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- University Of South Africa (Unisa)
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INF1520 – Human Computer InteractionLesson Tool 1: Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction
Introduction
Computers and software - created for people to use –design should allow intended
user to use it successfully for intended purpose with little effort
To design a successful system, designers must:
o Know how to support tasks the user will perform with it
o Understand
Why users need the system
What tasks they will want to perform with system
What knowledge they might have (or lack) that may influence
interaction with system
How the system fits into user’s existing context
Human-computer interaction (HCI)
o Adopted in mid-1980s
o To denote a new field of study concerned with studying and
improving effectiveness and efficiency of computer use.
o Today - multidisciplinary subject with computer science, psychology and
cognitive science at its core
o HCI became a domain of cognitive science research in 1970s – idea to
apply cognitive science methods to software development
o Sources used to guide design:
Perception
Motor activity
Problem solving
Language and,
Communication
o Cognitive psychology knowledge - help designers understand capabilities and
limitations of intended users
o Human perception, information processing, memory and problem-solving are
some of the concepts from cognitive psychology that are related to people’s use
of computers.
The early history of computing can be traced back to the narrow aims of mathematicians,
logicians, and astronomers who had particular calculations that needed to be performed.
,The Historical Context
Middle Ages
Persian astrologer Al-Kashi (1393-1449) - machine to calculate conjunction of planets
German mathematician Wilhlem Schickard (1592-1635) - machine for simple
addition and subtraction
French mathematician Blaise Pascal (1612-1662) – replicated Schickard's but only simpler
version.
New developments stalled by war, famine and plague
Machines only used by makers - no incentive to improve HCI
18th and 19th Century
Agricultural & industrial revolutions in Europe increased trade, which increased the
need to produce accurate maps and navigation charts.
Demand for nautical navigation aids fuelled development of computing devices.
British mathematician & inventor, Charles Babbage (1791-1871)
o Difference Engine - calculate 6th degree polynomials - not completed.
o Analytical Engine – general computer, programmed using punch cards - viewed as
first solution to a user interface problem.
Early 20th Century
People from Ireland & Scandinavia fled from famines to the USA.
USA government wanted to monitor the immigrant population.
Herman Hollerith (1860-1929)
o Developed computational device to calculate census statistics
o 1887: Punched card tabulating machine
200+ punch cards sorted per minute
1890 census 3 x faster than 1880 census
o 1911: Led to Computer-Tabulating-Recording Company
First & biggest computer company
o 1914: Thomas J. Watson (Snr) joined & built it into International Business Machines
(IBM) corporation
Economic & political factors created market for computing devices
Term "computer" first used to describe people who manually performed calculations.
Punch card instructions were added in batch mode.
,Mid 20th Century
1943: Alan Turing developed Colossus - break German encryption techniques during
2nd World War
o First truly interactive computer
o Could type input via keyboard & get output via teleprinter
1945: American electrical engineer Vannevar Bush published "As we may think" in
Atlantic Monthly
o Starting point of Memex System – device to store all personal books, records,
communications retrieved rapidly via indexes, keywords & cross-references.
o User can annotate/comment text, construct a trail and save it.
o Led to idea of hypertext and the World Wide Web
1946: ENIAC machine - J.W. Mauchly and J.P. Eckert in America
o First all-electronic digital computer
o Impetus from military for ballistic calculations
o Had to physically manipulate 200 plugs in 100- 200 relays
First machine languages were beginning to appear.
Encapsulation of the machines began - hide the details of the underlying hardware
from programmers
Early 1950s: Earliest electronic computers
o MIT: Whirlwind and SAGE air-defence command and control system - displays
as integral components
1957: IBM launched FORTRAN - One of the 1st high-level languages
o Created class of novice users who want to program without knowing machine
o Based on algebra, grammar and syntax - widely used for technical work.
Mid 1950s: Discovered computers can manipulate images as well as numbers & text.
1963:
o Ivan Sutherland developed SketchPad system at MIT Lincoln Lab –
first sophisticated drawing package.
o Hardware developments in this time include “low-cost” graphics terminals,
input devices such as data tablets, and display processors capable of real-time
manipulation of images
o Doug Engelbart & Ted Nelson - dominant influences of the time.
Elaborated on Memex system
Nelson focused on links & interconnections, which he named
"hypertext" and implemented as Xanadu system
Engelbart focused on hierarchic structure of documents
o Doug Engelbart published "A conceptual framework for augmenting human
intellect"
, Turning Points
Mid1970’s: Computers became viable to the average person
o Development of Microsoft & Apple Computers.
o "Desktop Metaphor" pushed processor speeds to their limits.
1976:Apple's First Personal Computer Kits
o Apple - founded by Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniack
o First produced series of kit machines led to development of IMB PC years later.
o Idea of pushing code needed to represent the desktop into hardware
Graphics and device handling were burned into ROM (read-only memory).
High degree of consistency
o Apple 1 - Steven Wozniak’s first personal computer.
Used MOStek 6502 chip, others used Intel 8080
1981: IBM’s First Personal Computer
o Before, computers were only used by enthusiasts & experts
o First PC had DOS (Disk Operating System).)
o Low cost vastly expanded the user population
o Casual users began to appear who found PC hard to use - DOS was complex and
obscure to them.
1982: The Xerox Star
o Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre (PARC)
Developed Alto – GUI based computer.
Introduced STAR UI -believed as start of HCI as design activity.
Introduction of icons for directories & files, drag & drop behaviours
and WYSIWYG
First system based upon usability engineering
o Ben Shneiderman (University of Maryland) coined term "direct manipulation" &
introduced phycological foundations of computer use.
o Steve Jobs took a tour of PARC in 1979 & saw future of personal computing in Alto.
o Much of Mac OS written before PARC visit, but UI of Apple Lisa (1983) & Apple Mac
(1984) were largely intellectually based in work done at PARC.
o Jobs accused Gates of stealing Apple GUI for Windows 1.0, but Gates said they both
stole it from Xerox.
The Internet, World Wide Web and Social Networks
1962: Rand Corporation built ARPANET - grow into the internet
1971: 23 hosts machines
1980: Approx 100 computers attached to the internet
1990: Approx 100k hosts on internet
1994: >1mil hosts on internet
1999: >200mil hosts on internet
2002: >500mil hosts on internet
2009: >1.73bil internet users worldwide
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