Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

School of Informatics at IUPUI

Overview
Human-Computer Interaction

Overview

Back to Human-Computer Interaction

Introduction

Human-computer interaction (HCI) is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the application of computer science, psychology, ergonomics, and many other disciplines in industry and commerce. Its goal is to facilitate the design, implementation, and evaluation of information and communication systems that satisfy the needs of the user. HCI is a rapidly developing field considered with problems related to the usability of systems associated with five attributes:

  1. Learnability: The system should be easy to learn so that the user can rapidly execute tasks.
  2. Efficiency: The system should be efficient to use, so that once the user has learned the system, a high level of productivity is possible.
  3. Memorability: The system should be easy to remember, allowing the casual user to return to the system after some period of not having used it without difficulty
  4. Errors: The system should have a low error rate, so that users make few errors, and, if they do make errors, they can easily recover from them. Further, catastrophic errors must not occur.
  5. Satisfaction: The system should be pleasant to use, so that users are subjectively satisfied when using it; this means that they like it.

In recent years, interest in HCI has grown enormously in both industry and academia. The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) recently reported that its special interest group in HCI, SIGCHI, is the fastest growing of all its interest groups. ACM has recommended the development of new HCI programs in universities to combat a national shortage of professionals with the skills and training to advance the design of more usable technologies.

Research into the user-centered design of usable technology draws extensively on mainstream informatics concerns with cognition, communication, representation, and computation. HCI professionals seek to identify the nature and parameters of human information processing at the interface, to design forms of representation that support human interpretation and use, and to reliably and validly test new technologies for usability and acceptability.

At IUPUI, HCI is a branch of informatics that studies and supports the design, development, and implementation of humanly usable and socially acceptable information technologies. Informatics is a critical component of instrument and interactive product design. Businesses in software design and other sectors in interactive technology product development, are increasingly requesting professionals with HCI expertise that have suitable training in design, evaluation, and the applied social sciences.