HCI121 (Midterms)

• Conversational Rules


  Turn-taking to coordinate conversation
• Conversation


  • A: Shall we meet at 8?
  • B: Um, can we meet a bit later?
  • A: Shall we meet at 8?
  • B: Wow, look at him?
  • A: Yes, what a funny hairdo!
  • B: Um, can we meet a bit later?
• Back channelling


  To signal to continue and following (Uh-uh, umm, ahh)
• Farewell rituals


  Bye then, see you, see you later...
• Implicit and Explicit cues


  e.g., looking at watch, fidgeting with coat and bags, explicitly saying "Oh dear, must go, look at the time, I'm late..."
• Breakdowns in conversation


  When someone says something that is misunderstood. Speaker will repeat with emphasis: A: "this one?" B: "no, I meant that one!" Also use tokens: Eh? Huh? What?
• Design Implications
• How to support conversations when people are 'at a distance' from each other

  Many applications have been developed: Email, videoconferencing, videophones, computer conferencing, messaging, chatrooms, collaborative virtual environments, media spaces
• Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication


  Conversations are supported in real-time through voice and/or typing. Examples include video conferencing and chatrooms.
• What is Interaction Design?

  • Designing interactive products to support people in their everyday and working lives
  • The design of spaces for human communication and interaction
• Benefits of synchronous communication

  • Can keep more informed of what is going on
  • Video conferencing allows everyone to see each other providing some support for non-verbal communication
  • Chatrooms can provide a forum for shy people to talk more
• What are the goals?

  • Develop usable products
  • Usability means easy to learn, effective to use and provide an enjoyable experience
  • Involve users in the design process
• What to design?


  • Need to take into account: Who the users are, What activities are being carried out, Where the interaction is taking place
  • Need to optimise the interactions users have with a product such that they match the users' activities and needs
• Problems with synchronous communication

  • Video lacks bandwidth so judders and lots of shadows
  • Difficult to establish eye contact with images of others
  • People can behave badly when behind the mask of an avatar
• Asynchronous Communication


  Communication takes place remotely at different times. Examples include email, newsgroups, computer conferencing.
• Evolution of HCI 'Interfaces'

  • 50s - Interface at the hardware level for engineers - switch panels
  • 60-70s - interface at the programming level - COBOL, FORTRAN
  • 70-90s - Interface at the terminal level - command languages
  • 80s - Interface at the interaction dialogue level - GUIs, multimedia
  • 90s - Interface at the work setting - networked systems, groupware
  • 00s - Interface becomes pervasive - RF tags, Bluetooth technology, mobile devices, consumer electronics, interactive screens, embedded technology
• From HCI to Interaction Design (ID)


  Interaction Design focuses on designing interactive products to support people in their everyday and working lives
• Benefits of asynchronous communication


  • Read any place any time
  • Flexible as to how to deal with it
  • Powerful, can send to many people
  • Can make saying things easier
• Problems with asynchronous communication

  • FLAMING!!!
  • Spamming
  • Message overload
  • False expectations as to when people will reply
• Communication Technologies Move beyond trying to support face-to-face communication. Provide novel ways of interacting and talking.
• Examples of novel communication technologies

  • Online chatting
  • Collaborative virtual environments
  • Media spaces
• What to design?


  Need to take into account: Who the users are, What activities are being carried out, Where the interaction is taking place
• Awareness of others


  Involves knowing who is around, what is happening, and who is talking with whom
• Interaction Design


  • A process: a goal-directed problem-solving activity informed by intended use, target domain, materials, cost, and feasibility
  • A creative activity
  • A decision-making activity to balance trade-offs
• Peripheral awareness


  Keeping an eye on things happening in the periphery of vision
• Need to optimise the interactions users have with a product


  Such that they match the users' activities and needs
• Interaction Design


  • A representation: a plan for development
  • A set of alternatives and successive elaborations
• Overhearing and overseeing


  Allows tracking of what others are doing without explicit cues
• Four Basic Activities in Interaction Design

  • Identifying needs and establishing requirements
  • Developing alternative designs
  • Building interactive versions of the designs
  • Evaluating designs
• Designing technologies to support greater awareness. Provide awareness of others who are in different locations.
• Examples of awareness supporting technologies

  • Media spaces - "extend the world of desks, chairs, walls and ceilings" (Harrison et al, 1997)
  • Clearboard, Portholes and Cruiser
• Three Key Characteristics in Interaction Design

  • Focus on users early in the design and evaluation of the artefact
  • Identify, document and agree specific usability and user experience goals
  • Iteration is inevitable. Designers never get it right first time
• Notification systems


  Users notify others as opposed to being constantly monitored. Provide information about shared objects and progress of collaborative tasks.
• Evolution of HCI 'Interfaces'

  • 50s - Interface at the hardware level for engineers - switch panels
  • 60-70s - interface at the programming level - COBOL, FORTRAN
  • 70-90s - Interface at the terminal level - command languages
  • 80s - Interface at the interaction dialogue level - GUIs, multimedia
  • 90s - Interface at the work setting - networked systems, groupware
  • 00s - Interface becomes pervasive - RF tags, Bluetooth technology, mobile devices, consumer electronics, interactive screens, embedded technology
• Human-computer interaction (HCI)


  Concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use and with the study of major phenomena surrounding them
• Practical Issues in Interaction Design

  • Who are the users?
  • What are the users' "needs"?
  • Where do alternatives come from?
  • How do you choose among alternatives?
• Interaction design (ID)


  The design of spaces for human communication and interaction
• HCI has generally been about designing efficient and effective systems. Recently, move towards considering how to design interactive systems to make people respond in certain ways e.g., to be happy, to be trusting, to learn, to be motivated.
• Increasingly, more application areas, more technologies and more issues to consider when designing 'interfaces'
• Three Categories of Users

  • Primary: frequent hands-on
  • Secondary: occasional or via someone else
  • Tertiary: affected by its introduction, or will influence its purchase