INTRODUCTION TO

HCI
 HCI

WHAT IS HCI? (Human Computer Interaction)

 The study of how people interact with computers and to what extent
computers are or are not developed for successful interaction with human
beings.
 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.
 The golden principle in HCI is that “people should come first”.

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 3 Components of HCI

Human (The User)

 The user is whoever is trying to get the job done using the technology, Could
be an individual user or a group of users working together.

Computer
 Could be any technology ranging from the general desktop computer to a large
scale computer system.
Interaction
 Any direct or indirect communication between a human and computer.

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The Goals of HCI

A basic goal of HCI is to improve the interactions

between users and computers by making
computers more usable and receptive to the user's
needs

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 The Goals of HCI

To develop and improve the:

 safety
 utility
 effectiveness
 efficiency
 usability
 appeal
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 The Goals of HCI

Safety:
 Safety of Users—think of
▻ Air traffic control
▻ Hospital intensive care
 Safety of Data—think of
▻ Protection of files from tampering
▻ Privacy and security
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 The Goals of HCI

Utility and Effectiveness:

 Utility:
 What services a system provides
e.g. Ability to print documents
 Effectiveness:
 User’s ability to achieve goals,
e.g. How to enter the desired information; How to print a report

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 The Goals of HCI

Efficiency:
 A measure of how quickly users can accomplish their
goals or finish their work using the system

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 The Goals of HCI

Usability:
 a measure of the ease with which a system can be
learned and used, its safety, effectiveness and
efficiency, and attitude of its users towards it” (Preece
et al., 1994)

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The Goals of HCI

Why is Usability
Important?

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 The Goals of HCI

A usable system is:

 Easy to learn
 Easy to remember how to use
 Effective to use
 Efficient to use
 Safe to use
 Enjoyable to use

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 The Goals of HCI

Useful
 The system support user objectives

Usable
 It support these objectives in easy-to-use ways

Accessible
 It can be used by the full range of intended users

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 History of HCI

Punch Cards (Sep 16, 1832)

 contain digital data represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined
positions.

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 History of HCI

Typewriter (1868)
 The first typewriter was introduced to the United States in 1868 by Christopher
Latham Sholes.

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 History of HCI

QWERTY (Aug 15, 1873)

 This layout was created by Christopher Scholes to prevent the excessive sticking of
keys that users experience while using his typewriter..

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 History of HCI

DVORAK Keyboard Format (Apr 8, 1936)

 An alternative to the QWERTY keyboard layout,
 The layout was designed around the most used letters in the English language as to
place those letters in closest proximity to decrease strain upon the typist.

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 History of HCI

ENIAC (1943)
 The world's first all electronic numerical integrator and computer.

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 History of HCI

Sketchpad (1963)
 Was a computer program written by Ivan Sutherland in 1963 in the course of his
PhD thesis.
 It is considered to be the
ancestor of modern computer-
aided design (CAD) programs as
well as a major breakthrough in
the development of computer
graphics in general.
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 Histoy of HCI

The First Mouse (1964)

 It was a simple mechanical device with two perpendicularly mounted discs on the
bottom. You could tilt or rock the mouse to draw perfectly straight horizontal or
vertical lines.

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QUESTIONS?

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