on helping two groups with improving the interfaces of their given applications. For those of you who don't know what I mean by interface, just think of the thing on a computer that a human has to interact with (the window that you are currently viewing this blog in is called an interface, you can do something here, mainly read my blog!) One application is a website for T-Health and another application is using the Kinect to manipulate objects on a computer screen. As of right now, initial user-testing has been done with the Kinect application (and improvements are currently being made for it from what was found during the user-tests) and at some point this week the website for T-Health will be tested with users.
You may be asking yourselves, "okay, this is great and all, but how can you just test people and know what they want; you set up the study, so it'll just be biased? right?" Not completely. Since there are standards and methods that need to be used to make studies valid, objectivity comes shining through. Only knowing what I've been taught in classes, figuring out the best method of evaluation is tough if you've never had a lot of experience doing it. But, I was given resources down here on a method of evaluation that came from Brasil, called Communicability evaluation. There is a sense of "learning on the job" so to say, when it comes to HCI. Picking the right method for each project is the toughest part, and going about different methods of evaluation is sometimes the best way to go. Plus, not testing is the worst thing to do. As we say in HCI, testing one user is better than testing none.
If you still want that magic when it comes to thinking about HCI and don't want to accept anything I just said, I have no qualms with you thinking that I do this too:
-a hero within
References:
Hewett, T. T. et al, Curricula for HCI, ACM HCI, URL : http://sigchi.org/cdg/, 1996.
According to ACM SIGCHI, HCI is, "The discipline concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use and the study of the major phenomena surrounding them" (Hewett, 1996). This is taken directly from SUNY Oswego's HCI webpage. The definition gives insight into what someone who works in HCI does (which can be quite helpful for job interviews). Still, the definition does not completely capture the essence of what HCI is; still too much of an abstract idea for something that is very application driven (unless you were told, before coming into the program, that you will come out of the program as someone who has a"theoretical" HCI skill set. Which I'm slowly starting to believe, but there is still application within the realm of theoretical HCI).
The bet way to describe what HCI is, is to discuss HCI in terms of application. Before this summer, applying HCI occurred in two places for me. One, in the context of a classroom where we were learning the skills needed to apply HCI methods (see the HCI methods course for the program) and two, Project I, where students are expected to think of a research study within the realm of HCI, and then conduct the research. Here in Brasil, it is applying HCI methods to help others improve upon their applications.
Currently, half-way through my stay in Brasil, I am working on helping two groups with improving the interfaces of their given applications. For those of you who don't know what I mean by interface, just think of the thing on a computer that a human has to interact with (the window that you are currently viewing this blog in is called an interface, you can do something here, mainly read my blog!) One application is a website for T-Health and another application is using the Kinect to manipulate objects on a computer screen. As of right now, initial user-testing has been done with the Kinect application (and improvements are currently being made for it from what was found during the user-tests) and at some point this week the website for T-Health will be tested with users.
You may be asking yourselves, "okay, this is great and all, but how can you just test people and know what they want; you set up the study, so it'll just be biased? right?" Not completely. Since there are standards and methods that need to be used to make studies valid, objectivity comes shining through. Only knowing what I've been taught in classes, figuring out the best method of evaluation is tough if you've never had a lot of experience doing it. But, I was given resources down here on a method of evaluation that came from Brasil, called Communicability evaluation. There is a sense of "learning on the job" so to say, when it comes to HCI. Picking the right method for each project is the toughest part, and going about different methods of evaluation is sometimes the best way to go. Plus, not testing is the worst thing to do. As we say in HCI, testing one user is better than testing none.
If you still want that magic when it comes to thinking about HCI and don't want to accept anything I just said, I have no qualms with you thinking that I do this too:
-a hero within
References:
Hewett, T. T. et al, Curricula for HCI, ACM HCI, URL : http://sigchi.org/cdg/, 1996.
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