Overview of HCI

1. Overview of HCI • What is Human-Computer Interaction? • Why should an Information Scientist be concerned with Human-Computer Interaction? • Importance of Good User Interface Design • Why user interfaces are so poor

2. What is Human-Computer Interaction? • HCI - short for human-computer interaction • Study and development of computer-based interfaces with the express purpose of making them easier for humans to use • HCI involves • study of humans using interfaces • development of new applications for users • development of new devices and tools for users

3. Why should Information Systems be concerned with HCI? • IS personnel • oversee the development of new applications • they need to know how to make these systems usable • oversee the introduction of new systems into their organization • they need to be able to evaluate the usability of off the shelf systems

4. Importance of Good User Interface Design • Reduction in coding costs • High costs of interface problems • Serious life-threatening errors • Good interfaces sell products • Increased use of computers in the environment

5. User Interface Code • In a modern graphics user interface program • Estimated 40 to 90 percent of code concerned with user interface • Most estimates around 70 percent !!!!! • If done wrong, has to be redone • If not fixed, cost passed on to users

6. User Interface Economics • Good user interface may result in: • Increased productivity • Reduced training costs • Preventable user errors • Reduced employee turnover • User satisfaction • Higher quality products produced

7. Increased Productivity 20 users X 230 days X 100 screens per day X 10 sec per screen (savings) = 1278 hours or 32 weeks

8. Reduced Training Costs 20 employees X 2 systems/applications per year X 2 1/2 days per application = 100 days or 20 weeks • Training and support often more costly than hardware and software

9. Preventable User Errors 500 users X 20 errors per year X 15 minutes per error = 2500 hours lost or 63 weeks

10. Increased Productivity X 500 menu selections per day X 3 sec per selection X 230 days per year = 480 hours or 12 weeks Reduce the menu selection time to 1 sec 8 extra weeks out of your best people At $50K salary, that lost time will cost $9000

11. Higher Quality Products • User spends less time on interface and more on solving problem, e.g., one command compiles and executes program • Interface matches the way user thinks about problem, e.g., spreadsheet looks like accounting sheets • Interface adds value to problem solution, e.g., multiple ways to view data

12. Serious Life-Threatening Errors • Analysis of transcript of 911 call announcing bomb in Centennial Park at Atlanta Olympics indicated that 20 minutes were needed to call dispatchers • Dispatch system required an address for Centennial Park • Dispatch operators could not find anyone who knew address • Bomb was set to go off 30 minutes after call

13. Serious Life Threatening Errors • Airline crashed in 1996 into a mountainside in Colombia killing all aboard • Pilot typed in “R” rather than full name of airport • Guidance system took first airport in the list beginning with “R” which was the wrong airport • Plane ran into mountain

14. User Interface Economics • Good user interfaces sell systems! • Windows is a copy of the Mac interface • The Mac interface is a copy of Bravo - developed at Xerox PARC • User interface capabilities and awareness help get contracts • Poor user interfaces can cripple a system that is outstanding in all other respects

15. Ubiquity of Computers • Computer driven interfaces placed in most mechanical products we know • Classic problem of users not being able to set the clock on their VCR / microwave / car • Users can often not use a duplicating machine, a fax machine, a cash register, a candy machine, a bank machine or even a telephone • Cars will eventually be computer driven

16. Motivation • Why Are User Interfaces so Poor? • Problem lies in Software Engineering

17. Why Are User Interfaces Poor? • Inadequate training of people developing interfaces • Diversity of knowledge required to design good interfaces • hard to find good people • huge market for people with user interface design skills

18. Why are User Interfaces so Poor? • Rapid technological advances • Reluctance of companies to commit resources • not that true anymore • Poor management - programmers do not talk to user design team and vice versa

19. Lack of Real Engineering of The User Interface • User Interface specialists rarely involved • The "bricklayers" (programmers) are left to do the user interface architecture by default • “Ignorance by software engineers of usability and how to measure it is roughly equivalent to an electronics engineer not knowing what volts and watts are and how to measure them."

20. Introduction & Historical Perspective on Computing and Decision Support Systems • A Brief History of Computing • A Brief History of Personal Computing • Human-Computer Interaction Paradigms Shift

21. A Brief History of Computing • From Beginnings to the Present

22. A Brief History of Personal Computing • Beginnings to Present • Apple OS • DOS • Mac OS • Windows 95

23. Human-Computer Interaction Paradigms Change • Switches • Paper Tape & Punched Cards • Dumb Terminals • Intelligent Terminals • “Point-and-Click” • Direct Manipulation • WIMPs (Windows/Icons/ Mouse/Pointer) • Ubiquitous Computers