Chapter 1

Question 1

When did HCI appear and on what basis?

Answer 1

Late 1970’s
From early efforts in other fields including psychology, computer science and electrical engineering

Question 2

What does HCI concern?

Answer 2

• People
• Creating technology
• Understanding interaction

Question 3

What are the essential activities of HCI?

Answer 3

• Understanding people
• Studying what users need and want
• Designing and engineering interactive systems
• Evaluating their benefits to users

Question 4

What is design fixation?

Answer 4

When a designer maintains an early identified solution despite being inferior to other possible designs

Question 5

What are some challenges that are faced in HCI?

Answer 5

• Individual differences in computer use
• The computer is a complex tool to design for
• Interaction with computers are situated in complex contexts

Question 6

What are empirical problems?

Answer 6

• Motivated by a lack of understanding some aspect of interaction
• Concern developing accounts of phenomena in interaction grounded on empirical data
• Example: Understand how people discover and learn to use features in an interface

Question 7

What are conceptual problems?

Answer 7

• Explaining previously unconnected phenoma occuring in interaction by reference to theoretical constructs
• Hypotheses, explanations, theories and models
• Example: Building a theory of what it means for users to feel immersed in virtual reality

Question 8

What are constructive problems?

Answer 8

• Tackling the knowledge needed for constructing interactive systems for some stated purpose in human use of computing
• Example: Visions for building brain-computer interfaces or guidelines for designers
• Whether users can use systems to carry out goals as effectively, efficiently and safely as possible

Question 9

What does it mean that HCI is human-centered?

Answer 9

The focus is on the people who use an interactive system or are affected by its use

Question 10

What implications does being human-centered have on HCI?

Answer 10

• A requirement to understand users, including their needs and motivations
• A requirement to engage with people as part of research and design
• A requirement for an ethical consideration of how an interactive system may directly or indirectly affect people

Question 11

Explain interaction

Answer 11

• Refers to the reciprocal influence between people and an interactive system that takes place through the user interface
• It is neither a property of the system design nor the user, but emerges when they influence each other

Question 12

Explain co-adaptation

Answer 12

Both the user and the system learn and adapt during use

Question 13

Why does HCI matter?

Answer 13

• Interactive systems are difficult to use
• Egocentric fallacy to assume that others are like us, a responsibility to take the needs and abilities of other people seriously when designing technology