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Disciplines contributing to HCI
June 23, 2008
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The main topics that make us the main disciplines of HCI are
- Use and context
- Human aspects
- Computer capabilities
- Development process
Use and context
All HCI takes place within a social and organizational context. Different kinds of applications are required for different purposes. Care is needed to divide tasks between humans and machines. Those activities that are creative and non routine are given to people. Those that are repetitive and routine are given to machines.
Human Aspects:
The knowledge of human psychological and physiological abilities and their limitations is an important task. This involves knowing about such things as human information processing, language, interaction and communication.
Computer Aspects:
The main issues of consideration of the technology side involves input and output techniques, dialog techniques, computer graphics and so on.
Design & Development Process:
The knowledge and consideration from above should be brought into the design and development of information systems. Tools and techniques are needed to build systems. There should also be evaluation methods to enable designers check that their ideas are what is wanted.
Disciplines contributing to HCI
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Computer Science
The main contribution of computer science is to provide knowledge about the capability of technology and ideas about how this potential can be harnessed. Various kinds of techniques to support software design, development and maintenance have been of concern to computer scientists.
Developments include; high level programming languages e.g. 4th and 5th GL, user interface management systems (UIMS), debugging tools, prototyping tools, re-use and reverse engineering concepts and multimedia technology.
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Cognitive Psychology
This is concerned with understanding human behavior and the mental processes that underlie it. The important areas in HCI design are perception, attention, memory, learning, thinking and problem solving.
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Social and Organization Psychology
This is concerned with studying the nature and causes of human behavior in a social context. The four core concerns of psychology are:
The influence of one individual to another person’s attitudes and behaviour.
- The impact of a group on its member’s attitudes and behavior
- The The impact of a member on the group’s activities.
- The relationship between the structure and activities of different groups.
The role of social and organizational psychology is to inform designers about social and organizational structures and about how the introduction of computers will influence working practices.
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Ergonomics or Human Factors
The purpose of ergonomics is to define and design tools and various artifacts for different work, leisure and domestic environment to suit the capacities and capabilities of users.
The role of ergonomics is to translate information from the above sciences into the context of design. The objective is to maximize operators such as safety, efficiency and reliability of performance to make a task easier and to increase feelings of comfort and satisfaction.
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Linguistics
This is the scientific study of languages. Within HCI understanding the structure i.e. (syntax) and meaning i.e. (semantics) is important in developing natural language interfaces and conventional analysis which has been used to understand how individuals and groups interact with computers in natural environments.
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Artificial Intelligence
This is concerned with the development of intelligent computer programs which simulate different aspects of intelligent human behavior.
In particular the focus has been on presenting knowledge structures that are utilized in human problem solving.
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Philosophy, socializing and anthropology
A major concern of the disciplines has been to consider the implications of the introduction of IT to society
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Engineering and Design
Engineering is an applied science that takes the findings of science and utilizes it in the production of objects. Design contributes skill and knowledge to this process.
Note: HCI is neither the study of humans nor the study of technology but the bridge between these two. Its role is to enhance the quality of interaction between humans and computer systems.
This is achieved through systematically applying knowledge about humans goals, capabilities and limitations with knowledge about computer’s capabilities and limitations.
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