Wollo University

Kombolcha Institute of
Technology
College of Informatics
Department of Information
Human-Computer Interaction
Technology (HCI)

CHAPTER 3
THE COMPUTER
Instructor : Habtamu Abate
Email: [email protected]
1
 The Computer
 a computer system is made up of various elements.
 each of these elements affects the interaction.
 inputdevices – text entry and pointing
 output devices – screen (small & large), digital paper
 virtual reality – special interaction and display devices
 physical interaction – e.g. sound, haptic, bio-sensing
 paper – as output (print) and input (scan)
 memory – RAM & permanent media, capacity & access

 processing – speed of processing, networks

wi ndow 1

wi ndow 2

12-37pm
 Interacting with computers
 to understand human–computer interaction
… need to understand computers!

what goes in and out

devices, paper,
sensors, etc.

what can it do?

memory, processing,
networks

the devices dictate the styles of interaction that the system

supports.
If we use different devices, then the interface will support a
different style of interaction.
 Interactivity?
 Long ago in a galaxy far
away … batch processing
 punched card stacks or large
data files prepared
 long wait ….
 line printer output
 … and if it is not right …
 Now most computing is
interactive
 rapid feedback
 the user in control (most of the
time)
 doing rather than thinking … Richer interaction

Is faster always better?

 Text Entry Devices
keyboards (QWERTY et al.)
chord keyboards, phone pads
handwriting, speech
keyboards
 Most common text input device
 Allows rapid entry of text by experienced users
 Keypress closes connection, causing a character
code to be sent.
 Usually connected by cable, but can be wireless.

Chapter 2 The human 5

 Keyboards Layout – QWERTY
 Standardised layout but …
 non-alphanumeric keys are placed differently.
 accented symbols needed for different scripts.

 minor differences between UK and USA keyboards.

 QWERTY arrangement not optimal for typing

– layout to prevent typewriters jamming!
 Alternative designs allow faster typing but large social
base of QWERTY typists produces reluctance to change.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Q W E R T Y U I O P
A S D F G H J K L
Z X C V B N M , .
SPACE
 Alternative Keyboard Layouts
Alphabetic
 keys arranged in alphabetic order
 not faster for trained typists
 not faster for beginners either!
Dvorak
 common letters under dominant fingers
 biased towards right hand
 common combinations of letters alternate between hands
 10-15% improvement in speed and reduction in fatigue
 But - large social base of QWERTY typists produce market
pressures not to change.

special keyboards
 designs to reduce fatigue for RSI for
one handed use
 e.g. the Maltron left-handed keyboard
 Chord keyboards
 only a few keys - four or 5
 letters typed as combination of keypresses
 compact size.
 ideal for portable applications

 short learning time

– keypresses reflect letter shape
 Fast
 once you have trained

 BUT - social resistance, plus fatigue after

extended use
 NEW – niche market for some wearables
 phone pad and T9 entry
 use numeric keys with
multiple presses.
2 –abc 6
-mno
3 -def 7
-pqrs
4 -ghi 8
-tuv
5 -jkl 9
-wxyz
 hello = 4433555[pause]555666
 surprisingly fast!
 T9 predictive entry
 type as if single key for each letter
 use dictionary to ‘guess’ the right word
 hello = 43556 …
 but 26 -> menu ‘am’ or ‘an’.
 Handwriting recognition
 Text can be input into the computer, using a pen and
a digesting tablet.
 natural interaction

 Technical problems:
 capturing all useful information - stroke path, pressure,
etc. in a natural manner
 segmenting joined up writing into individual letters
 interpreting individual letters
 coping with different styles of handwriting

 Used in PDAs, and tablet computers …

… leave the keyboard on the desk!
 Speech recognition
 Improving rapidly
 Most successful when:
 single user – initial training and learns
peculiarities
 limited vocabulary systems

 Problems with
 external noise interfering
 imprecision of pronunciation
 large vocabularies
 different speakers
 Numeric keypads
 for entering numbers quickly:
 calculator, PC keyboard
 for telephones

not the same!! 1 2 3 7 8 9

4 5 6 4 5 6

ATM like phone 7 8 9 1 2 3

0 # 0 . =
*
telephone calculator
Positioning, Pointing and
Drawing

 MOUSE, TOUCHPAD
TRACKBALLS, JOYSTICKS ETC.
TOUCH SCREENS, TABLETS
EYEGAZE, CURSORS

Chapter 2 The human 13

 The Mouse
 Handheld pointing device
 very common
 easy to use
 Two characteristics
 planar movement
 buttons
 (usually from 1 to 3 buttons on top, used for making a
selection, indicating an option, or to initiate drawing etc.)
 Relative movement only is detectable.
 Movement of mouse moves screen cursor
 Screen cursor oriented in (x, y) plane,
mouse movement in (x, z) plane …

Footmouse: controlling mouse movement with

feet … (not very common :-)
 How does it work?
Two methods for detecting motion
 Mechanical
 Ball on underside of mouse turns as mouse is moved
 Rotates orthogonal potentiometers
 Can be used on almost any flat surface

 Optical
 light emitting diode on underside of mouse
 may use special grid-like pad or just on desk
 less susceptible to dust and dirt
 detects fluctuating alterations in reflected light intensity
to calculate relative motion in (x, z) plane.
 Touchpad
 small touch sensitive tablets
 ‘stroke’ to move mouse pointer
 used mainly in laptop computers

 good ‘acceleration’ settings important

 fast stroke
• lots of pixels per inch moved
• initial movement to the target
 slow stroke
• less pixels per inch
• for accurate positioning
 Trackball and thumbwheels
Trackball
 ball is rotated inside static housing
• like an upsdie down mouse!
 relative motion moves cursor
 indirect device, fairly accurate
 separate buttons for picking
 very fast for gaming
 used in some portable and notebook computers.

Thumbwheels …
 for accurate CAD – two dials for X-Y cursor
position
 for fast scrolling – single dial on mouse
 Joystick and keyboard nipple
Joystick
 Indirect
• pressure of stick = velocity of movement
 buttons for selection
• on top or on front like a trigger
 often used for computer games
• aircraft controls and 3D navigation

Keyboard nipple
 for laptop computers
 miniature joystick in the middle of the keyboard
 Touch-sensitive screen
 Detect the presence of finger or stylus on the screen.
 works by interrupting matrix of light beams, capacitance
changes or ultrasonic reflections
 direct pointing device

 Advantages:
 fast, and requires no specialised pointer
 good for menu selection
 suitable for use in hostile environment: clean and safe from
damage.

 Disadvantages:
 finger can mark screen
 imprecise (finger is a fairly blunt instrument!)
• difficult to select small regions or perform accurate drawing
 lifting arm can be tiring
 Stylus and light pen
 Stylus
 small pen-like pointer to draw directly on screen

 may use touch sensitive surface or magnetic detection

 used in PDA, tablets PCs and drawing tables

 Light Pen
 now rarely used

 uses light from screen to detect location

 BOTH …
 very direct and obvious to use
 but can obscure screen

Digitizing tablet
 Mouse like-device with cross hairs
 used on special surface - rather like stylus
 very accurate - used for digitizing maps
 Eyegaze
 control interface by eye gaze direction.
 e.g. look at a menu item to select it
 uses laser beam reflected off retina.
 … a very low power laser!
 mainly used for evaluation.
 potential for hands-free control.
 high accuracy requires headset.
cheaper and lower accuracy devices
available.
 sit under the screen like a small webcam.
 Cursor keys
 Four keys (up, down, left, right) on keyboard.
 Very, very cheap, but slow.
 Useful for not much more than basic motion for text-
editing tasks.
 No standardised layout, but inverted “T”, most common.
 Discrete positioning controls
 in phones, TV controls etc.
 cursor pads or mini-joysticks.
 discrete left-right, up-down.

 mainly for menu selection.

 display devices

bitmap screens (CRT & LCD)

large & situated displays
digital paper
 bitmap displays
 screen is vast number of coloured dots
 Resolution and Colour Depth
 Resolution … used (inconsistently) for
 number of pixels on screen (width x height)
• e.g. SVGA 1024 x 768, PDA perhaps 240x400
 density of pixels (in pixels or dots per inch - dpi)
• typically between 72 and 96 dpi
 Aspect ratio
 ration between width and height
 4:3 for most screens, 16:9 for wide-screen TV
 Colour depth
 how many different colours for each pixel?
 black/white or greys only
 256 from a pallete
 8 bits each for red/green/blue = millions of colours
 Cathode ray tube
 Stream of electrons emitted from electron gun,
focused and directed by magnetic fields, hit
phosphor-coated screen which glows.
 used in TVs and computer monitors.

electron beam

electron gun

focussing and
deflection

phosphor-
coated screen
 Health hazards of CRT !
 X-rays: largely absorbed by screen (but not at rear!)
 UV- and IR-radiation from phosphors: insignificant
levels
 Radio frequency emissions, plus ultrasound (~16kHz)
 Electrostatic field - leaks out through tube to user.
 Intensity dependant on distance and humidity.
 Can cause rashes.
 Electromagnetic fields (50Hz-0.5MHz). Create
induction currents in conductive materials, including the
human body.
 Two types of effects attributed to this: visual system -
high incidence of cataracts in VDU operators, and
concern over reproductive disorders (miscarriages and
birth defects).
 Health hints …
do not sit too close to the screen
do not use very small fonts
do not look at the screen for long periods
without a break
do not place the screen directly in front of a
bright window
work in well-lit surroundings
Take extra care if pregnant.
but also posture, ergonomics, stress
 Liquid Crystal Displays
 Smaller, lighter, and … no radiation problems.
 Found on PDAs, portables and notebooks,… and
increasingly on desktop and even for home TV
 also used in dedicted displays:
 digital watches, mobile phones, HiFi controls
 How it works …
 Top plate transparent and polarised, bottom plate
reflecting.
 Light passes through top plate and crystal, and
reflects back to eye.
 Voltage applied to crystal changes polarisation and
hence colour
 N.B. light reflected not emitted => less eye strain
 Special Displays
Random Scan (Directed-beam refresh, vector
display)
 draw the lines to be displayed directly.
 no jaggies.
 lines need to be constantly redrawn.
 rarely used except in special instruments.
Direct view storage tube (DVST)
 Similar to random scan but persistent => no flicker
 Can be incrementally updated but not selectively
erased
 Used in analogue storage oscilloscopes
 Large Displays
 used for meetings, lectures, etc.
 Technology:
 plasma – usually wide screen
 video walls – lots of small screens together
 projected – RGB lights or LCD projector
– hand/body obscures screen
– may be solved by 2 projectors + clever software
 back-projected
– frosted glass + projector behind
 Situated Displays
 displays in ‘public’ places
 large or small
 very public or for small group

 display only
 for information relevant to location
 or interactive
 use stylus, touch sensitive screem
 in all cases … the location matters
 meaning of information or interaction is
related to the location
 Hermes a situated display
 small displays beside office doors
 handwritten notes left using stylus
 office owner reads notes using web interface
small displays
beside
office doors

handwritten office owner

notes left reads notes
using stylus using web interface
 Digital paper
 what?
appearance
 thin flexible sheets
 updated electronically
 but retain display
cross
 how? section

 small spheres turned

 or channels with coloured liquid
and contrasting spheres
 rapidly developing area
 virtual reality and 3D
interaction

positioning in 3D space
moving and grasping
seeing 3D (helmets and caves)
 positioning in 3D space
 cockpit and virtual controls
 steering wheels, knobs and dials … just like real!
 the 3D mouse
 six-degrees of movement: x, y, z + roll, pitch, yaw
 data glove
 fibre optics used to detect finger position
 VR helmets
 detect head motion and possibly eye gaze
 whole body tracking
 accelerometers strapped to limbs or reflective
dots and video processing
 pitch, yaw and roll

yaw

roll
pitch
 3D displays
 desktop VR
 ordinary screen, mouse or keyboard
control
 perspective and motion give 3D effect

 seeing in 3D
 use stereoscopic vision
 VR helmets

 screen plus shuttered specs, etc.

also see extra slides on 3D vision

 VR headsets
 small TV screen for each eye
 slightly different angles
 3D effect
 VR motion sickness
 time delay
 move head … lag … display moves
 conflict: head movement vs. eyes

 depth perception
 headset gives different stereo distance
 but all focused in same plane
 conflict: eye angle vs. focus

 conflicting cues => sickness

 helpsmotivate improvements in
technology
 simulators and VR caves

 scenes projected on walls

 realistic environment
 hydraulic rams!
 real controls
 other people
physical controls, sensors etc.

 special displays and gauges

 sound, touch, feel, smell
 physical controls
 environmental and bio-sensing
 dedicated displays
 analogue representations:
 dials, gauges, lights, etc.

 digital displays:
 small LCD screens, LED lights, etc.

 head-up displays
 foundin aircraft cockpits
 show most important controls
… depending on context
 Sounds, Touch, feel, smell
 Sounds
 beeps, bongs, clonks, whistles and whirrs
 used for error indications

 confirmation of actions e.g. keyclick

 touch and feeling important

 in games … vibration, force feedback
 in simulation … feel of surgical instruments

 called haptic devices

 texture, smell, taste

 current technology very limited
 BMW iDrive
 for controlling menus
 feel small ‘bumps’ for each item
 makes it easier to select options by feel
 uses haptic technology from Immersion Corp.
 physical controls
 specialist controls needed …
 industrial controls, consumer products,
etc.

easy-clean
smooth buttons

multi-function
control
large buttons
clear dials

tiny buttons
 Environment and bio-sensing
 sensors all around us
 car courtesy light – small switch on door
 ultrasound detectors – security,
washbasins
 RFID security tags in shops

 temperature, weight, location

 … and even our own bodies …

 irisscanners, body temperature, heart
rate, galvanic skin response, blink rate
paper: printing and scanning

print technology
fonts, page description, WYSIWYG
scanning, OCR
 Printing
 image made from small dots
 allows any character set or graphic to be
printed,
 critical features:
 resolution
• size and spacing of the dots
• measured in dots per inch (dpi)
 speed
• usually measured in pages per minute
 cost!!
 Types of dot-based printers
 dot-matrix printers
 use inked ribbon (like a typewriter
 line of pins that can strike the ribbon, dotting the
paper.
 typical resolution 80-120 dpi
 ink-jet and bubble-jet printers
 tiny blobs of ink sent from print head to paper
 typically 300 dpi or better .
 laser printer
 like photocopier: dots of electrostatic charge
deposited on drum, which picks up toner (black
powder form of ink) rolled onto paper which is then
fixed with heat
 typically 600 dpi or better.
 Printing in the workplace
 shop tills
 dot matrix
 same print head used for several paper rolls
 may also print cheques

 thermal printers
 special heat-sensitive paper
 paper heated by pins makes a dot
 poor quality, but simple & low maintenance
 used in some fax machines
 Fonts
 Courier font
 Font – the particular style of text  Helvetica font
 Size of a font measured in points (1 pt about 1/72”)  Palatino font
(vaguely) related to its height  Times Roman
font
Pitch  (special
 fixed-pitch – every character has the same width symbol)
 §´µº¿Â Ä¿~ 
e.g. Courier  …..
 variable-pitched – some characters wider
e.g. Times Roman – compare the ‘i’ and the “m”

Serif or Sans-serif
 sans-serif – square-ended strokes
e.g. Helvetica
 serif – with splayed ends (such as)
e.g. Times Roman or Palatino
 Readability of text
 lowercase
 easy to read shape of words
 UPPERCASE
 better for individual letters and non-words
e.g. flight numbers: BA793 vs. ba793

 serif fonts
 helps your eye on long lines of printed text
 but sans serif often better on screen
 Page Description Languages
 Pages very complex
 different fonts, bitmaps, lines, digitised photos, etc.

 Can convert it all into a bitmap and send to the

printer
… but often huge !

 Alternatively Use a page description language

 sends a description of the page can be sent,
 instructions for curves, lines, text in different styles, etc.
 like a programming language for printing!

 PostScript is the most common

 Screen and page
 WYSIWYG
 what you see is what you get
 aim of word processing, etc.
 but …
 screen: 72 dpi, landscape image
 print: 600+ dpi, portrait
 can try to make them similar
but never quite the same
 so … need different designs, graphics etc, for
screen and print
 Scanners
 Take paper and convert it into a bitmap
 Two sorts of scanner
 flat-bed: paper placed on a glass plate, whole page converted
into bitmap
 hand-held: scanner passed over paper, digitising strip
typically 3-4” wide
 Shines light at paper and note intensity of reflection
 colour or greyscale

 Typical resolutions from 600–2400 dpi

Scanners Used in:
 desktop publishing for incorporating photographs and other
images
 document storage and retrieval systems, doing away with
paper storage
 special scanners for slides and photographic negatives
 Optical character recognition
 OCR converts bitmap back into text
 different fonts
 create problems for simple “template matching” algorithms
 more complex systems segment text, decompose it into lines and
arcs, and decipher characters that way
 page format
 columns, pictures, headers and footers
 paper usually regarded as output only
 can be input too – OCR, scanning, etc.
 Xerox PaperWorks
 glyphs – small patterns of /\\//\\\
• used to identify forms etc.
• used with scanner and fax to control applications
 more recently: papers micro printed - like wattermarks
 identify which sheet and where you are, and know where they are writing
 special ‘pen’ can read locations
 memory

short term and long term

speed, capacity, compression
formats, access
 Short-term Memory - RAM
 Random access memory (RAM)
 on silicon chips
 100 nano-second access time
 usually volatile (lose information if power turned off)
 data transferred at around 100 Mbytes/sec

 Some non-volatile RAM used to store basic set-up

information

 Typical desktop computers:

64 to 256 Mbytes RAM
 Long-term Memory - disks
 magnetic disks
 floppy disks store around 1.4 Mbytes
 hard disks typically 40 Gbytes to 100s of Gbytes
access time ~10ms, transfer rate 100kbytes/s

 optical disks
 use lasers to read and sometimes write
 more robust that magnetic media
 CD-ROM
- same technology as home audio, ~ 600 Gbytes
 DVD - for AV applications, or very large files
 Blurring boundaries
 PDAs
 often use RAM for their main memory

 Flash-Memory
 used in PDAs, cameras etc.
 silicon based but persistent

 plug-in USB devices for data transfer

 speed and capacity
 what do the numbers mean?

 some sizes (all uncompressed) …

 this book, text only ~ 320,000 words, 2Mb
 scanned page ~ 128 Mbytes
• (11x8 inches, 1200 dpi, 8bit greyscale)
 digital photo ~ 10 Mbytes
• (2–4 mega pixels, 24 bit colour)
 video ~ 10 Mbytes per second
• (512x512, 12 bit colour, 25 frames per sec)
 virtual memory
 Problem:
 running lots of programs + each program large
 not enough RAM

 Solution - Virtual memory :

 store some programs temporarily on disk
 makes RAM appear bigger

 But … swopping
 program on disk needs to run again
 copied from disk to RAM
 slows t h i n g s d o w n
 Compression
 reduce amount of storage required
 lossless
 recover exact text or image – e.g. GIF, ZIP
 look for commonalities:
• text: AAAAAAAAAABBBBBCCCCCCCC 10A5B8C
• video: compare successive frames and store change
 lossy
 recover something like original – e.g. JPEG, MP3
 exploit perception
• JPEG: lose rapid changes and some colour
• MP3: reduce accuracy of drowned out notes
 Storage formats - text
 ASCII - 7-bit binary code for to each letter and character
 UTF-8 - 8-bit encoding of 16 bit character set
 RTF (rich text format)
- text plus formatting and layout information
 SGML (standardized generalised markup language)
- documents regarded as structured objects
 XML (extended markup language)
- simpler version of SGML for web applications
 Storage formats - media
 Images:
 many storage formats :
(PostScript, GIFF, JPEG, TIFF, PICT, etc.)
 plus different compression techniques
(to reduce their storage requirements)

 Audio/Video
 again lots of formats :
(QuickTime, MPEG, WAV, etc.)
 compression even more important
 also ‘streaming’ formats for network delivery
 methods of access
 large information store
 long time to search => use index
 what you index -> what you can access
 simple index needs exact match
 forgiving systems:
 Xerox “do what I mean” (DWIM)
 SOUNDEX – McCloud ~ MacCleod
 access without structure …
 free text indexing (all the words in a document)
 needs lots of space!!
processing and networks

finite speed (but also Moore’s law)

limits of interaction
networked computing
 Finite processing speed
 Designers tend to assume fast processors, and make interfaces
more and more complicated

 But problems occur, because processing cannot keep up with

all the tasks it needs to do
 cursor overshooting because system has buffered keypresses
 icon wars - user clicks on icon, nothing happens, clicks on another,
then system responds and windows fly everywhere

 Also problems if system is too fast - e.g. help screens may

scroll through text much too rapidly to be read
 Moore’s law

 computers get faster and faster!

 1965 …
 Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, noticed a pattern
 processor speed doubles every 18 months
 PC … 1987: 1.5 Mhz, 2002: 1.5 GHz
 similar pattern for memory
 but doubles every 12 months!!
 hard disk … 1991: 20Mbyte : 2002: 30 Gbyte
 baby born today
 record all sound and vision
 by 70 all life’s memories stored in a grain of dust!

/e3/online/moores-law/
 the myth of the infinitely
fast machine

 implicit assumption … no delays

an infinitely fast machine
 what is good design for real machines?
 good example … the telephone :
 type keys too fast
 hear tones as numbers sent down the line
 actually an accident of implementation
 emulate in deisgn
 Limitations on interactive
performance
 Computation bound
 Computation takes ages, causing frustration for the user
 Storage channel bound
 Bottleneck in transference of data from disk to memory
 Graphics bound
 Common bottleneck: updating displays requires a lot of
effort - sometimes helped by adding a graphics co-
processor optimised to take on the burden
 Network capacity
 Many computers networked - shared resources and
files, access to printers etc. - but interactive
performance can be reduced by slow network speed
 Networked computing
Networks allow access to … The internet
 large memory and  history …
processing  1969: DARPANET US DoD, 4
 other people (groupware, sites
email)  1971: 23; 1984: 1000; 1989:
10000
 shared resources – esp. the
web  common language (protocols):
 TCP – Transmission Control
 Issues protocol
• lower level, packets (like
 network delays – slow letters) between machines
feedback  IP – Internet Protocol
 conflicts - many people • reliable channel (like phone call)
update data between programs on machines
 unpredictability  email, HTTP, all build on top of
these
 Project + Assignment +presentation
1. Design a user Interface Prototype using your preferable
design tool or Programming Language
1. Not more than 3 User interfaces
2. Report the Designed User interface based on Design Rules:
 Principles to support usability
 Standards

 Guidelines
 Golden rules and heuristics
 HCI patterns

3. Report the Implemented User interface based on

Implementation Support:
 Elements of windowing systems
 Programming the application

 User interface management systems

Chapter 2 The human 75

Thank you

Questions?

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