Intro to Human Computer Interaction (HCI)

Foundation of HCI

• Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) involves the design, evaluation, and implementation of interactive computing systems, along with the study of related phenomena.
• Major HCI research areas include theories/models of human behavior when interacting with information technology and guidelines/heuristics for design and evaluation.
• User-centered development of information technology and the development of new interaction paradigms and technologies are included in HCI.

Fields Covered by HCI

• Computer Science
• Cognitive psychology
• Communication
• Education
• Anthropology
• Design (graphic and industrial, e.g.)

Three Waves of HCI Development

• 1st Wave: Focused on insights from cognitive theory and human factors.
• 2nd Wave: From the late 1980s to early 2000s, focused on groups working with application collections, drawing on "situated action," "distributed cognition," and "activity theory."
• 3rd Wave: Acknowledged computers are used in private and public spheres, moving into everyday life for "nonwork, non-purpose, and non-rational” activities.
• 3rd wave also includes emotional, esthetic, pragmatic, and cultural-historical aspects of experience.

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

• HCI studies how to optimize interactions between people and computers.
• HCI focuses on researching best practices and making design recommendations.
• HCI is a multidisciplinary field studying the design of computer technology and the interaction between humans (users) and computers.

Origins of HCI

• HCI emerged in the 1980s with the rise of personal computing, marked by machines like the Apple Macintosh, IBM PC 5150, and Commodore 64.
• With the availability of sophisticated electronic systems for general consumers, creating easy and efficient human-computer interaction became vital.
• HCI has expanded to nearly all forms of information technology design.
• HCI incorporates multiple disciplines: computer science, cognitive science, and human-factors engineering.

Multidisciplinary Field of HCI

• HCI intersects with computer science, cognitive science, and human factors engineering.

Concepts Associated with HCI

• User-centered design (UCD) / Human-centered design (HCD)
• User interface (UI) design
• User experience (UX) design
• Usability
• These terms are often used interchangeably, but have different meanings

Human-Centered Design Principles

• People-centered: Focus on people and their context
• Understand and solve the right (root) problems.
• Everything is a system of interconnected parts.
• Small and simple interventions: Use iterative work, avoid rushing to solutions, and prototype/test to meet people's needs.

User Experience (UX)

• UX design is the process design teams use to create meaningful and relevant experiences for users.
• UX design involves designing the entire process of acquiring and integrating the product, considering branding, design, usability, and function.
• HCI and UX design overlap but UX design is industry-driven, while HCI is research-focused.

User Interface (UI)

• UI refers to screens, buttons, toggles, icons, and visual elements for interacting with websites, apps, or other electronic devices.
• UX refers to the entire interaction with a product, including the overall experience.

Usability

• Usability relates to how easily a person can accomplish a given task with a product.
• Usability results from intentional, research-based and user-tested design decisions to make it easy as possible for users to do what they need to do.
• UX refers to the overall experience users have with the product, from beginning to end.

User Experience (UX) Example

• UX encompasses a person's total interaction with a website/company and website, including pre-existing factors.

User Interface (UI) Example

• UI includes controllable aspects such as tapping, clicking, scrolling, and swiping.
• UI elements consist of the items a user can interact with, navigation buttons, and links.

Usability Example

• Usability refers to how easy a website is to use.
• Goal is to make it easy for users to quickly find things and accomplish their goals.

The UI/UX Industry

• UI/UX Designers/Researchers are in demand.
• The path a person pursues depends on their goals and interests.
• Consider UX design if interested in technology, variety, and problem-solving.
• Consider UI designs if a creative thinker with a strong aesthetic sense.

UX vs UI Designers

• UX Designer:
  • An Interaction designer who Charts the user pathway and plans information architecture.
  • UX designers are experts in wireframes, prototypes, and research.
• UI Designer:
  • A Visual designer who chooses color and typography and plans visual aesthetic.
  • UI designers are experts in mockups, graphics, and layouts.

UI/UX Skill Sets

• UX:
  • Product strategy
  • User research
  • Information architecture
  • Testing and iteration
• Both:
  • Empathy
  • Collaboration
  • Design Thinking
  • Prototyping
• UI:
  • Color theory
  • Typography
  • Design patterns
  • Interactivity and animation

UX Designers

• UX Designers focus on experience a user has with a product.
• The goal is to make products that are functional, accessible, and enjoyable to use.
• UX can apply to digital and non-digital products/services like coffee pots or transportation systems.

Common Tasks for UX Designers

• Conduct user research.
• Develop user personas.
• Create user journey maps.
• Build wireframes/prototypes.
• User testing.
• Collaboration.

UI Designers

• UI designers create the graphical portions of mobile apps, websites, and devices.
• UI applies exclusively to digital products, unlike UX.
• UI Designers aim for visually appealing and easy-to-navigate apps and websites.

Common Tasks for UI Designers

• Organize page layouts.
• Choose color palettes/fonts.
• Design interactive elements such as: Scrollers, buttons, toggles, drop-down menus, and text fields.
• Create high-fidelity wireframes/layouts.
• Work with developers.

User Experience

• User experience is "a person's perceptions and responses that result from the use or anticipated use of a product, system, or service."
• UX addresses people's emotions, beliefs, preferences, perceptions, physical and psychological responses, behaviors, and accomplishments before, during, and after use.

Usability vs User Experience

• Usability = ability to complete a task successfully
• User experience = thoughts, emotions, and perceptions from interaction with a system

User Experience (vs. Usability)

• UX is interchangeable with usability.
  • Usability focuses on task aspects to get the job done.
  • UX focuses on feelings, emotions, values, and responses.

Factors Influencing UX

• (1) system, (2) user and their characteristics, and (3) context of use of the technology/system.

Importance of Usability

• The more usable an application, the less training needed.
• Applications built on users' needs reduce costs for help desk staff/support.
• User-centered design reduces maintenance and bug fixes post-launch.
• It ensures a positive user experience with the product.

Improving Usability

• User testing:
• Get hold of representative users
• Ask them to perform tasks with the design
• Observe the users, taking note of there successes, and troubles with the product

Goals of Usability

• Learnability
• Efficiency
• Memorability
• Minimize Errors
• Satisfaction

When to Work on Usability

• Before the design, test the existing design
• Test competitors' designs
• Conduct a field study
• Prototype ideas
• Test each iteration
• Check against guidelines
• Conduct final tests of design after implementation

Usability Motivations

• Time to learn, speed of performance, rate of errors, retention over time and subjective satisfaction are all usability motivations

Usability Motivations: Life-Critical Systems

• Applications include air traffic, nuclear reactors, military, and emergency dispatch.
• Reliability and effectiveness are required.
• Cost, training, satisfaction, and retention are less important.

Usability Motivations: Industrial and Commercial Use

• Banking, insurance, inventory, and reservations are some applications.
• Requirements include short training, ease of use/learning, multiple languages, adaptation to local cultures, and multiplatform speed.

Usability Motivations: Office, Home, and Entertainment

• Applications include E-mail, ATMs, games, education, search engines, and cell phones/PDAs.
• Requirements include ease of learning, error rates, and satisfaction.
• Cost and size are difficulties.

Usability Motivations: Socio-Technical Systems

• The Applications include health care, voting, and police.
• Requirements: Trust, security, accuracy, veracity, error handling, and user tech-savvy-ness

Usability Motivations: Exploratory, Creative, Collaborative

• Web browsing, search engines, simulations, scientific visualization, CAD, computer graphics, music composition/artist, and photo arranger are some applications.
• 'Computer' should be removed from the experience.
• A difficulty is the user's tech savviness.

Cost?

• Understanding users does not guarantee success.
• Lack of usability fails systems.
• Knowing when to stop user analysis is difficult.

UI Design Process

• UI design is an iterative process involving close liaisons between users and designers.
• Core activities:
  • User analysis
  • System prototyping
  • Interface evaluation

Where to Test Usability

• Build a dedicated usability laboratory if running at least one user study per week.
• For most companies, conduct tests in a conference room or an office.
• Essential factors in usability testing are users and an observer.
• Sometimes the only equipment needed is a notepad.

Understanding People

• This helps to build interactive technologies and systems.
• Systems should be user-centered, taking human characteristics/capabilities into account.
• People must know how to observe and document what people do, understand why people do what they do, when people are likely to do things andhow people choose to do the things the way they do them

Design Relevant User Characteristics (ABCS Framework)

• Anthropometrics: body shape and how it influences design.
• Behavior: perceptual and motivational characteristics.
• Cognition: learning, attention, and other cognitive aspects.
• Social factors: how groups of users behave and relationships to other people.

Fundamental Attribution Error of Design

• There is often a disconnect between how people think they behave and how they behave.
• You only believe that users are like yourself, which is not true

Benefits of Understanding People

• Systems can be designed to be more usable, learnable, and efficient.
• This can lead to financial savings.
• It can result in a safer system, reducing medical errors.

The Kegworth Air Accident (1989)

• This occurred on January 8, 1989, near Kegworth, Leicestershire, England, is significant for HCI.
• British Midland Boeing 737-400 crashed, resulting in 47 fatalities and 74 injuries.
• Critically relevant due to issues with the pilots and the aircraft's technology.

Initial Problem - Engine Failure

• The left engine failed shortly after take-off, causing a loud bang, severe vibrations, and smoke in the cabin.

Misdiagnosis of the Problem

• The pilots misdiagnosed which engine was malfunctioning, believing it was the right engine.
• This misjudgment may have been due to vibrations/sounds and a lack of training for the new aircraft model.

Shutdown of the Wrong Engine

• Acting on their diagnosis, the pilots shut down the right engine.
• Shutting down the functioning engine compounded the problem, leaving the aircraft with reduced power and control.

Kegworth Air Disaster: Cockpit Controls

• The aircraft's cockpit design was critical.
• Pilots misinterpreted which engine was malfunctioning.
• The lack of differentiation in the engine instrumentation and controls was a cause for this.

Kegworth Air Disaster: Pilot Training

• This factor highlights importance of adequate training and familiarization with the aircraft, which was a relatively new model (Boeing 737-400).

Kegworth Air Disaster: Human Error and Decision Making

• The pilots' decision-making process during the emergency was a crucial factor.
• The misunderstanding of the shutdown of the functioning engine occurred due to confusing feedback from technological systems.

Kegworth Air Disaster: Feedback and Warning Systems

• The aircraft's warning systems failed to provide clear and unambiguous feedback about the engine problem.
• Effective feedback mechanisms are essential for appropriate responses.

Kegworth Air Disaster: Stress and Cognitive Load

• Cognitive load affected the crew's ability to correctly interpret the aircraft's systems.
• Designs that stay usable under stress and cognitive loads are crucial.

Kegworth Air Disaster: Ergonomics and User Interface Design

• Physical and cognitive ergonomics of the cockpit/interfaces are critical.
• Safety relies on ensuring controls/displays are designed with human capabilities and limitations in mind.

Kegworth Air Disaster: Summary

• This serves as a reminder of human-centered design in critical systems like aviation.
• HCI professionals must consider how users interact with technology under high-stress and emergency situations.

The Boeing 737 Max Crashes

• Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 analyzed from an HCI perspective.
• HCI issues primarily involve interaction with the software.

Purpose of MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System)

• Enhance Stability at High Angles of Attack.
• Counteract Engine-Induced Pitch-Up Tendency from larger, more efficient engines farther forward.

MCAS Reliance on Sensors

• MCAS relies heavily on data from Angle of Attack (AoA) sensors, measuring climb/descent angle relative to air.
• System activates automatically, without pilot input, when AoA sensors detect a potential stall.

MCAS Reliance on Sensors: Single Data

• MCAS was initially designed to rely on only one AoA sensor at a time.
• Design choice caused concern, as a failure could feed erroneous data to MCAS and trigger inappropriate actions.

Lion Air Flight 610 Crash

• Occurred on October 29, 2018, involving a Boeing 737 MAX 8, shortly after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia.
• Key issue was the interaction between the pilots and the aircraft's Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS).
• The MCAS was designed to avoid stalling with an automatic nose down adjustment.
• MCAS received incorrect data from a faulty angle of attack (AoA) sensor.
• Pilots were consistently pushed the nose down and struggled to understand and override the system.
• Pilots inability to react emphasizes clear training and intuitive interfaces.

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 Crash

• This occurred on March 10, 2019, and involved a Boeing 737 MAX 8 shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
• The MCAS system erroneously activated due to faulty AoA sensor data, pushing the aircraft's nose down.
• The automated system underline challenges where automation is not transparent.

Issues with MCAS

• The issues include: Vulnerability to Faulty Data
• System Redundancy and Oversight need to be reviewed
• Pilot Awareness and Override is essential for operations

The Boeing 737 Max Crashes: Summary

• These crashes highlight the critical importance of designing Aviation and ensuring an intuitive usable system even with complex autonomous tasks.
• This essential for safe operations.