Intro To HCI Research ​
Introduction ​
Research in HCI is fascinating and complex. It is fascinating Because there are so many questions that change over time (due to technical advances). It is complex because research is taken from other fields and recycled for HCI also it involves humans which are complex creatures.
History ​
The field of HCI is between 42 and 52 years old.
Types Of HCI Research Contributions ​
The field of HCI draws on many disciplines:
- CS
- Sociology
- Psychology
- Communication
- Human Factors Engineering
- Rehabilitation Engineering
The research from these disciplines is modified for use in HCI research. The majority of HCI research falls into either empirical research or artifact contributions.
Changes in topics of HCI research over time ​
- original HCI research was about how ppl interacted with simple office automation programs: word processing, database and statistical software.
- Then research was increased into the fields of communication.
- Then focus shifted towards user generated content.
- now focused on collaboration, connections, emotion and communication.
Changes in HCI research methods over time ​
New approaches to data collection available:
- sensors
- crowdsourcing
- eye-tracking
- facial electromyography
The nature of interdisciplinary research in HCI ​
It is challenging to combine all the disciplines that HCI draws from because they have different cultures and have different focuses for their reserach.
Who is the audience for your research ​
- other reserchers
- UI/UX developers
- companies
- policy-makers
Inherent Trade-Offs in HCI ​
- accept better solutions instead of optimal solutions.
- multiple stakeholders that can't all be satisfied.
- design is not simple and it's not an optimization problem.