Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is a subset of Interaction Design. You could be forgiven for thinking that interaction design is rebranding of HCI.
Interaction design can be placed on a continuum which begins with the earliest tools, passes through the industrial revolution and stretches out into Weiser’s utopian predictions. In the early 1900’s Frederick Taylor employed current technologies, photography, moving pictures and statistical analysis to improve work practises. Engineering psychology was born and the terms ‘human factors’, ‘ergonomics’ entered into common lexicon. The explosion of information, brought about by what Grudin (2012:5) refers to as: “technologies and practices for compressing, distributing, and organizing information bloomed…were important inventions that influenced the management of information and organizations in the early 20th century”
The earliest computers, where incredibly expensive and where only accessed by specialists, Grudin (2012:7) reports that: “ENIAC, arguably the first general-purpose computer, was…eight to ten feet high, occupied about 1800 square feet, and consumed as much energy as a small town.” While some notable researchers such as Grace Hopper where concerned with the area of ‘programmer-computer interaction’ (a phrase coined by Grace Hopper), the affordability of these massive machines and their relative scarcity would be the single biggest stumbling block the evolution of usability and theories thereof.
Ivan Sutherland’s PhD thesis “Sketchpad: A man-machine graphical communication system” was groundbreaking rethink of the interface between operators and machines. Blackwell & Rodden write in the introduction (2003: 4) that while Sutherland’s demo could only run on one modified TX-2 in laboratory, it was: “one of the first graphical user interfaces. It exploited the light-pen, predecessor of the mouse, allowing the user to point at and interact with objects displayed on the screen.”
Sutherland’s ideas had a major impact on the work on Xerox’s Star’s designers, they used his idea of ‘icons’, a ‘GUI’ (Graphic User Interface), pointer control (in their case a mouse). Johnson et al (1989:11) reports that his team:
“assumed that the target users were interested in getting their work done and not at all interested in computers. Therefore, an important design goal was to make the ‘computer’ as invisible to users as possible…Another important assumption was that Star’s users would he casual, occasional users rather than people who spent most of their time at the machine. This assumption led to the goal of having Star be easy to learn and remember.’
The Star was not a commercial success, but it’s innovations ushered in a new era of ‘personal computing’ - this led to a boon in the area of research and the emergence of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Grudin (2012:19) reports: “As personal computing spread, experimental methods were applied to study other contexts involving discretionary use. Studies of programming gradually disappeared from HCI conferences.”
Alan Cooper, an early Interaction Design practitioner in interview with Patton (2008:16) reports:
“I began experimenting with this whole new idea that it’s not about computer operators running a batch process, but about people sitting in front of the software and interacting directly.…it was really the microcomputers that drove that into my head.”
The evolution of Interaction design, notes Cooper, was in part driven by the need to specialise, he tells Patton (2008:17):
“I found myself in kind of a bind. I was going to have to either become part of a larger organization or let go of the implementation part of what I did.”
Industry practitioners realised that this interaction between human and computers, needed to develop a methodology. Alan Cooper (2008:17) relates:
“it would be much more valuable and interesting if I could figure out some objective methodology that I was going through. That would give me some leverage, and it would be good for the world, good for the industry.”
Bill Verplank, who worked on the Xerox Star, along with Bill Moggeridge first coined the phrase ‘interaction design’ (we should probably be thankful that Verplank convinced Moggeridge not to use the term (2007:14) ‘Soft-face’). Interaction design, then named a current pressing concern for industry Cooper et al (2012:8) describe how:
“the user experience of digital products has become front page news…institutions such as Harvard Business School and Stanford have recognised the need to train the next generation of MBAs and technologists to incorporate design thinking into their business and development plans…Consumers are sending a clear message that what they want is good technology: technology that has been designed to provide a compelling and effective user experience.”
My key concern as a student of ID is that interaction Design is such a large area. Rogers et al (2013:9) list a dizzying array of areas:
“user interface design, software design, user-centered design, product design, web design, experience design, and interactive system design. Interaction design is increasingly being accepted as the umbrella term, covering all of these aspects.”
References
Papers
Patton, Jeff (2008), ‘A Conversation with Alan Cooper: The Origin of Interaction Design’
Software, IEEE Volume: 25 , Issue: 6, Page(s): 15 - 17
Johnson, J. ; Roberts, T.L. ; Verplank, W. ; Smith, D.C. ; Irby, C.H. ; Beard, M. ; Mackey, K. (1989) ‘The Xerox Star: a retrospective’
Computer Volume: 22 , Issue: 9, Page(s): 11 - 26
Grudin, J. (2012) ‘Introduction: A moving target-The evolution of human-computer interaction.’
To appear in Jacko, J., Ed., Human-Computer Interaction Handbook: Fundamentals, evolving technologies, and emerging applications, 3rd ed., Taylor and Francis.
Weiser M (1991) ‘The computer for the 21st Century’.
Scientific American 265(3):94–104, 1991
Books
Cooper A, Reimann R, Cronin D ‘About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design’
John Wiley & Sons, 12 June 2012
Rogers, Yvonne ‘HCI Theory: Classical, Modern, and Contemporary’
Morgan & Claypool Publishers, Pennsylvania State University Press 1 June 2012
Moggridge, Bill (2007): Designing Interactions. The MIT Press 2007
Web
Sutherland, I.E. (1963/2003). ‘Sketchpad, A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System. PhD Thesis at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’,
online version and editors’ introduction by A. F. Blackwell & K. Rodden. Technical Report 574. Cambridge University Computer Laboratory [http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/techreports/UCAM-CL-TR-574.pdf]
