HCI 2014 (1 of 10): Overview

Master on Software Engineering :: Human-Computer Interaction
Dr. Sabin-Corneliu Buraga – www.purl.org/net/busaco
Human-Computer Interaction
an overview


“Design, v.: What you regret not doing later on.”
/usr/games/fortune

How about the means of interaction
between user(s) and software?

Human
a person who tries to accomplish a goal

Dr. Sabin-Corneliu Buraga – www.purl.org/net/busacophoto sources: wikimedia.org

Computer
runs applications (software)

Computer
runs applications (software)
locally versus remotely

first game developed on PDP (1960s)

Interaction
“dialogue” between humans and computers

The interaction between user(s) and application(s)
is achieved via an interface – user interface

The interaction between user(s) and application(s)
is achieved via an interface – user interface
API (Application Programming Interface)
versus
UI (User Interface)

Types of user interfaces:
conventional (classical) UI – e.g., desktop

Graficon (Douglas Engelbart, 1963)

conventional (classical) UI – e.g., desktop
WIMP (Window Icon Menu Pointer) paradigm
interaction via keyboard & mouse + additional devices
graphical representations (bitmap vs. vectors)
support provided by the OS kernel vs. a desktop system
multi-tasking

human-computer interaction
Bryce (Kai Krause, 1997)

Web interface

human-computer interaction
280slides (2010)WorldWideWeb system (Tim Berners-Lee, ~1990)
www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html

Web interface
browser – limited controls provided by (X)HTML
hypertext/hypermedia
RIA (Rich Internet Applications)
(a)synchronous interaction
based on open standards
availability – world-wide audience

wireframe.cc (2014)

mobile user interface

mobile user interface
limited resources/features:
resolution, memory, I/O, power etc.,
one task vs. multi-tasking, off-line vs. on-line,
context awareness services,
different business modelsapp stores

challenge:
interaction design in the context of multi-device UI
responsive design
see also www.punchcut.com/perspectives

natural UI

natural UI
new interaction paradigms + new expectations,
haptic, gesture, locomotion, auditory & voice, tangible UI,
augmented and virtual reality,
physical computing, ambient intelligence (AmI),
emotion & persuasion,…

Richard Harper et al. (Eds.), Being Human, Microsoft Research, 2008

User – desktop, Web, mobile,… – interface
part of a program/application
– at the desktop, Web, mobile device,… level –
which permits users to expose their intentions (goals)
with respect to the actual software and to interpret
the results of certain actions performed by the machine

perceived by the user not only as a visual part
of a certain software application

from the point of view of an user,
it represents the entire system
the application per se

UI quality attributes
(Jakob Nielsen, 2012)
utility
provides the features users need

usability
how easy & pleasant the features are to be used

useful
usability + utility

Everyone who uses a (software) tool
is conducted by a motivation

Dr. Sabin-Corneliu Buraga – www.purl.org/net/busacofinding an entity: information, object, user, etc.

Dr. Sabin-Corneliu Buraga – www.purl.org/net/busaco(self)learning/instruction

performing a process – e.g., a (business) transaction

Dr. Sabin-Corneliu Buraga – www.purl.org/net/busacosocial interactions – at a real and/or virtual level

creating an artifact:
(micro)blog note, picture, article, source-code,...

Dr. Sabin-Corneliu Buraga – www.purl.org/net/busacoentertainment – individual vs. community

UX – User Experience
Defining the perception of a product/service
from the point of view of person(s) who use it
and the apparent pleasure/satisfaction

Context
http://garrettdimon.com/pages/improving_interface_design

“Every product that is used by someone has
a user experience: newspapers, ketchup bottles,
reclining armchairs, cardigan sweaters.”
James Jesse Garrett, 2003

Cannot design a user experience,
only design for a user experience

experience = expectationuser is satisfied

experience > expectationuser is delighted

experience < expectationuser is dissatisfied

www.buigallery.com

UX and interaction
between users and mobile devices
see also http://smallsurfaces.com/
case study

Punerea problemei

interactiune web

Main categories of interactions (at mobile level)
Application Centric
Activity Centric
Timeline Centric
Context (Location) Centric
Process/Task Centric
Emotion Centric
People/Identity Centric
Rahul Sen, 2010: http://tinyurl.com/23586xg

IA – Information Architecture
The necessity of organizing the information
desired by the users

The solutions of presenting the content
regard the IA – Information Architecture

We can adopt different techniques regarding
data visualization

Dr. Sabin-Corneliu Buraga – www.purl.org/net/busacowww.veen.com/nextgen.pdf
from raw data to knowledge

We can adopt different techniques regarding
data visualization
visual design
visual representation
infographics

Aspects concerning design
The Evolution of the Web
evolutionofweb.appspot.com
see also www.informationisbeautiful.net

HCI: process
understand
study
designbuild
evaluate
Microsoft, 2008

What are the most important aspects
regarding the UI design?

interaction design
“Designing interactive products to support
the way people communicate and interact
in their everyday and working lives.”
Sharp, Rogers & Preece, 2007

interactiune web
related domains (Dan Saffer, 2006)

interaction design: issues
“Digital products are rude.”
Alan Cooper et al., 2007

The user is in charge with the application
(developer) mistakes
stupidity?

Users must think as computers
…they don’t want to learn the “Boolean” language

Usually, applications do not help people

Why digital products are so “nasty”?

interaction design
Ignoring reality aka the target public
(the common user)
we tend exclusively to develop software for the “elite”
see http://developerexperience.org/

interaction design
Conflicts of interests:
developers
versus
business

interaction design
The lack of a coherent process regarding
the developing of the common software

interaction design
too many
amateurs?

interaction design
typical example:
Web development

Dr. Sabin-Corneliu Buraga – www.purl.org/net/busacoAlan Cooper et al., 2007

interaction design
The complexity of software applications is greater
than the one of the tangible products
“If your UI even vaguely resembles an airplane cockpit,
you’re doing it wrong.” – John Gruber

interaction design
The process of interaction design
is an inter-disciplinary one (Rogers, 2007)

interaction design
research regarding interaction design (Yvonne Rogers, 2007)
interac-
tion
design

interaction design: questions
What we want to create (develop)?

How about the premises?

What are the final goals?

We’ll really obtain what we hope?

If yes, how?

How about the intrinsic difficulties?

Can we (re)use an existing solution?

interaction design
The design process must be performed
with respect to the user requirements/goals
user-centered interface design

interaction design
Users (clients) typically speak to you
in terms of desired features and solutions,
not of needs and problems.
Jenifer Tidwell, 2006

interaction design: questions (II)
How the software will be used?

Who will use the developed application?

How often software will be used?

How long the user will interact
to the application?

How about the easiness of using
a given application?

Software will be portable?

How about the internationalization,
localization, accessibility of the application?

interaction design
Important aspect:
understanding the problem to be solved

interaction design
Important aspect:
understanding the problem to be solved
in order to create the desired design (application)

interaction design
Aspects:
UI type(s): desktop, Web, mobile, TV screen,…
user expected behavior
functionalities
user categories: children, teens, special users, etc.
…

interaction design
context
con-
tentusers

interaction design
Study: how a phone call differs regarding
the means used to be performed?
using a classical phone unit
versus
via a mobile device: an old and/or last generation phone
versus
using a VoIP software – e.g., FaceTime, Skype

interaction design
We must consider:
(the categories of) involved users
performed activities
the context of using a specific device
the environment

interaction design
The need of a conceptual model
describes how the system is perceived by its users

interaction design
software (implementation) model
user (mental) model
environment model

interaction design
“A high level description of
how a system is organized and it functions.”
Johnson & Henderson, 2002

interaction design
Important issue:
user model versus program model
Alan Cooper et al., 2007

interaction design
Example: the spreadsheet conceptual model
analogy with concrete tables used by accountants
easy to understand
simple interaction
real-time computing of formulas
facilities for further extensions – e.g., URLs as cell values

How about the interface usability?

usability
Usability refers to the “proper” way
the users can exploit the functionality
of a given system
Jakob Nielsen
www.useit.com/alertbox/20030825.html

usability
Learnability
how easily a person can learn to use a system
(its interface)

usability
Efficiency
after user learnt the interface,
how can (s)he optimally use it?

usability

usability
Memorability
it is easy for the users to remember
the interaction with the system?

usability
Errors
the number of potential errors must be minimal
the user mistakes must be easily
detected/corrected

usability
Satisfaction
the user likes to use the application/service?

system
accepta-
bility
social
accepta-
bility
practical
accepta-
bility
useful-
ness
utility usability
easy to
learn
efficient
to use
easy to
remem-
ber
few
errors
sub-
jectively
pleasant
cost
compa-
tibility
relia-
bility
etc.
JakobNielsen

“The applications that are easy
to use are designed to be familiar.”
Jenifer Tidwell

“Attractive things work better.” – Donald Norman

remember
Keep the Simple Simple
“No matter how complex the overall system,
there is no excuse for not keeping
simple tasks simple.”
Jef Raskin

Keep the Simple Simple
…the most engaging interface of a game?

remember
A user-interface is considered to be good
if the application is behaving conform to
the expectations of its users

remember
A user-interface is considered to be good
if the application is behaving conform to
the expectations of its users
“The successful games companies are the ones
that recognize that their business is entertainment,
not software.”
Andrew Rollings & Dave Morris, 2004

A. Cooper, R. Reimann, D. Cronin,
About Face (3rd Edition), Addison-Wesley, 2007
J. Raskin, The Humane Interface, Addison-Wesley, 2000
A. Sears, J. Jacko (Eds.), The Human-Computer Interaction
Handbook (2nd Edition), Taylor & Francis Group, 2008
J. Tidwell, Designing Interfaces, O’Reilly, 2005
HCI Bibliography
http://hcibib.org/
The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction
http://www.interaction-design.org/books/hci.html
essential resources

interaction, agent, IA, cognetics, markup, art, visual design, KISS,
control, user testing, idiom, latency, mode, icon, GUI, Fitt’s Law,
event, human factors, infographics, RAD, metaphor, accessibility,
privacy, skin, affordance, prompt, menu, pointer, risk, augmented
reality, UX, animation, web, game, graceful degradation, query, tag,
prototyping, ID, evaluation, task, design patterns, gesture, tabs,
color, ergonomics, feedback, CLI, script, look & feel, AI, navigation,
role, multimodal, audio, RAD, typography, window, voice, mouse,
demographics, help, l10n, shortcut, direct manipulation, efficiency,
paradigm, usability, CADUI, experiment, VR, eye candy, 3D, effect,
WYSIWYG, semiotics, i18n, RIA, style, tooltip, iterative, keyboard,
pervasive, learnability, hypertext, anticipation, handheld, memory,
social, natural language, methodology, ubiquitous computing,
persona, dialogue, user, screen, wireframe, PUI, zoom, psychology,
recommender system, brand, flow, storyboard, architecture, model,
responsiveness, satisfaction, touch, undo, metrics, video, semantic

next lecture: the human factor

HCI 2014 (1 of 10): Overview

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HCI 2014 (1 of 10): Overview