Human Computer Interaction

Lecture # 1 & 2: Basics of HCI

Dr. Nauman A. Qureshi

Assistant Professor,
Department of Computing (DoC),
SEECS, NUST

SEECS, NUST
Agenda
Basics of HCI • Introduction to Class Policy
• Introduction to HCI
[Lecture – 1 / 2] • Why HCI is Important

Fundamentals: • Introduction to Humans

• Theories
Humans • Phycology
[Lecture – 3 / 4] • Memory
• Perception

Fundamentals: • Introduction to Computers

Computers • Machine world
[Lecture – 4 /5] • Metaphors

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Class Grading Policy
Lectures ( 3 Hrs. / Week)
Lecture Slides
Extra Readings (Research Articles)
Quizzes (Announced / Un-announced) 10%
Assignments 10%
 Class assignments (* maybe presentations)
 Covers a topic studied in the class
 Assignments may be a project deliverable
 Project (Viva + Presentation + Final Report) 10%
(Group Projects will be decided soon!!!)

Exams
OHT (1 & 2) 30%
Final Exam 40%
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Books
 Text books:
Alan Dix et. al. (2004/2010): Human-Computer Interaction
(3rd Ed. Or later), Pearson Education.

 Reference books:

Shneiderman, et. al. ,(2010) Designing the User Interface:

Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, 5/e
Pearson Education

Dr Helen Sharp et. al.(2007): Interaction Design: Beyond

Human-Computer Interaction, Wiley

Donald Norman (1990): The Design of Everyday Things,

Doubleday Business
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My Introduction!
 Dr. Nauman A. Qureshi
PhD in Software Engineering (University of Trento, Italy)
Requirements Engineering for Self-Adaptive Software

 Consultation Times:
Friday (11:00am -1:00pm)
Or via Email (nauman.qureshi@seecs.edu.pk)
Room: A 305

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What is HCI?

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What is HCI?
 “the study of the interaction between people, computers and
tasks” (Johnson)

 “a very difficult business. It combines two awkward

disciplines: psychology and computer science” (Thimbleby)

 “The ideal designer of an interactive system would have

expertise in … psychology … cognitive science …
ergonomics … sociology …computer science … engineering
… business … graphic design … technical writing … and so
it goes on” (Dix et. al)

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Definition of HCI
 “Human-computer interaction is a discipline concerned
with the study, planning, design, evaluation and
implementation of interactive computing systems for
human use and with the study of major phenomena
surrounding them”

 ACM SIGCHI Curricula for HCI (Hewett et al. 1992)

http://sigchi.org/cdg/cdg2.html

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What fields does HCI cover?
 Computer Science
 Psychology (cognitive) Computer Cognitive
Science Psychology
 Communication
 Education
 Anthropology Arts
 Design (e.g. graphic and industrial)

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HCI Goals /1
 Influence academic and industrial researchers
• Understand a problem and related theory
• Hypothesis and testing
• Study design (we’ll do this!)
• Interpret results

 Provide tools, techniques and knowledge for commercial

developers
• competitive advantage (think…… ipod)

 Raising the computer consciousness of the general public

• Reduce computer anxiety (error messages)
• Common fears:
• I‟ll break it, I‟ll make a mistake, The computer is smarter than me

 HCI contributes to this!

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HCI Goals /2
• To improve the interactions between users and computers
by making computers more usable and receptive to the
user's needs

• Design systems that minimize the barrier between the

human's cognitive model of what they want to accomplish
and the computer's understanding of the user's task

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Why this course is Important?
 Build your portfolio
Work on a project you‟ve always wanted (be Creative!!!)
Learn how to incorporate usability concerns in Software
Design

 Study a unique topic

A computer science course focused on users!
Learn the science of design!

 Skill building
Curriculum, research and practice

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Why HCI is Important?
 What is a user interface?
 Why do we care about design?

We see this most of the times!!! 

• What’s good about the design of this error box?

• The user knows there is an error

• What’s poor about the design of this error box?

• Discouraging
• Not enough information
• No way to resolve the problem (instructions or contact info)

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Why HCI is Important
• To optimize performance of human and computer together as
a system

• The study of our interface with information!

• It is not just „how big should I make buttons‟ or „how to layout

menu choices‟

• It can affect:
• Effectiveness
• Productivity
• Morale
• Safety

• Example: A car with poor HCI

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HCI Research Community
 Academics/Industry Research
 Taxonomies,
 Theories,
 Predictive models

 Experimenters
 Empirical data,
 Product design

 Other areas (Sociologists, anthropologists, managers)

 Perceptual,
 Cognitive,
 Social,
 economic, ethics

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HCI Perspective!!
 From computer science perspective: the focus is on interaction
 Computer-Computer Interaction
 Well-defined protocols (e.g. TCP/IP)
 Restricted communication, No margin for error
 Human-Human Interaction
 Evolving, Informal
 Error-prone, but corrective
 Human-Computer Interaction
 User‟s Conceptual Model (UCM)
 Study of task modeling
 Evaluation of interfaces (experimentation)
 Design Guidelines i.e. distillation of design and experimental results
 UI is an integral part of system design, not a last minute add-on

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HCI: Requirements Analysis
 Ascertain users‟ needs
 Ensure proper reliability
 Promote appropriate standardization, integration,
consistency, and portability
 Complete projects on schedule and within budget

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HCI: Ascertain User‟s Needs
• Define tasks
• Tasks
• Subtasks

• Frequency
• Frequent
• Occasional
• Exceptional
• Repair

• Ex. difference between a space satellite, car engine,

and fighter jet
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HCI: Focus on Usability
Goals:
Usability
Universality
Usefulness

Achieved by:
Planning
Sensitivity to user needs
Devotion to requirements analysis
Testing

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HCI: Focus on Reliability
 Actions function as specified
 Data displayed must be correct
 Updates done correctly
 Leads to trust! (software, hardware, information)
 Case: Pentium floating point bug
 Privacy, security, access, data destruction, tampering

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HCI: Focus on Standardization……and so on
 Standardization – common user-interface features across
multiple applications
 Apple
 Web
 Windows

 Integration – across application packages

 file formats

 Consistency – common action sequences, terms, units,

layouts, color, typography within an application

 Portability – convert data and interfaces across multiple

hardware and software environments
 Word/HTML/PDF/ASCII

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HCI Importance: Everyday Things

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Quick Question!
Take 5 minutes!

Write down one common device with substantial HCI design

choices, discuss its pros and cons?

How does it affect you or other users?

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My Choice!
iPod by Apple Computers
Pros:
portable
power
ease of use
# of controls
Cons:
scratches easily
no speech for car use
proprietary

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HCI in Practice
 Professional practitioners in HCI are usually designers
concerned with the practical application of design
methodologies to real-world problems

 Their work often revolves around

designing graphical user interfaces and web interfaces
developing new design methodologies
experimenting with new hardware devices
prototyping new software systems
exploring new paradigms for interaction
and developing models and theories of interaction

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HCI and Usability
 HCI is about Usability:

 Usability is:  Three „use‟ words that must

Ease of learning
High speed of user task
performance
Low user error rate
Subjective user
satisfaction
User retention over time
all be true for a product to
be successful
 Useful: accomplish what is
required
 Usable: do it easily and
naturally
 Used: make people want to
use it

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UI Design / Develop Process
 User-Centered Design
Analyze user‟s goals & tasks
Create design alternatives
Evaluate options
Implement prototype
Test
Refine

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Design Evaluation: Daily Challenges
 How many of you can use all the functionality in your
TV Remote
DVD
Phone
Stereo system / iPod / Mp3
Microwave oven
….. Etc.

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Design Evaluation
 “Looks good to me” ………. isn‟t good enough!
 Use both subjective and objective metrics
 Some things we can measure
Time to learn
Speed of performance
Rate of errors by user
Retention over time
Subjective satisfaction Involve the User
The eventual user should be
involved in the design process.

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Know the User!
 Physical & cognitive abilities (& special needs)
 Personality & culture
 Knowledge & skills
 Motivation Think ‘User’
Remember that someone (and in
particular someone else) will use
the system under construction
 Two Fatal Mistakes:
Assume all users are alike
Assume all users are like the designer

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References
 Lecture Slides from:

 Text Books:
 Human-Computer Interaction (3. Ed), Pearson Education.
(2009)

By Alan Dix et. al.

 Image Source:
 Google Images

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Thank you!
 Questions, Comments, Suggestions!

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