HCI- by Tang Yook Meng

HCI (human-computer interaction) is the study of how people interact with computers and to what extent computers are or are not developed for successful interaction with human beings. In early 1980s, Human-computer interaction (HCI) is an area of research and practice, initially as a specialty area in computer science. HCI has expanded rapidly and steadily attracting professionals from many other disciplines and incorporating diverse concepts and approaches. To a considerable extent, HCI now aggregates a collection of semi-distinct fields of research and practice in human-centered informatics.

A significant number of major corporations and academic institutions now study HCI. Historically and with some exceptions, computer system developers have not paid much attention to computer ease-of-use. Many computer users today would argue that computer makers are still not paying enough attention to making their products "user-friendly." However, computer system developers might argue that computers are extremely complex products to design and make and that the demand for the services that computers can provide has always outdriven the demand for ease-of-use.

The important of HCI factor is that different users form different conceptions or mental models about their interactions and have different ways of learning and keeping knowledge and skills. In addition, cultural and national differences play a part. Another consideration in studying or designing HCI is that user interface technology changes rapidly, offering new interaction possibilities to which previous research findings may not apply. Finally, user preferences change as they gradually master new interfaces.

One of the most significant achievements of HCI is its evolving model of the integration of science and practice. This model was articulated as a reciprocal relation between cognitive science and cognitive engineering. Later, it ambitiously incorporated a diverse science foundation, distributed cognition, and ethnomethodology, and a culturally embedded conception of human activity, including the activities of design and technology development. Currently, the model is incorporating design practices and research across a broad spectrum.

Conceptions of how underlying science informs and is informed by the worlds of practice and activity have evolved continually in HCI since its inception. In each of the three eras of HCI, as briefly sketched above, paradigm-changing scientific and epistemological revisions were deliberately embraced by a field that was, by any measure, succeeding intellectually and practically. The result has been an increasingly fragmented and complex field that has continued to succeed even more. The continuing success of the HCI community in moving its meta-project forward thus has profound implications, not only for human-centered informatics, but for epistemology.

System Engineering Coordinates the Activities of HCI Engineering and Software Engineering

http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/human_computer_interaction_hci.html

http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/definition/HCI