Housekeeping
 Register from the waitlist
 Facebook page: 2015 version please!
 Course website under construction
 Need to form MP1 groups by January 16th
 12 UG’s + 29 G’s = ~41 students (anyone auditing?)
 Want 8-9 groups => ~4-5 students
 Can be a mix of grad/UG
CSCI 4163 / CSCI 6610, Winter 2014
Human-Computer Interaction
web.cs.dal.ca/~hawkey/4163
Dr. Kirstie Hawkey, hawkey@cs.dal.ca
Basic Info
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Instructor: Kirstie Hawkey
TA: Hasmeet Singh Chandok
Office: Room 225, Goldberg building
KH Office hours: 2-4 pm, Wednesdays
Course is offered as both an undergrad course (4163)
and a graduate course (6610)
NOTE: Tutorial/Lab in LINC room 2600, Killam Library
on Fridays, 12:05-1:25 - initial project brainstorming this
Friday!
Website: web.cs.dal.ca/~hawkey/4163
Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/901037349916233/
Class style
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Pre-assigned readings
Additional resources
Some lecture content
Interactive exercises
HCI topic seminars (breadth!)
Group work:
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2 mini-projects
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Understanding the user’s needs
Controlled laboratory evaluation of a technique
Individual work:
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Topic seminars
Research paper (grad)
Reading responses
Participation/peer evaluation/quizzes
3 assignments
Human Computer Interaction
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Human
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Computer
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The user of a computer program, computerized device, or
other information technology artifact
The physical device, artifact, or hardware that runs the
program
Interaction
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The communication between the human and the computer
Why Care about the human?
Moore’s Law
Slide idea by Bill Buxton
Computer
abilities
transistors
speed
discs
cost
1950
1990
Slide: Saul Greenberg
2030
Psychology
human
abilities
2000BC
Slide idea by Bill Buxton
1950
1990
2030
Where is the bottleneck?
system
performance
Slide idea by Bill Buxton
Slide: Saul Greenberg
Human Computer Interaction
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A discipline concerned with the
implementation
design
evaluation
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of interactive computing systems for human users
Slide: Saul Greenberg
User Centered Design
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1.
2.
3.
Our focus:
Methods for understanding
user needs
Methods for evaluating
interfaces and techniques
with users
Theories/models of human
performance
NOT DESIGN
(3160 in the Fall for user
interface design, prototyping,
discount usability evaluation)
process figure: http://www.yucentrik.ca/en/expertise-2/tools/
User Interface Design  HCI
CSCI 3160: UI Design
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Iterative Design
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Design architecture of system
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Draw UI sketches/task scenarios
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Prototyping
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Evaluate with users (primarily formative)
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Redesign
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Implement Prototypes and evaluate
(heuristics, cognitive walkthroughs)
Design Considerations
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Graphic output/input
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Errors
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Design and layout
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Task
Software
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E.g., GUI toolkits,
CSCI 4163 – HCI
Understand
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users
Learn about their needs, tasks, etc.
Understand how users do something to help
inform design decisions
Understand relevant theories
Critically
understand different experimental
approaches to understand and evaluate systems
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When to use which approach (advantages and
disadvantages)
 Analyze
results and use these to develop
guidelines
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Quantitative and qualitative data
Evaluate
high fidelity prototypes, interaction
techniques, etc. (often summative, comparative)
Course goals
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To understand strengths and weaknesses of different
experimental methods in HCI
To learn about how theories/human models of human
performance impact interaction
To develop an appreciation for experimental HCI
research and how it can refine the theories/models
To be able to apply these techniques to do basic HCI
research
To learn about User Experience as a career path
Fostering a good learning environment
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More details at https://www.hackerschool.com/manual#sec-environment
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Don’t let fear, bravado, or the imposter syndrome stand in
your way of understanding/learning
Social rules:
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No feigning surprise at a lack of knowledge
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No well-actually’s
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Instead: “Yes, and ….!”
No back-seat driving
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Yes: I was also wondering about that!
Yes: give constructive feedback through peer evaluation
No subtle –isms
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racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and other kinds of bias
(technofile-ism?, Windows-ism?) Any others?
Embrace the diversity of perspectives in this room
Keys for success in this class
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Show up to class and tutorials!
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Be rigorous and reflective
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Experiential learning, discussions, activities
Read the readings
Document your efforts
Do things for a reason (hopefully a good one!)
Examine tradeoffs
Justify your approach
Be a good group member
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BUT… you have problems within your group – address them
(with me) early!
Marks will not be evenly distributed among group members if
there is documented evidence of unequal effort
Homework for Thursday’s class
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Read Chapter 2 of The Encyclopedia of Human
Computer Interaction
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http://www.interactiondesign.org/encyclopedia/human_computer_interaction_hci.htm
l
Submit (Email? Moodle?) to Hasmeet 2
questions/comments about the reading BEFORE class on
Thursday
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Excellent (2 pts): thought provoking, insightful, original, good
discussion points
Good (1 pt): relevant
Bad (0 pt): completely irrelevant, comments not sent or sent
late
Plagiarism - Don’t Do It
Kirstie Hawkey
 originally written in 2003 when I was a PhD Student,
Teaching Assistant, & Lecturer
Basic defs
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Plagiarism
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“the submission or presentation of the work of another as if it
were one's own.”
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http://www.dal.ca/dept/university_secretariat/academicintegrity/plagiarism-cheating.html
Other cheating
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Other violations of academic integrity
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http://www.dal.ca/dept/university_secretariat/academicintegrity/plagiarism-cheating/other-cheating.html
Academic Integrity Quiz
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Individually
& then we’ll discuss
Don’t Do It
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In order not to “do it”, you need to know what it
is.
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Go to Dalhousie’s Academic Integrity website
(http://www.dal.ca/dept/university_secretariat/acade
mic-integrity.html)
Talk to our CS Librarian Gwendolyn McNairn if you
have questions or talk to the Writing Center
For each class, find out what level of collaboration is
allowed
Exercise to do at home:
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You Quote It, You Note It tutorial
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http://libcasts.library.dal.ca/Tutorials/QuoteNoteA/
Do you REALLY understand?
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Don’t sign anything that says that you understand what
plagiarism or academic integrity is unless you really do
understand it
Make it your first priority to really understand it
Dal tutorials in academic integrity and citing
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http://libraries.dal.ca/using_the_library/online_tutorials.html
Another Good Tutorial
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https://www.indiana.edu/~istd/sitemap.html
Don’t Do It
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We can catch you… we have the technology
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Google – a great way to find information, a great way to
find where plagiarizers found information
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Your TA’s and professors are computer scientists with
brains used to seeing patterns. Changing a few words or
rearranging something rarely fools us.
Don’t Do It
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Dalhousie has subscribed to SafeAssign
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Compares submissions with online databases
It’s not just writing
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We can analyze your code and detect similarities
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Compiled code can be compared to the submissions
of previous years.
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Rearranging functions and renaming variables and
changing indentation doesn’t change the underlying
structure – and that is what is compared.
Learn how to express yourself
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Demonstrate to your professor that you know the
material
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Your ability to cut and paste is not what you will be
marked on.
A paper full of quotations says that you don’t understand
it well enough to use your own words
Protect yourself
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Don’t let others see your written words.
Keep collaboration with others at the concept level.
Lock your computer when you leave it, even if just
for a minute.
Make sure you are aware what is being submitted on
your behalf for group work.
Don’t Do It
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The faculty is making a strong effort to curb
plagiarism.
Don’t become the next person with an F in a
course and a notation on their transcript of
academic dishonesty for the sake of a better
mark on a 4% assignment
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What seems like the easy way out at the time carries
some heavy consequences
Faculty AIOs
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Computer Science
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Dr. Denis Riordan, Associate Dean
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Dr. Christian Blouin
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Email: denis.riordan@dal.ca
Email: christian.blouin@dal.ca
Graduate Studies
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Dr. Eileen Denovan-Wright, Associate Dean
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Email: eileen.denovan-wright@dal.ca
Don’t Do It
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Just don’t 
History of HCI
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Slides from Saul Greenberg
FYI if curious
History of Human Computer Interaction
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Where did HCI innovations and philosophy come from?
Who were the major personalities?
What were the important systems?
How did ideas move from the laboratory to the market?
History of HCI
Input/output devices (2005)
Input
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Output
Early days
connecting wires
paper tape & punch cards
keyboard
lights on display
paper
teletype
Today (2005)
keyboard
+ cursor keys
+ mouse
+ microphone
scrolling glass teletype
character terminal
bit-mapped screen
audio
Soon?
data gloves + suits
computer jewelry
natural language
cameras
head-mounted displays
ubiquitous computing
autonomous agents
multimedia
The lesson
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keyboards & terminals are just artifacts of today’s technologies
new input/output devices will change the way we interact with computers
History of HCI
RAND’s vision of the future (1954)
From ImageShack web site //www.imageshack.us ; original source unknown
History of HCI
Eniac (1943)
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A general view of the ENIAC, the world's first all electronic
numerical integrator and computer.
From IBM Archives.
History of HCI
Mark I (1944)
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The Mark I paper tape readers.
From Harvard University Cruft Photo Laboratory.
History of HCI
Stretch (1961)
A close-up of the Stretch technical control panel.
From IBM Archives.
History of HCI
Intellectual foundations
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Vannevar Bush (1945)
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“As we may think” article in Atlantic Monthly
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http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-maythink/3881/
Identified the information storage and retrieval problem:
new knowledge does not reach the people who could benefit
from it
“publication has been extended far beyond our present ability to make
real use of the record”
History of HCI
Bush’s Memex
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mmmm
mmmm
mmm mm
mmmm
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Conceiving Hypertext and the World Wide Web
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a device where individuals stores all personal books, records,
communications etc
items retrieved rapidly through indexing, keywords, cross
references,...
can annotate text with margin notes, comments...
can construct and save a trail (chain of links) through the
material
acts as an external memory!
Bush’s Memex based on microfilm records!
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but not implemented
mmm
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History of HCI
J.C.R. Licklider (1960)
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Outlined “man-computer symbiosis”
“The hope is that, in not too many years, human brains and
computing machines will be coupled together very tightly
and that the resulting partnership will think as no human
brain has ever thought and process data in a way not
approached by the information-handling machines we know
today.”
History of HCI
J.C.R. Licklider (continued)
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Produced goals that are pre-requisite to “man-computer
symbiosis”
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Immediate goals:
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time sharing of computers among many users
electronic i/o for the display and communication of symbolic
and pictorial information
interactive real time system for information processing and
programming
large scale information storage and retrieval
History of HCI
J.C.R. Licklider (continued)
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intermediate goals:
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facilitation of human cooperation in the design & programming
of large systems
combined speech recognition, hand-printed character
recognition & light-pen editing
long term visions:
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natural language understanding (syntax, semantics, pragmatics)
speech recognition of arbitrary computer users
heuristic programming
History of HCI
Significant Advances 1960 - 1980
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Mid ‘60s
computers too expensive for a single person
Time-sharing
the illusion that each user was on their own personal machine
led to immediate need to support human-computer interaction
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dramatically increased accessibility of machines
afforded interactive systems and languages vs batch “jobs”
community as a whole communicated through computers
(and eventually through networks) via email, shared files, etc.
History of HCI
Ivan Sutherland’s SketchPad-1963 PhD
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Sophisticated drawing package
introduced many ideas/concepts now found in today’s interfaces
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hierarchical structures defined pictures and sub-pictures
object-oriented programming: master picture with instances
constraints: specify details which the system maintains through changes
icons: small pictures that represented more complex items
copying: both pictures and constraints
input techniques: efficient use of
light pen
world coordinates: separation of
screen from drawing coordinates
recursive operations: applied to
children of hierarchical objects
From http://accad.osu.edu/~waynec/history/images/ivan-sutherland.jpg
History of HCI
Ivan Sutherland’s SketchPad-1963 PhD
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Parallel developments in hardware:
“low-cost” graphics terminals
input devices such as data tablets (1964)
display processors capable of real-time manipulation of images
(1968)
Videos:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USyoT_Ha_bA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKM3CmRqK2o&feature=related
History of HCI
Douglas Engelbart
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The Problem (early ‘50s)
“...The world is getting more complex, and problems are getting more
urgent. These must be dealt with collectively. However, human abilities to
deal collectively with complex / urgent problems are not increasing as
fast as these problems.
If you could do something to improve
human capability to deal with these
problems, then you'd really contribute
something basic.”
...Doug Engelbart
History of HCI
Douglas Engelbart
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The Vision (Early 50’s)
…I had the image of sitting at a big CRT screen with all kinds of symbols,
new and different symbols, not restricted to our old ones. The computer
could be manipulated, and you could be operating all kinds of things to
drive the computer
... I also had a clear picture that one's colleagues could be sitting in other
rooms with similar work stations, tied to the same computer complex,
and could be sharing and working and collaborating very closely. And
also the assumption that there'd be a lot of new skills, new ways of
thinking that would evolve "
...Doug Engelbart
History of HCI
Douglas Engelbart
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A Conceptual Framework for Augmenting Human
Intellect (SRI Report, 1962)
"By augmenting man's intellect we mean increasing the capability of a
man to approach a complex problem situation, gain comprehension to
suit his particular needs, and to derive solutions to problems.
One objective is to develop new techniques, procedures, and systems
that will better adapt people's basic information-handling capabilities
to the needs, problems, and progress of society."
...Doug Engelbart
History of HCI
The First Mouse (1964)
History of HCI
AFIP Fall Joint Conference, 1968
Document Processing
– modern word processing
– outline processing
– hypermedia
Input / Output
– the mouse and one-handed corded
keyboard
– high resolution displays
– multiple windows
– specially designed furniture
Shared work
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shared files and personal annotations
electronic messaging
shared displays with multiple pointers
audio/video conferencing
ideas of an Internet
User testing, training
http://vimeo.com/1408300
History of HCI
The Personal Computer
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Alan Kay (1969)
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Dynabook vision (and cardboard prototype) of a notebook
computer:
“Imagine having your own self-contained knowledge manipulator in a
portable package the size and shape of an ordinary notebook.
Suppose it had enough power to out-race your senses of sight and
hearing, enough capacity to store for later retrieval thousands of
page-equivalents of reference materials, poems, letters, recipes,
records, drawings, animations, musical scores...”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36NNGzNvjo
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Ted Nelson
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1974: “Computer Lib/Dream Machines”
popular book describing what computers can do for people (instead
of business!)
History of HCI
The Personal Computer
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Xerox PARC, mid-’70s
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Alto computer, a personal workstation
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modern graphical interfaces
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text and drawing editing, electronic mail
windows, menus, scroll bars, mouse selection, etc
local area networks (Ethernet) for personal workstations
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local processor, bit-mapped display, mouse
could make use of shared resources
ALTAIR 8800 (1975)
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Popular electronics article that showed people
how to build a computer for under $400
History of HCI
Commercial machines: Xerox Star-1981
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First commercial personal computer designed for “business
professionals”
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First comprehensive GUI used many ideas developed at Xerox
PARC
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familiar user’s conceptual model (simulated desktop)
promoted recognizing/pointing rather than remembering/typing
property sheets to specify appearance/behaviour of objects
what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG)
small set of generic commands that could be used throughout the
system
high degree of consistency and simplicity
modeless interaction
limited amount of user tailorability
History of HCI
Commercial Machines: Apple Lisa (1983)
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based upon many ideas in the Star
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predecessor of Macintosh,
somewhat cheaper ($10,000)
commercial failure as well
http://fp3.antelecom.net/gcifu/applemuseum/lisa2.html
History of HCI
Other events:
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MIT Architecture Machine Group
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Nicholas Negroponte (1969-1980+)
many innovative inventions, including
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ACM SIGCHI (1982)
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wall sized displays
use of video disks
use of artificial intelligence in interfaces (idea of agents)
speech recognition merged with pointing
speech production
multimedia hypertext
....
special interest group on computer-human interaction
conferences draw between 2000-3000 people
www.chi2011.org
http://chi2011.org/program/videos.html
HCI Journals
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Int J Man Machine Studies (1969)
many others since 1982
History of HCI
You know now:
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HCI importance result of:
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cheaper/available computers/workstations meant people more
important than machines
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excellent interface ideas modeled after human needs instead of
system needs (user centered design)
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evolution of ideas into products through several generations
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pioneer systems developed innovative designs, but often commercially
unviable
settler systems incorporated (many years later) well-researched designs
people no longer willing to accept products with poor interfaces