HCI concepts and practices

1. HCI concepts and practices I. Reimagining HCI • Human-centered design • New approaches to HCI II. New concerns • HCI and affect III. HCI careers • Where do you do it? • What do you do?

2. I. Reimagining HCI Reimagining HCI: Toward a more human-centered perspective Bannonbriefly reviews the history of HCI, touching on its roots in human factors engineering and suggests a new type of approach He argues that a human-centered design approach is more appropriate for the new sociotechnical world in which we find ourselves ~Do you agree with Bannon's depiction of relationship between people and technology? ~How can HCI best incorporate the human, social, and organizational complexity that Bannondescribes?

3. I. Reimagining HCI How HCI has changed “Please evaluate our user interface, and make it easy to use” “Please help us design this user interface so that it is easy to use” “Please help us find what the users really need so that we know how to design this user interface” “Look at this area of life, and find us something interesting!” Bannon. L. (2011). Reimagining HCI: Toward a More Human-Centered Perspective. Interactions, 18(4)

4. I. Reimagining HCI HCI emerged from human factors engineering in the 80s from concerns about human aspects of working with computer systems Origin in time-motion studies assuming that the person (cheap) should fit the machine(expensive) Rise of industrial automation until researchers saw that there were limits to what could be automated Designing complex sociotechnical safety-critical systems depended more on understanding human, social, technical and organizational complexity Human error is no longer an acceptable explanation when systems don’t work well

5. I. Reimagining HCI HCI emerged from human factors engineering in the 80s from concerns about human aspects of working with computer systems Origin in time-motion studies assuming that the person (cheap) should fit the machine(expensive) Rise of industrial automation until researchers saw that there were limits to what could be automated Designing complex sociotechnical safety-critical systems depended more on understanding human, social, technical and organizational complexity Human error is no longer an acceptable explanation when systems don’t work well

6. I. Reimagining HCI Emergence of CSCW is indicative of a sociological turn that has influenced HCI, particularly through workplace studies Participative design was also an important influence Moving beyond the individual user and outside of the lab Lesson: systems are sociotechnical and are produced in and through the actions of people and systems in the course of the day People as competent human actors with skill sets that could be augmented via computer applications

7. I. Reimagining HCI Who learns what from the new human-computer interaction: Toward a new perspective Swanson argues that in order to respond to sociotechnical changes that are leading to ubiquitous computing, HCI has to respond by reformulating its foundations To do this, theory and research should be based on analysis of four different types of interactions that make up most of our computer mediated experiences ~Do you agree with Swanson's argument? ~Do these types of interactions capture the ways that you used your technologies?

8. I. Reimagining HCI New phase of HCI Narrow-form interaction with devices more seamlessly serves broader form interaction among people and organizations, especially over the Web This machine-aided broader-form interaction among purposeful individuals constitutes an important change They choose the ends they pursue, not just the means Organizations interact with others by means of computer-based systems which serve as machine agents in their electronic transactions Swanson, E. (2012) Who learns what from the new human-computer interaction: Toward a new perspective. AMCIS 2012 Proceedings. Paper 2.

9. I. Reimagining HCI Interaction and information Because each party is responsive to the other(s), interaction is fundamentally informative to participants An exchange of information always takes place, even when interaction takes place for another purpose Interaction is fundamentally dynamic and adaptive, and its course and outcome are path-dependent Attributes: intensity, richness, structure, and extent or length Any party to an interaction can be represented by a machine agent

10. I. Reimagining HCI Types of interaction Informational: one party seeks information from others (demand-pull), and/or others seek to provide it (supply-push) Revolves around the supply and demand of information A goal is to inform the actions of others Cooperational: two or more parties act together to accomplish a task Information is shared and knowledge gained in the process Sharing as a means to accomplish a collective task

11. I. Reimagining HCI Types of interaction Transactional interaction: two parties exchange goods, services, monies, and information pertinent to the terms of the transaction The information generated and shared typically establishes and explicates the terms of the transaction Social interaction, two or more parties interact with each other around their mutual interests, and information is shared in the process The information generated and exchanged between the parties is often incidental to the interaction itself

12. I. Reimagining HCI Interaction and learning Informational What the seeker learns from an exchange is subject to the interests and sometimes control of the provider, Especially when the provider wishes to influence the learning outcome The provider can be an organization or a person The seeker will try to ascertain and learn about the reliability of the provider The provider will try to influence the seeker

13. I. Reimagining HCI Interaction and learning Cooperational Allows participant and collective learning and maintenance of organizational knowledge (KM) Transactional Each party knows what information to exchange to complete the transaction This is needed to enforce the terms of the contract Information may be acquired by all parties to the transaction including those with oversight

14. I. Reimagining HCI Interaction and learning Social Each participant learns from the process, but much of this is incidental to the interaction itself Information is likely to be shared, but asymmetrically Information is not necessarily sought, nor is it necessarily strategically proffered The social exchange takes place for its own sake and valuable social ties are built and maintained Who learns what from the new HCI varies significantly according to the forms of interaction that motivate it

15. HCI concepts and practices I. Reimagining HCI • Human-centered design • New approaches to HCI II. New concerns • HCI and affect III. HCI careers • Where do you do it? • What do you do?

16. II. New concerns Theories, methods and current research on emotions in library and information science, information retrieval and human–computer interaction Lopatovska and Arapakispropose that HCI take affect into account in much more serious and focused ways than in the past Their literature review presents major findings and insights from the study of emotions s and computing ~Do emotions influence your ability to interact with computing devices? How? Why is this important? ~What kinds of design recommendations might come from this research?

17. II. New concerns Emotions are an integral component of human activities, including human–computer interactions Neurological evidence shows that they perform regulatory and utilitarian functions Facilitate rational decision making and perception HCI has come late to the party ‘‘Affective computing” and ‘‘emotional design” refer to the integration of emotions in the design of IS to make them more natural for humans to understand and use Lopatovska, I and Arapakis, I. (2011). Theories, methods and current research on emotions in library and information science, information retrieval and human–computer interaction. Information Processing and Management, 47(4). 575-592.

18. II. New concerns There is a lack of consensus and uniformity about what emotions are and how we can represent them Theories of emotion can be grouped into two main categories Cognitive: cognition as a necessary element of emotion with a goal of explaining subjective manifestations of emotional experiences Cognition can be conscious or unconscious, intentional or unintentional and a judgment or thought Emotion as reaction to an event consisting of affect, awareness of an emotional object, appraisal of the object, action readiness and automatic arousal

19. II. New concerns Theories of emotion can be grouped into two main categories The second emphasizes somatic factors and seeks to describe emotional expressions and perceptions of emotional expressions Somatic theories argue that bodily responses, and not cognitive judgments, cause emotional reactions Emotions as psychosomatic states that evolve due to their adaptive value in dealing with life tasks Primary function is to mobilize an organism to respond quickly to events, similar to those encountered in the past

20. II. New concerns Both theories are used Studies where participants explain their feelings follow evaluative components of emotional reaction Studies measuring spontaneous bodily responses to emotional stimuli follow somatic theories of emotion Two views on emotions’ structure Discrete: six or more basic emotions exist which are universally displayed and recognized Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise Continuous: assumes existence of two or more dimensions that describe and distinguish emotions

21. II. New concerns Methods Lab work measures the following emotion components Changes in the appraisal processes (at all levels of the nervous system) Responses produced in the neuroendocrine, autonomic, and somatic nervous systems Motivational changes brought by the appraisal process Facial, vocal and bodily indications Nature of the subjectively experienced emotional state that relates to the above component changes

22. II. New concerns Critique of lab work Limits mobility causing changes in emotional reactions Aging and unanticipated changes in physiology (accidents, surgery) introduce noise into measurement of neuro-physiological signals Inability to map neurophysiological data to specific emotions (e.g., frustration) Difficulties in translating temporal micro-resolutions (milliseconds) to temporal units relevant to emotional responses Reliance on non-transparent measurement instruments (sensors that constrain movements)

23. II. New concerns Observer methods Assumes emotions are primarily communicated through facial expressions rather than bodily gestures Observation of facial, vocal and gesture cues to emotional stimuli Facial cues are an essential aspect of social interaction, help to clarify the focus of attention and regulate human interactions with the surrounding environment FACS: recognizes facial expressions of six universally distinguished emotions Fear, surprise, sadness, happiness, anger, disgust, and combinations

24. II. New concerns Critique of observational methods Most automatic emotion software has been designed using static images of faces without facial hair or glasses, taken under good illumination conditions during extreme emotional episodes Can’t draw accurate inferences about observed emotions that are expressed during longer episodes, which occur in more naturalistic settings Facial expression recognition is not human emotion recognition They can be influenced by non-emotional mental and physiological activities

25. II. New concerns Self-report methods Assumes we are able and willing to recognize and report their emotions Reliability and validity are evident from high correlations of self-reports with quality ofphysical stimuli and neurological brain activities The discrete approach relies on the semantics-based categories that correspond to unique emotion patterns A list of emotion terms is provided to a respondent who decides which term best describes the emotional experience, rate its intensity and state how long the emotion has been experienced

26. II. New concerns Critique of self-report methods The possibility that one or several response alternatives may bias the respondent to choose them The situation when a respondent wishes to refer to a category that is not provided on the list The situation when a respondent may be unfamiliar with the labels chosen by a researcher The limitation of human memory, especially with past emotional experiences

27. II. New concerns Types of findings about affect and computing Specific search behaviors, such as left mouse clicks or wheel scrolls up, were associated with unique patterns of emotional expressions preceding and following them Whether body movements or gestures are indicative of specific emotions is a subject under debate HCI and IR observer method of inferring emotions from interactive behaviors captured in log files There is a correlation between search behaviors, such as time spent on the search result page and number of result pages viewed, with searcher satisfaction and dissatisfaction

28. II. New concerns IR studies are focusing on emotions as descriptors of information and are forming a new area of emotional IR research Positive emotions: associated with satisfactory search results, successful search completion, use of online systems, easier tasks, interest in the process and documents, or documents’ stylistic features Negative emotions: associated with frustrating aspects of systems, uncertain search tasks and confusing search strategies, software failures, uncertainty prior to the search, difficulties in finding the answer and inadequate knowledge of a system

29. II. How will this change HCI work? Human-computer interaction design in science fiction movies Schmitz et al. discuss the changing relationship between HCI research and science fiction movies They claim that the trend in portrayals of technology has been from movies incorporating current ICT developments, to movies inspiring HCI research, to collaborations between directors and researchers ~What technology have you seen in a recent movie that you think will be developed soon? ~How are current movies shaping our expectations about new technologies?

30. II. How will this change HCI work? The relationship between science fiction and HCI has evolved over the years Early sci-fi did not treat technology seriously First directors incorporated technology into the movies Then ideas from movies inspired HCI researchers Now directors and HCI researchers work together on devices to be used in movies Affected by budgets and role of ICT in the plot Gives us a view of the state of the art Schmitz, M., Endres, C. and Butz, A. (2008). A survey of human-computer interaction design in science fiction movies. Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on INtelligentTEchnologies for interactive enterTAINment, Article #7.

31. II. How will this change HCI work? Examples are the treatment of speech recognition and biometrics Research is not catching up There are also newer ideas Invasive neural interfaces, ID methods, input/output devices, tricorders Collaboration between directors and researchers to present a technologically feasible future Important because of the effects movies have on viewers’ expectations and demands

32. II. How will this change HCI work? Ignorance of interaction programming is killing people Thimbleby describes a form of artifact design, interaction programming He argues for its importance by describing ways in which errors in the use of medical devices are enabled by the device’s design and result in life-threatening situations ~In what ways is interaction programming different from HCI? ~What are his suggestions for improving the design of these devices?

33. II. How will this change HCI work? Thimbleby raises the stakes for HCI by discussing deaths caused by decimal point errors He argues that interaction programming can make a critical contribution towards reducing these deaths Good interaction programming must be engineered into devices before they are marketed Usability techniques are important but they are not sufficient to ensure safe interaction Especially with medical devices Programmers must take insights of HCI seriously Thimbleby, H. (2008). Ignorance of interaction programming is killing people. Interactions 15(5). 52-57.

34. II. How will this change HCI work? There are federal-level standardized procedures for writing drug dosages that specify syntax, spacing an symbols Medical device manufacturers often ignore these standards Problems entering decimals are particularly important “Medical errors in hospitals in a given year cause about as many deaths as AIDS, car accidents, and breast cancer combined” Interaction programming, carefully done, can reduce the cognitive load on medical professionals

35. II. New methods and approaches Nielsen on usability: how easy user interfaces are to use Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design? Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks? Memorability: When users return to the design, how easily can they reestablish proficiency? Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are they, and how easily can usrs recover from them? Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design? www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-101-introduction-to-usability/

36. II. New methods and approaches Another view 1. What are users' initial impressions of the site or product? 2. With which specific features or functions of the site or product do users have difficulty? Are features intuitive? How does each aspect influence users' overall perceptions? How does the site or product compare to alternative or competitive market offerings? Informa Research Services. (2006). Usability Testing Program. www.informars.com/mt/special/usability.htm

37. II. New methods and approaches 3. What improvements in (either) site or product features would better meet user needs? 4. Will the improvements to (either) site or product sufficiently ensure its future use or recommendation? 5. What are the costs/benefits of not meeting user expectations? 6. What are the profiles of satisfied and dissatisfied users? Can these profiles point to usage levels, demographics, or purchase likelihood?

38. HCI concepts and practices I. Doing the work • Mental models • Credibility II. New methods and approaches • HCI and affect III. HCI careers • Where do you do it? • What do you do?

39. III. HCI careers Where do you do it? Large corporations Specialized with a department, usually IT or R&D Interdepartmental collaboration with marketing, management, design What do you do? Design and conduct lab studies Conduct advanced user research Planning and management Consulting

40. III. HCI careers Where is the work? Small business or organization The smaller the organization is, the more you have to be a generalist Less likely to be part of a team Self employed You become an independent contractor Typically a consultant or specialists for short term work This is the riskiest alternative

41. III. HCI careers Typical job titles Usability engineer Website usability manager User research specialist Websiteaccessibility manager User experience lead Ecommerce test manager Human factors engineer Ergonomics engineer

42. III. HCI careers What do you do? Typical responsibilities Prepare/conduct oral and written presentations Apply human factors criteria/principles Develop analytical models/methods Use quantitative/qualitative task analysis methods, usability testing Interpret test/evaluation/research results Maintain familiarity with major HCI literature Understand the software/product development process

43. III. HCI careers Typical background and preparation Research-oriented positions emphasize formal training High-level degrees required (Masters/PhD) Often in another field (cognitive science, sociology, information science) Technically-oriented positions: More emphasis on practical experience and technical skills (programming and markup languages) Less emphasis on formal training Sometimes combined into HCI/IA-related position, particularly in small organizations

44. III. HCI careers Typical tasks Requirements assessments Involves one or more of data gathering strategies Lab sessions, contextual inquiry, card sorts, inspections, walkthroughs Analysis and presentation of data Requirements assessments allow you to determine the Purpose of product, intended audience Technical requirements and limitations, key task scenarios

45. III. HCI careers Writing the report A good usability report must be usable Keep it short: no more than ~50 comments and ~30 pages Limit comments to the ones that are really important Provide a one-page executive summary on page 2 Include the top three positive comments and the top three problems Perfetti, C. (2003). Usability testing best practices: An interview with Rolf Molich. Webpronews.com. www.webpronews.com/webdevelopment/sitedesign/wpn-26-20030730UsabilityTestingBest PracticesAnInterviewwithRolfMolich.html

46. III. HCI careers Writing the report Include positive findings: ideal ratio between positive and negative findings is 1:1 (it’s more often 1:3) Classify the comments Distinguish between disasters, serious problems, minor problems, positive findings, bugs and suggestions for improving the interface A perfect report is useless if it doesn't cause beneficial changes to the user interface Good communication with the development team is as important as a good test report

47. III. HCI careers Principal Usability Specialist-User Experience at Newell Rubbermaid Newell Rubbermaid is a global marketer of consumer and commercial products that touch the lives of people where they live, work and play Our globally recognized brands include Sharpie, Paper Mate, DYMO, EXPO, Waterman, Parker, Rolodex, IRWIN, LENOX, Rubbermaid, Graco, Calphalon, Goody, and Teutonia. As a Principal Usability Specialist you will work with teams located in Newell Rubbermaid’s new 40,000-square-foot design headquarters in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the Business, Technology and Research Park of Western Michigan Immersion labs for the company’s priority business segments will enable design and engineering teams to evaluate product prototypes and imagine the possibilities of future product roadmaps and a Usability Lab for testing our products You will collaborate closely with Usability Specialists, Industrial Designers and Graphic Designers to create user experiences for the next generation of consumer products

48. III. HCI careers Essential Duties: Act as a primary interface with key Segments relative to usability issues and opportunities Work closely with Director, Usability to properly drive change management in the organization around the embedment of human sciences as a skill set and competency Work closely with design counterparts to effectively deliver industry leading user experience solutions Responsible for managing and planning all projects/activities within a specific segment Partner closely with all relevant Segments to ensure the deployment and adherence to established human factors design guidelines. Also own and maintain those guidelines and update/modify as required to keep relevant. Effectively execute user-centered design activities and research throughout the product development process Conduct usability and ergonomic research

49. III. HCI careers Educational Requirements: Ten years + of relevant experience working as a usability/human factors professional in a corporate or consulting environment Minimum: MS in Human Factors Engineering, Cognitive Psychology, Ergonomics/Anthropometrics or related field Work Experience Requirements: Ability to present in English Excellent communication, presentation and negotiation skills Must be highly skilled in applying ergonomic and anthropometric data to drive requirements and improvements in products Must possess strong influence management skills and be able to effectively deal with ambiguous situations and make decisions based on imperfect information Must have experience with ergonomics/anthropometrics of physical components such as pens, tools or other hand held devices

50. III. HCI careers Work Experience Requirements: Must have experience doing all of the activities in the UCD process from initial information gathering to testing and documentation/specifications Must be able to fully conduct an entire usability study: moderate, take notes, plan and design the research activities. Demonstrate ability to work in team environments Must have proven ability to deliver winning, marketplace validated usability solutions and work effectively across cross functional work teams Self-motivated and flexible. Willing to learn new things Proven ability to drive multiple programs simultaneously Ability to work independently toward project goals and timelines with no direction Ability to occasionally travel and work internationally