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| By N2H | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Human Computer Interaction
June 23, 2008
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Human computer interaction is about designing computer systems that supports people so that they can carry out their activities productively and safely.
HCI has a role in the design and development of all kinds of systems ranging from those of air traffic controls and nuclear processing plants where safety is of extreme importance. HCI is an inter- disciplinary field and it is a separate area of study.
NB: Poor HCI can endanger life. For computers to be widely accepted and used effectively they need to be well designed for the needs and capabilities of the people for whom they are intended.
Two key principles that help to create good HCI are:
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Visibility i.e. something one can see
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Affordability
i. Visibility
This means good mapping between the controls and their effects.
ii. Affordability
This refers to the properties of objects i.e. what sorts of operations and functions can be done to a particular object.
HCI is a discipline concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive information systems for human uses and with the study of major phenomenon surrounding them.
Researchers on HCI were concerned with how the use of computers might enrich the personal lives and work of people. In particular they focused on the capabilities and limitation of human users i.e. understanding peoples’ psychological processes while interacting with computers.
With further research it became clear that other aspects impact on users. For example training users, working practices, management and organizational issues and health hazards are all important factors contributing to the success or failure of using Information systems.
The challenges of HCI:
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How to keep abreast of changes in technology.
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How to ensure that their designs offer good HCI as well as harnessing the potential functionality of the new technology.
The goals of HCI are to develop or improve:
a) Utility or functionality of the system
b) Effectiveness
c) Efficiency
d) Usability i.e. making system easy to learn and use.
It should be noted that providing lots of different kinds of functions is not necessarily the way to ensure good usability. In order to provide computer systems with good usability HCI specialists strive to understand the factors such as psychological, ergonomic, organizational and social factors that determine how people operate and make use of computer technology, and to translate that understanding into development of tools and techniques to help designers ensure that computer systems are suitable for the activities for which people will use them, in order to achieve efficient, effective and safe interaction both in terms of individual HCI and group interactions.
In HCI, the belief is that the people using the computer system should come first. Their needs, capabilities and preferences for performing various activities should form the ways in which systems are designed and implemented.
People should not have to change radically to fit in with the system. The system should be designed to match their requirements.
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