Introduction to HCI

Lecture 1
 Today’s Lecture
What the Human-Computer Interface actually is!
Different interaction styles particularly GUIs
Different interface types
Mental/Conceptual Models
The gulfs of Execution and Evaluation
Things to think about when designing an interface
Problems faced in designing the Human-Computer
Interface
Different levels of the language of interaction
(Command Language Grammar)
 The Role of the Human-
Computer Interface

User Interface Application

 The User does not Exist in Isolation
History Context
Motivation Perspective
Relationships Objectives
Aims Attention
Stress Time
Constraints

Application

Data Data Data

 More Complex Human Computer
Interfaces must take Context into
Account
Motivation Perspective
History Context
Aims Attention
Relationships Time Objectives
Stress
Constraints

Meta data Meta data

Meta data Meta data
Data Data Data Data Data Data
 Features of a Graphical User
Interface (GUI)
Windows - each window identified with a
task
WIMP interface (windows, icons, menus,
pointers)
Direct Manipulation also known as
WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get)
User interface objects (interaction objects)
 Why Use GUIs?
human brain can understand, remember, and
recall graphical information better than text
instant visual feedback
reduces learning time
gives a feeling of being in control of the
application
Other Interaction Styles – apart
from GUIs
Command line - powerful direct access to system
functionality
Menus - ATM machine, Mobile Phone etc
Natural Language - restricted domains only where the
user is likely to use a small range of words and want a
small range of information I.e. train timetables, weather
forecasts
Speech
Form-fills and spreadsheets
Hypertext - as on the Web but moving towards GUIs
Virtual reality – (Second Life)
 Alternatives to graphical user
interfaces
• Multi-modal systems – Multi-modal
interaction provides the user with multiple
modes of interacting with a system
 Alternatives to graphical user
interfaces
• Multi-sensory systems- More than one
sensory channel in interaction (i.e. sounds,
text, hypertext, animation, video, gestures,
vision)
 Alternatives to graphical user
interfaces
• Multimedia systems - characterised by the
processing, storage, generation, manipulation
and rendition of Multimedia information
• Hypermedia systems - A nonlinear medium of
information that includes graphics, audio,
video, plain text and hyperlinks
Alternatives to graphical user
interfaces
 Different Interface Types
One user, one task GUI
Computer Supported Collaborative Work
Ubiquitous computing
In-car speech messaging
Speech based telephone answering systems
Attention support systems
Many more …..
 Mental or Conceptual Models
To design for the Human
Computer Interface we need to
know how users approach a
new interface
People try things out
and look for patterns
People don’t actually and consistencies -
know everything about the they are building a
interface but just work out conceptual model of
what will be useful to how the interface
them works
Mental or Conceptual Models
Used to guide behaviour at the interface.
When people encounter new machines, devices or
computers, they begin to construct mental models.
People can understand and predict the world around
them.
are incomplete and unstable
Incomplete – it’s rare that the user knows all of the subject
matter concerning a task/system
Unstable – new information can cause them to change
rely on induction
Gulfs of Execution and Evaluation
 A goal : is a state the user wishes to achieve.
 An intention: is the decision to act so as to achieve the goal.
 The gulf of execution: Users have a mental model of what they
hope to , but does not know which physical variables to adjust.
 Users look at the buttons, choices etc. on the interface –
physical variables to see how they can achieve their goals
 The gulf of evaluation: where the system has altered, usually as a
result of the user’s actions, but the user cannot easily understand
the change in the system’s state.
 It’s difficult for the user to work out what has happened to
the system, and whether the change its in with the initial
goals and intentions.
• If a person only wants to record a movie currently being
shown with her VCR, she imagines that it requires hitting a
'record' button.
• In the language of the user, the goal of recording the current
movie can be achieved by the action sequence "Hit the record
button," but in the language of the VCR the correct action
sequence is:
• 1) Hit the record button.
2) Specify time of recording via the controls X, Y, and Z.
3) Select channel via the channel-up-down control.
4) Press the OK button.
Gulfs of Execution and Evaluation
users have goals and intentions when using a computer
system

they think in terms of psychological variables

they can manipulate physical variables

sometimes they don’t know how to achieve their goal (gulf of

execution)

sometimes they don’t know what the system is doing (gulf of

evaluation)
HCI Design Should Include and Support
learning by exploration
support reasoning about the application
continuous visual feedback
representation of the user’s conceptual
objects as identifiable objects at the interface
prevention of invalid option selection
context sensitive help
input validation and default substitution
shortcuts for the experienced user
little knowledge needed of the underlying
system
 Problems Faced in Designing the
Human-Computer Interface
Many standard systems design methods e.g. UML,
SSADM do not model the user interface
It is difficult to describe a dynamic screen layout
Designers are forced into a particular look and feel
by the tools they use
It is difficult to find out what the user wants before
you start the design
User and system developer are often talking
different languages
 The Language of Interaction -
Command Language Grammar
The language of interaction at the interface i.e. how you
‘talk’ to the computer and the grammar and syntax of that
language.
Every spoken language has a grammar i.e. how the language
is organised into nouns and verbs etc and a syntax i.e. an
order in which the elements of the grammar must appear i.e.
‘The cat sat on the mat’ rather than ‘The mat cat sat’
When designing a usable interface you provide a language of
interaction that the user understands.
When designing you must take the task based level in which
the user thinks i.e. ‘I want to book a holiday’ and break it
down through several steps until it becomes a series of
mouse clicks and key presses.
 Command Language Grammar
Conceptual Component (what is in the user’s head)
Task Level
Semantic Level

Communication Component (how this is communicated to

the computer)
Syntactic Level
Interaction Level

Physical Component (buses, chips, addresses, low level

language – this does not concern us)
Spatial Layout Level
Device Level
 Task Level
Here we analyse the user’s perspective of their tasks
Purpose: to analyse the user’s needs and to structure their
task domain in a way that is amenable to the interactive
system.
Examples in a Personal Organiser (User tasks)
Open the calendar
Put in a meeting
Find a list of engagements
Find a friend’s birthday
Examples in Word (User tasks)
Open a document
Paste in a new paragraph of text
 Semantic Level (1) – (Where things have
meaning)
Semantic level specifies methods for accomplishing the tasks in
terms of conceptual entities and operations
At the Semantic Level the system comprises
Objects (eg a meeting on a PDA)
Actions on objects (eg. add or delete a meeting on a PDA)
User view:
conceptual entities – birthdays, meetings etc
conceptual operations or actions – find (a birthday)
System View
data structures
procedures
 Semantic Level (2)
In Microsoft Word
• Conceptual entities – Document,
paragraph, heading, page…..
• Conceptual operations or actions – Open
document, cut paragraph, embolden
heading, print page …
With your programming knowledge you
should be able to see how each
conceptual entity can be represented by a
data structure and each conceptual
operation by a procedure.
 Command Language Grammar
Conceptual Component (what is in the user’s head)
Task Level
Semantic Level

Communication Component (how this is communicated to

the computer)
Syntactic Level
Interaction Level

Physical Component (buses, chips, addresses, low level

language – this does not concern us)
Spatial Layout Level
Device Level
 Syntactic Level (1)
Every language English, Chinese etc has a
syntax

Therefore each language of

computer interaction i.e. each
interface has a syntax

The syntax describes the structure of the

language of interaction and particularly in this
case the order in which things happen
 Syntactic Level (2)
The conceptual model of a system is
embedded in a language structure
Command language allows user /system
interaction
Command languages comprise:
» syntactic elements
» commands
» arguments
» contexts
» state variables
 Syntactic Level (3)
In Microsoft Word

syntactic elements – file -> open -> filename

Commands – open
Arguments - filename
Contexts - using menu bar, (another context
with different syntax might be click on file then
we have simple click -> filename)
State variables – is the file already - State Open
 Interaction Level
Command language is resolved as a sequence of
physical actions
» key presses
» mouse clicks
» display actions
» Sounds

Interaction Level specifies these physical actions

and these are the same for all applications
 Command Language Grammar
Conceptual Component (what is in the user’s head)
Task Level
Semantic Level

Communication Component (how this is communicated to

the computer)
Syntactic Level
Interaction Level

Physical Component (buses, chips, addresses, low level

language – this does not concern us)
Spatial Layout Level
Device Level
 Ubiquitous Computing
• Ubiquitous computing (or "ubicomp") is a
concept in software engineering and
computer science where computing is made
to appear anytime and everywhere
 Ubiquitous Computing
• Computer Supported Cooperative
Work (CSCW) is a community of behavioral
researchers and system builders at the
intersection of collaborative behaviors and
technology

How does CSCW contribute to ubicomp?

How do these relate to HCI?
End of Lecture 1