Human Computer Interaction Overview

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Questions and Answers

What is the primary focus of User Experience (UX) design?

Maximizing user satisfaction (correct)

Creating autonomous vehicles

Designing interactive displays

Developing immersive environments

Which technology is specifically designed to predict user actions on smartphones?

Virtual reality

Dexta haptic gloves

Pre-touch sensing (correct)

Touch screen technology

Size constancy allows us to perceive familiar objects as what?

Variable in size

Invisible at a distance

Constant in size (correct)

Larger when close

Which sensation is primarily detected by mechanoreceptors?

Pressure or tension Signup and view all the answers

What role does the middle ear play in the auditory system?

Transmits sound waves as vibrations Signup and view all the answers

What term describes the subjective reaction to light levels?

Brightness Signup and view all the answers

Saccades refer to what type of eye movement?

Rapid movements Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best describes the term 'pragmatics' in the context of conversation?

Conversational implicature Signup and view all the answers

Which pointing device uses a light-emitting diode for motion detection?

Optical mouse Signup and view all the answers

What is a significant feature of a touch-sensitive screen?

Allows direct interaction but may suffer from imprecision Signup and view all the answers

How does a joystick control movement in games?

Through pressure on the stick to determine velocity Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of a digitizing tablet?

To accurately digitize images on plain surfaces Signup and view all the answers

Which term describes a technique that improves visual quality in digital images?

Anti-aliasing Signup and view all the answers

What characterizes long-term memory compared to short-term memory?

Long-term memory has slow access and decay. Signup and view all the answers

Which type of reasoning assumes conditions that either can or cannot be true?

Inductive reasoning Signup and view all the answers

What is a characteristic of retroactive interference in memory?

New information interferes with old. Signup and view all the answers

Which input method utilizes multiple presses of numeric keys to input letters?

T9 entry Signup and view all the answers

What feature of the Dvorak keyboard enhances typing efficiency?

It places common letters under the dominant fingers. Signup and view all the answers

What distinguishes slips from mistakes in the context of problem-solving?

Slips involve incorrect execution of a correct intention. Signup and view all the answers

Which statement is true about speech recognition technology?

It performs best with limited vocabularies and single users. Signup and view all the answers

What is a characteristic of a mechanical mouse detection system?

It incorporates a rollerball that detects movement. Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of paper-based interaction technologies?

To use paper as both output and input Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following statements about RAM is true?

It is stored on silicon chips with quick access times. Signup and view all the answers

What distinguishes lossless compression from lossy compression?

Lossless compression preserves exact data. Signup and view all the answers

What is a common concern associated with reproductive disorders in specific work environments?

Miscarriages and birth defects Signup and view all the answers

What is the significance of Moore's law in computing?

It states that processor speed doubles approximately every 18 months. Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of input devices in computer systems?

To provide data and commands to the computer. Signup and view all the answers

What technology utilizes light passing through polarized plates and changes color with voltage?

Liquid Crystal Displays Signup and view all the answers

Which display technology is known for drawing lines directly without jaggies?

Random Scan Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following storage formats is specifically used for text?

ASCII Signup and view all the answers

What are the challenges of networked computing?

Network delays and conflicts Signup and view all the answers

What type of fonts is particularly beneficial for readability in long text lines?

Serif Fonts Signup and view all the answers

What types of devices are categorized as output devices?

Devices that convert digital data into human-readable form Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?

To digitize printed images into editable text Signup and view all the answers

What is a key feature of BMW iDrive technology?

Touch and feel feedback for menu selection Signup and view all the answers

Which type of printer includes models such as dot-matrix and ink-jet?

Dot-Based Printers Signup and view all the answers

What does the acronym WYSIWYG stand for?

What you see is what you get Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Human Computer Interaction (HCI)

Study of designing computers that best serve users.
Closely related to User Experience (UX) design, which focuses on user satisfaction.

Technology

Dexta haptic gloves: Mimic touch sensations in virtual reality.
Pre-touch sensing: Predicts user actions on smartphones.
PaperID: Digitizes paper into a touchscreen for Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity.
Virtual reality (VR): Creates immersive simulated environments.
Self-driving cars: Autonomous vehicles that navigate without human input.
Touch screen technology: Interactive display technology operated by touch.

Human Capabilities

Abilities influenced by emotions and competency.
Visual angle: Indicates the portion of view an object occupies.
Visual acuity: The ability to perceive detail, limited by distance.
Size constancy: Perception of familiar objects as constant size.
Brightness: Subjective reaction to light levels.
Color: Composed of hue, intensity, and saturation.
Optical illusions: Perceptual distortions due to visual system compensations.
Saccades: Rapid eye movements between fixation points.
Fixations: Strong interest in something or someone.

Human Language

Syntax: Arrangement of words to form well-formed sentences.
Semantics: Concerned with meaning and implication.
Pragmatics: Focuses on conversational implicature.

Human Senses

Outer ear: protects inner ear and amplifies sound.
Middle ear: transmits sound waves as vibrations to the inner ear.
Inner ear: chemical transmitters are released and cause impulses in the auditory nerve.
Pitch: Sound frequency.
Loudness: Sound amplitude.
Timbre: Type or quality of sound.
Auditory system: Filters sounds and can attend to sounds over background noise.
Thermoreceptors: Receptors that sense heat and cold.
Nociceptors: Receptors that sense pain.
Mechanoreceptors: Receptors that sense pressure or tension.

Human Memory and Reasoning

Reaction time: Time taken to respond to a stimulus.
Movement time: Dependent on age, fitness, etc.
Time taken to respond to stimulus: reaction time + movement time.
Sensory Memory (Sensory Buffer): Buffers for stimuli received through senses.
- Iconic Memory: Visual stimuli.
- Echoic Memory: Aural stimuli.
- Haptic Memory: Tactile memory.
Short-term Memory: Acts as a scratch pad for temporary recall with rapid access (70 ms) and rapid decay (200 ms).
Long-term Memory: Serves as a repository for all knowledge with slow access, slow decay, and a huge/unlimited capacity.
- Episodic memory: Serial memory of events.
- Semantic memory: Structured memory of facts, concepts, and skills.
Decay: Information is lost gradually but very slowly.
Retroactive interference: New information replaces old information.
Proactive inhibition: Old information interferes with new information.
Inductive reasoning: Assuming; can or cannot be true.
Deductive reasoning: Derive logically necessary conclusions from given premises; logical/reasonable thinking.
Abductive reasoning: Can lead to false explanations.
Gestalt theory: Problem-solving form both productive and reproductive.
Problem space theory: Problem-solving involves generating states using legal operators.

Human Errors

Slips: Right intention, but failed to do it right.
Mistakes: Wrong intention, misinterpreted.

Text Input Devices

Keyboards: Most common text input device.
- QWERTY layout: Standardized layout.
- Dvorak layout: Common letters under dominant fingers.
- Maltron left-handed keyboard: Specialized keyboard designed for left-handed users to reduce fatigue and improve typing efficiency.
- Chord keyboards: Keyboards with only a few keys (four or five) where letters are typed as combinations of keypresses. Ideal for portable applications and fast typing once trained.
T9 entry: Text input on phone keypads using numeric keys with multiple presses to input letters. Includes predictive text capabilities.
Handwriting recognition: The input of text into a computer using a pen and a digitizing tablet. Requires natural interaction and overcomes technical challenges like interpreting different handwriting styles.
Speech recognition: Technology that allows spoken words to be converted into text. Most successful with limited vocabularies and single users.

Pointing Devices

Mouse: A handheld pointing device. Requires physical space and provides relative movement to control the screen cursor.
- Mechanical mouse detection: Detects mouse motion where a ball on the underside of the mouse turns as it is moved, rotating orthogonal potentiometers to track movement.
- Optical mouse detection: Detects mouse motion using a light-emitting diode on the underside of the mouse, detecting alterations in reflected light intensity for relative motion calculation.
Touchpad: A small touch-sensitive tablet mainly used in laptop computers where strokes move the mouse pointer. Requires good acceleration settings for different stroke speeds.
Trackball: A pointing device where a ball is rotated inside a static housing to move the cursor. Provides fast and accurate control, often used in gaming.
Joystick: An indirect input device for controlling movement in games or 3D navigation. Pressure on the stick determines velocity, and buttons are used for selection.

Touch Input Devices

Touch-sensitive screen: A display that detects the presence of a finger or stylus, allowing direct interaction. May suffer from imprecision and finger marks.
Stylus: A pen-like pointer used for drawing directly on touch-sensitive surfaces. Commonly found in PDAs and tablet PCs.
Digitizing tablet: A device similar to a mouse with crosshairs, used on special surfaces for accurate digitization.
Eyegaze: An interface controlled by eye gaze direction, often used for evaluation. Requires high accuracy with potential for hands-free control.
Cursor keys: The four keys (up, down, left, right) on a keyboard for basic motion tasks. Lack a standardized layout and are slow.

Displays

Bitmap displays: Screens composed of a vast number of colored dots.
- Resolution: Indicates the number of pixels.
- Color depth: Determines the range of colors available per pixel.
Anti-aliasing: A technique to soften edges and reduce jagged lines in digital images. Improves visual quality by using shades of line color.

Cataracts: High incidence in VDU operators.
Reproductive disorders: Concern over miscarriages and birth defects.

Display Technologies

Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs): Light passes through polarized plates, changes color with voltage.
Random Scan: Draws lines directly, no jaggies, rarely used.
Direct View Storage Tube (DVST): Similar to random scan but persistent, no flicker.
Plasma Displays: Wide-screen technology, used in video walls.
Projected Displays: Uses RGB lights or LCD projectors.
Situated Displays: Located in public places, display or interactive.
Digital Paper: Thin flexible sheets updated electronically.

Virtual Reality (VR)

Virtual Reality (VR): Interacting in 3D space, using helmets and gloves.
3D Displays: Ordinary screens with a 3D effect, use stereoscopic vision.
VR Headsets: Small screens for each eye, creating a 3D effect.
VR Motion Sickness: Caued by conflicting cues, motivates technology improvements.
Simulators and VR Caves: Projected scenes, realistic environment with physical controls.

Input/Output Devices

Sounds: Used for error indications and confirmation of actions.
Haptic Devices: Provide touch and feel feedback in games and simulations.
BMW iDrive: Control menus with haptic feedback for easier selection.

Output Devices

Printing: Image made from small dots.
- Critical features: Resolution and speed.
Dot-Based Printers: Include dot-matrix, ink-jet, bubble-jet, and laser printers.
Fonts: Particular styles of text.
- Measured in points.
Readability of Text: Lowercase for easy reading, uppercase for individual letters.
Serif Fonts: Helps readability in long printed text lines.
Page Description Languages (PDLs): Converts complex pages into bitmaps for printing.
- PostScript: Uses instructions for curves, lines, text in different styles, etc., similar to a programming language for printing.
WYSIWYG: Acronym for “what you see is what you get,” representing the aim of word processing where the on-screen display matches the printed output.

Digital Documents

Scanners: Devices that convert paper documents into digital images.
- Flat-bed scanners: For whole-page scanning.
- Hand-held scanners: For digitizing strips.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR): Converts a bitmap image of text back into editable text. Involves segmenting text; decomposing it into lines and arcs, and deciphering characters.
Paper-based interaction: Using paper as both output and input. Technologies like OCR, scanning, and glyphs are used for identification and control applications.

Computer Memory

Short-term Memory (RAM): Random access memory (RAM) is a type of short-term memory stored on silicon chips with an access time of 100 nanoseconds and a data transfer rate of around 100 Mbytes/sec.
Long-term Memory (disks): Refers to storage on magnetic disks.
- Floppy disks: Store around 1.4 Mbytes.
- Hard disks: Typically range from 40 Gbytes to hundreds of Gbytes.
Flash-Memory: A type of memory used in devices like PDAs and cameras. It is silicon-based and persistent, often used for data transfer via plug-in USB devices.
Compression: The process of reducing the amount of storage required.
- Lossless compression: Recovers exact data.
- Lossy compression: Recovers something similar to the original.

Storage Formats

Text: Includes formats like ASCII, UTF-8, RTF, SGML, and XML, each serving different purposes in storing text with varying encoding and layout information.
Media: Refers to the various formats for storing images and audio/video files.
- Image formats: PostScript, GIF, JPEG, TIFF.
- Audio/video formats: QuickTime, MPEG, WAV.

Computer Performance and Limitations

Finite Processing Speed: The limitation imposed by the finite speed of processing. Can lead to issues like cursor overshooting, icon wars, and rapid scrolling through help screens.
Moore's Law: The observation that processor speed doubles approximately every 18 months, leading to faster computers over time.
Networked Computing: Enables access to large memory and processing capabilities, shared resources, and other people. Can face issues like network delays, conflicts, and unpredictability.

The Internet

A brief history of the internet's growth, starting from DARPANET in 1969 to its widespread adoption. Common protocols like TCP and IP are used for communication.

Computer Systems

INPUT DEVICES: Hardware used to provide data to a computer for interaction and control, allowing the entry of raw data for processing.
OUTPUT DEVICES: Convert information into human-readable form, including text, graphics, tangible outputs, audio, or video.
TEXT ENTRY DEVICES: Devices like mouse, joystick, touchpad, stylus pen, and keyboard for entering text and commands into a computer system.

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Description

Explore the fundamentals of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and its connection to User Experience (UX) design. This quiz covers various technologies such as haptic feedback, virtual reality, and their influence on user capabilities and interactions with computers.