HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION

Lecturer : NIYONSHUTI Eugene

MSIT,CCNA,CCNP
School Computing and IT

Email: eniyonshuti@uok.ac.rw

Phone: 0782580218
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 Contents
CHAPTER 1: Introduction To HCI
CHAPTER 2:Cognitive Psychology
CHAPTER 3: ERGONOMIC ISSUES IN USER INTERFACE DESIGN
CHAPTER 4 : DESIGN FOR INTERACTION
CHAPTER 5 : THE PROCESS OF DESIGN FOR INTERACTION
CHAPTER 6 : ESTABLISHING REQUIREMENTS

CHAPTER 7: PROTOTYING AND IMPLEMENTATION

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 Why Can we take this Module?
 Aspiring Designers and Developers: Learn to create user-centered

systems and applications.

 Managers and Product Owners: Understand user needs to guide product

development.

 Researchers: Explore how humans interact with technology.

 Entrepreneurs: Build innovative products with better user adoption rates.

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 CHAPTER 1: Introduction To HCI
 Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is a multidisciplinary field focused on the
design, evaluation, and implementation of interactive computing systems for human
use, as well as the study of major phenomena surrounding these systems.

 Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of the mental processes involved in

acquiring, processing, storing, and using information. It explores how people think,
learn, remember, solve problems, and perceive the world around them.

 Ergonomics in user interface (UI) design focuses on creating systems that align with
the physical, cognitive, and psychological needs of users. Poor ergonomic design can
lead to discomfort, inefficiency, errors, and even long-term health issues. Addressing
ergonomic issues is crucial to ensure usability, comfort, and productivity when
interacting with digital systems.

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 Design for Interaction is a core focus in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI),
emphasizing the creation of user-centered systems that facilitate seamless, efficient,
and enjoyable communication between humans and computers.
 Designing for interaction in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) involves a structured
and iterative process that centers on creating systems and interfaces that meet user
needs effectively. The process emphasizes user engagement, usability, and accessibility,
ensuring that interactions between humans and computers are smooth, efficient, and
enjoyable.
 Establishing requirements in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is a critical step in
the design process. It ensures that the system being developed meets the needs and
expectations of users, while also fulfilling business goals, technical constraints, and
usability standards. Properly defined requirements guide the design and development
process and lead to more efficient, effective, and user-friendly systems.

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Why HCI is Important
 The study of our interface with information.

 It is not just ‘how big should I make buttons’ or ‘how to layout menu choices’

 It can affect
 Effectiveness

 Productivity

 Morale

 Safety

 Example: a car with poor HCI

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My
Choice
 iPod by Apple
Computers
 Pros:
 portable
 power
 ease of use
 # of controls
 Cons:
 scratches easily
 no speech for car use
 proprietary

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 HCI research has expanded beyond its roots in the cognitive
processes of individual users to include social and organizational
processes involved in computer usage in real environments as
well as the use of computers in collaboration
What are the components of Information systems?

Inputs, outputs, feedback loops, and processes. Each = “black box” the outside world cannot see what goes

on inside it.

What are the components of Human cognitive system?

Storing, organizing, and processing information and making it available for later reference and use

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What fields does HCI cover?
Computer Science
Psychology (cognitive):studies how the mind works
Communication
Education
Anthropology: the study of humans, their cultures, societies,
and evolution .
Design (e.g. graphic and industrial)
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HCI Community
 Academics/Industry Research
 Taxonomies
 Theories
 Predictive models
 Experimenters
 Empirical data
 Product design
 Other areas (Sociologists,
anthropologists, managers)
 Motor
 Perceptual
 Cognitive
 Social, economic, ethics

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HCI Tools
 Sound
 3D
 Animation
 Video
 Devices
 Size (small->very large)
 Portable (PDA, phone)
 Plasticity
 Context sensitive/aware
 Personalizable
 Ubiquitous

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Usability Requirements
 Goals:
 Usability
 Universality
 Usefulness
 Achieved by:
 Planning
 Sensitivity to user needs
 Devotion to requirements analysis
 Testing

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 Bad Interfaces
 Encumbering(free action or
movement is difficult)
 Confusing
 Slow
 Trust (ex. windows crashing)
 What makes it hard?
 Varies by culture
 Multiple platforms
 Variety of users

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  User
By "user", we may mean an individual user, a group of users working together. An
appreciation of the way people's sensory systems (sight, hearing, touch,..) relay
information is vital. Also, different users form different conceptions or mental models
about their interactions and have different ways of learning and keeping knowledge. In
addition, cultural and national differences play a part.

 Computer

When we talk about the computer, we're referring to any technology ranging from desktop
computers, to large scale computer systems. For example, if we were discussing the design of a
Website, then the Website itself would be referred to as "the computer". Devices such as mobile
phones can also be considered to be “computers”.

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 Interaction

There are obvious differences between humans and machines.

In spite of these, HCI attempts to ensure that they both get on
with each other and interact successfully. In order to achieve a
usable system, you need to apply what you know about
humans and computers, and consult with likely users
throughout the design process. In real systems, the schedule
and the budget are important, and it is vital to find a balance
between what would be ideal for the users and what is feasible
in reality.

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 Users with Disabilities

A good application of multimodal system is to address and assist disable people

In this system the user can interact with machine using voice and head movement

HCI Goals
The goals of HCI are to produce usable and safe systems, as well as
functional systems. In order to produce computer systems with
good usability, developers must attempt to:
 understand the factors that determine how people use
technology
 develop tools and techniques to enable building suitable systems
 achieve efficient, effective, and safe interaction
 put people first

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 HCI Goals con’t
► Influence academic and industrial researchers
 Understand a problem and related theory
 Hypothesis and testing
 Study design
 Interpret results
► Provide tools, techniques and knowledge for commercial
developers
 competitive advantage
► Raising the computer consciousness of the general public
 Reduce computer anxiety (error messages)

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 Underlying the whole theme of HCI is the belief that people
using a computer system should come first. Their needs,
capabilities and preferences for conducting various tasks
should direct developers in the way that they design systems.
People should not have to change the way that they use a
system in order to fit in with it. Instead, the system should be
designed to match their requirements.

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Usability

Usability is one of the key concepts in HCI. It is concerned

with making systems easy to learn and use. A usable system is:
 easy to learn
 easy to remember how to use
 effective to use
 efficient to use
 safe to use
 enjoyable to use

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 Why is usability important?

 Many everyday systems and products seem to be designed with

little regard to usability. This leads to frustration, wasted time and
errors. This list contains examples of interactive products:
mobile phone, computer, personal organizer, remote control, ATM,
ticket machine, library information system, the web, photocopier,
watch, printer, stereo, calculator, videogame etc¦.

 How many are actually easy, effortless, and enjoyable to use?

 For example, a photocopier might have buttons like these on its
control panel.

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 Imagine that you just put your document into the photocopier and set
the photocopier to make 15 copies, sorted and stapled.
 Then you push the big button with the "C" to start making your copies.
What do you think will happen?
(a) The photocopier makes the copies correctly.
(b) The photocopier settings are cleared and no copies are made.
If you selected (b) you are right! The "C" stands for clear, not copy.
The copy button is actually the button on the left with the "line in a
diamond" symbol. This symbol is widely used on photocopiers, but is
of little help to someone who is unfamiliar with this.

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 Factors in HCI
 There are a large number of factors which should be
considered in the analysis and design of a system using
HCI principles. Many of these factors interact with
each other, making the analysis even more complex.
The main factors are listed in the table below:

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Organization Factors Training, job design, politics, roles, work organisation

Environmental Factors Noise, heating, lighting, ventilation

Health and Safety Factors
The User Cognitive processes and capabilities
Motivation, enjoyment, satisfaction, personality, experience

Comfort Factors Seating, equipment, layout.

User Interface Input devices, output devices, dialogue structures, use of colour, icons,
commands, navigation, graphics, natural language, user support,
multimedia,

Task Factors Easy, complex, novel, task allocation, monitoring, skills

Constraints Cost, timescales, budgets, staff, equipment, buildings
System Functionality Hardware, software, application
Productivity Factors Increase output, increase quality, decrease costs, decrease errors, increase
innovation

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 Disciplines contributing to HCI
 The field of HCI covers a wide range of topics, and its development has relied on
contributions from many disciplines. Some of the main disciplines which have contributed
to HCI are:
 Computer Science
1. technology
2. software design, development & maintenance
3. User Interface Management Systems (UIMS) & User Interface Development
Environments (UIDE)
4. prototyping tools
5. graphics

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 Cognitive Psychology
 Social Psychology
1. information processing
Social & organizational structures
2. capabilities
 Ergonomics/Human Factors
3. limitations
Hardware design
4. cooperative working
Display readability
5. performance prediction
 Linguistics

 Artificial Intelligence natural language interfaces

intelligent software

 Philosophy, Sociology & Anthropology

Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW)

 Engineering & Design graphic design engineering principles

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 Computer system
 A computer system comprises various elements, each of
which affects the use of the system.
 Input devices for interactive use, allowing text entry,
drawing and selection from the screen:
Text entry: traditional keyboard, phone text entry, speech
and handwriting
Pointing: principally the mouse, but also touch pad, stylus,
and others
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cont
 Output display devices for interactive use:
 Different types of screen mostly using some form of
bitmap display
 Large displays and situated displays for shared and public
use
 Digital paper may be usable in the near future

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 Memory:
Short-term memory: RAM
Long-term memory: magnetic and optical disks
Capacity limitations related to document and video storage

Processing:
 The effects when systems run too slow or too fast, the myth of the
infinitely fast machine
 Limitations on processing speed
 Networks and their impact on system performance

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 Human
 Humans are limited in their Information is stored in memory:
capacity to process information. This  Sensory memory
has important implications for design.
 Information is received and
 Short-term (working) memory
responses given via a number of input  Long-term memory
and output channels:
Information is processed and applied:
 Visual channel
Reasoning
 Auditory channel
Problem solving
 Haptic channel (sensory system )
Skill acquisition
 Movement
Error

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The communication between the user and Computer system
the system.
Their interaction framework has four parts:
User
Input
System
Output

 Human-computer interaction is concerned with the joint performance of tasks by

humans and machines; the structure of communication between human and machine;
human capabilities to use machines (including the learnability of interfaces); algorithms
and programming of the interface itself; engineering concerns that arise in designing
and building interfaces; the process of specification, design, and implementation of
interfaces; and design trade-offs. Human-computer interaction thus has science,
engineering, and design aspects.
 Human Computer Interaction
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 Architecture of HCI
Architecture of any HCI system is identified by:
Number of inputs and outputs in the system
Diversity of inputs and outputs in terms of modality

 In the context of human–computer interaction,

a modality is the classification of independent
channel of sensory input/output between a computer
and a human.
A system is designated unimodal if it has only one modality implemented, and

multimodal if it has more than one.

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 Based on different configuration and design of interface , HCI systems can be divided
into:

 Unimodal HCI System

 Multimodal HCI System

 A Unimodal HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) System is a system that

relies on a single mode of interaction between the user and the computer. A
"mode" in this context refers to the type of input or output channel used for
communication.

 A Multimodal HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) System is a system that

allows users to interact with computers using multiple modes or channels of
communication, such as speech, touch, gestures, facial expressions, and eye
movements.

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 Computers can be equipped with various types of input devices and sensors to allow them to
receive information from humans. Common input devices are often interchangeable if they
have a standardized method of communication with the computer and afford practical
adjustments to the user. Certain modalities can provide a richer interaction depending on
the context, and having options for implementation allows for more robust systems.

 Simple modalities
 Keyboard
 Pointing device
 Touchscreen
 Complex modalities
 Computer vision
 Speech recognition
 Motion

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UNIMODAL HCI

An interface depends on The system based on single channel of input

number and variety of its Restricted to the use of only one mode of
inputs and outputs which are human-computer interaction modality is called
communication channels that Unimodal HCI.
enable users to interact with a Examples
computer. Text based User Interface,
Each of the different Graphical User Interface,
independent single channels is Pointer based Interface,
called a modality. Touch based Interface, etc.
A system that supports only
one modality is called
Unimodal

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Three categories of unimodal systems are:
1. Visual-Based
2. Audio-Based
3. Sensor-Based
VISUAL BASED
 Vision based human computer interaction provides a broad
range of input capabilities by employing computer vision
techniques to process sensor data from one or more cameras in
real-time.
 This is done to reliably estimate relevant visual information
about the user. Vision based interaction has the ability of
carrying rich information in a non-intrusive manner.
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What do you thinks can be Some examples of
unimodal as VISUAL BASED ?
Some examples in this section are as follow:

 Facial Expression Analysis (Emotion Recognition).

 Body Movement Tracking (Large-scale

 Gesture Recognition

 Gaze Detection (Eyes Movement Tracking)

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AUDIO BASED

 The audio based interaction between a computer and a human is another important
area of HCI systems. This area deals with the information that is acquired by
divergent audio signals.

The main research areas of Audio based HCI are divided into:
speech recognition

speaker recognition
auditory emotion analysis
musical interaction
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SENSOR BASED
Sensor-based interactions are increasingly becoming an essential
part in the design of user experiences. This type of interaction
ranges from the activation of controls to providing some context-
aware information by delivering relevant information to people at
appropriate times. Sensor-based interaction can be considered as a
combination of variety of areas with a wide range of applications,
where at least one physical sensor is used between the user and
machine to provide better interaction

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The main research areas of sensor based

 pen-based interaction
 joysticks
 motion tracking sensors
 haptic sensors( devices that detect and measure touch, force, or vibration)
 pressure sensor
 taste/smell sensors

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Limitation of Unimodal Interaction
 Not a natural way of human interaction.
 Usually designed for the average‘ user.
 Fails to cater the need of diverse category of people.
 Difficult to use by disable, illiterate and untrained people.
 Cannot provide universal interface.
 More error prone.

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 MULTIMODAL HCI

 To enhance error avoidance and ease of error resolution.

 To accommodate a wide range of users, tasks and environmental situations.

 To cater the need of individual with differences, such as permanent or temporary handicaps.

 To prevent overuse of any mode of individual mode during extended computer usage.

 To permit the flexible and improved use of input modes, including alternation and integrated

use

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Multimodal interaction provides the user with multiple modes of interfacing with a system

beyond the traditional keyboard and mouse input/output.

The most common such interface combines a visual modality (e.g. a display, keyboard, and

mouse) with a voice modality (speech recognition for input, speech synthesis and recorded

audio for output).

However other modalities, such as pen based input or haptic input/output, may be used.

Multimodal user interfaces are a research area in human computer interact

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 Two major groups of multimodal interfaces have merged, one concerned in

alternate input methods and the other in combined input/output. The first

group of interfaces combined various user input modes beyond the

traditional keyboard and mouse input/output, such as speech, pen, touch,

manual gestures, gaze and head and body movements

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 Multimodal input
and output
 The second group of multimodal systems presents users with multimedia
displays and multimodal output, primarily in the form of visual and
auditory .
 Interface designers have also started to make use of other modalities, such
as touch and olfaction. Proposed benefits of multimodal output system
include synergy and redundancy.
 The information that is presented via several modalities is merged and
refers to various aspects of the same process. The use of several modalities
for processing exactly the same information provides an increased
bandwidth of information transfer .

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Benefits of Multimodal Interfaces
 Efficiency follows from using each modality for the task
that it is best suited for.
 Redundancy increases the likelihood that communication
proceeds smoothly because there are many simultaneous
references to the same issue.
 Perceptibility increase when the tasks are facilitated in
spatial context
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 Naturalness follows from the free choice of modalities and may result
in a human computer communication that is close to human-human
communication.
 Accuracy increases when another modality can indicate an object more
accurately than the main modality.
 Synergy occurs when one channel of communication can help refine
imprecision, modify the meaning, or resolve ambiguities in another
channel.

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Applications of Multimodal HCI

 Mobile telecommunication
 Hands-free devices to computers
 Using in a car
 Interactive information panel
 Smart video conferencing
 Intelligent Homes / Offices
 Driver monitoring intelligent games
 E – commerce
 Helping people with disabilities

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HCI is crucial in modern computing for several
reasons: The main goals of HCI
 Enhances User Experience (UX):
 Usability
 Increases Accessibility
 Improves Efficiency and  Accessibility

Productivity  Efficiency
 Multimodal Interaction
 Learnability
 Supports Innovation
 Promotes Safety and Comfort  satisfaction

 Expands Reach of Technology  error prevention

 Adapts to Evolving Technology:
 flexibility
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