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KEY WORDS: usability, design, user models, applied psychology, human factors
ABSTRACT
Human-computer interaction (HCI) study is the region of intersection between psychology and the social sciences, on the one hand, and computer science and technology, on the other. HCI researchers analyze and design specific user interface technologies (e.g. pointing devices). They study and improve the processes of technology development (e.g. task analysis, design rationale). They develop and evaluate new applications of technology (e.g. word processors, digital libraries). Throughout the past two decades, HCI has progressively integrated its scientific concerns with the engineering goal of improving the usability of computer systems and applications, which has resulted in a body of technical knowledge and methodology. HCI continues to provide a challenging test domain for applying and developing psychological and social theory in the context of technology development and use.
THE EMERGENCE OF USABILITY
Human-computer interaction (HCI) has emerged relatively recently as a highly successful area of computer science research and development and of applied psychology. Some of the reasons for this success are clearly technical. HCI has evoked many difficult problems and elegant solutions in the recent history of computing, e.g. in work on direct manipulation interfaces, user interface management systems, task-oriented help and instruction, and computer-supported collaborative work. Other reasons for its success are broadly cultural: The province of HCI is the view the nonspecialist public has of computer and information technology and its impact on their lives; HCI is the visible part of computer science. The most recent reasons for the success of HCI are commercial: As the underlying technologies of computing become commodities, inscribed on generic chips, the noncommodity value of computer products resides in applications and user interfaces, that is, in HCI.
HCI has evolved rapidly in the past two decades as it has struggled to develop a scientific basis and utility in system and software development. In this chapter, I review the progression of HCI toward a science of design. My touchstone is Simon's (1969) provocative book The Sciences of the Artificial. The book entirely predates HCI, and many of its specific characterizations and claims about design are no longer authoritative (see Ehn 1988). Nevertheless, two of Simon's themes echo through the history of HCI and still provide guidance...