Re-framing HCI: from human-computer interaction to human-centred interaction design

  • Authors:
  • Liam J. Bannon

  • Affiliations:
  • University of Limerick, Aarhus University, University College, Cork

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 9th ACM SIGCHI Italian Chapter International Conference on Computer-Human Interaction: Facing Complexity
  • Year:
  • 2011

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Abstract

HCI has expanded enormously since the emergence of the field in the early 1980s. Computing has changed significantly; mobile and ubiquitous communication networks span the globe, and technology has been integrated into all aspects of our daily lives. Computing is not simply for calculating, but rather is a medium through which we collaborate and interact with other people. The focus is not so much on human-computer interaction as it is on human activities mediated by computing. Thus much (though by no means all) of the focus of HCI has shifted from the desire to make better "man-machine communication" (sic) through for example building more human-like interface agents, to the creation of intuitive, simple, transparent interaction designs which allow people to easily express themselves through various computationally-enhanced tools and media. While we continue to develop new technological platforms, and investigate the use of gesture, speech and touch as interaction forms, the focus of HCI has been shifting as we realize the disappearance of the computer as the locus of interaction per se. Rather, computation is embodied within existing objects and spaces in the world. The emerging field of interaction design attempts to frame this new discourse around the design of these computationally-enhanced objects and services, and to sensitize us to new ways of thinking about human-computer interaction, distinct from our earlier engineering focus on the design of efficient tasks and activity sequences. Focus has shifted from measures of efficiency towards an understanding of the ethics and aesthetics of interaction. I believe that we are at a point of inflection for the HCI field. Many of our earlier assumptions about the development of technology and our interaction with computers are being questioned. New disciplines are "muscling in" - anthropology, the design disciplines, art and media theory, to name a few, and questioning the traditional HCI reliance on the psychological and engineering/computing sciences. In this presentation I wish to explore some of the tensions between different frames for approaching HCI -- the human factors engineering tradition, the computing/AI tradition, and the interaction design tradition. Each of these traditions (I hesitate to call them 'paradigms') has developed our understanding of human-computer interaction, so it is not simply a case of one superseding the other. Rather they point to different ways of viewing the field, and lead to different questions and different methods. But this presentation is not designed to be some form of neutral view on these different approaches. Rather, I wish to highlight certain issues that have been of central concern for my own evolving approach to the HCI field. I have recently outlined some of these concerns in a paper in ACM Interactions [1] and will take up some of the themes mentioned there in this presentation. One of these themes relates to the general thrust of computing in human affairs. It seems that despite all we have learned about both human and machine competencies, there is still a fascination with the elimination of the "human factor" and its substitution by (supposed) machine intelligence. I would argue that even where this goal of substitution is not explicit, it is latent in very many research agendas. As an alternative to this substitution model, I wish to advocate an approach that focuses on human augmentation rather than substitution, where human capabilities are taken as a starting point, with our focus being on how we support, develop and extend people's capabilities through the latest technological developments. This leads to some discussion concerning the relation between the social and the technical, and the more recent approaches in Science and Technology studies to reframe these basic distinctions. Finally, I wish to address briefly the ethical aspects of our approaches, in terms of our value frameworks, an admittedly thorny topic, yet one with which it is necessary to engage, as we seek for adequate philosophical frameworks for our design research. The emergence of "human-centred" approaches to computing and design in this regard will be discussed.