Human–computer interaction,foundations and new paradigms

This paper explores the roots of human–computer interaction as a discipline, the various trends which have marked its development, and some of the current and future challenges for research. Human–computer interaction, like any vocational discipline, sits upon three broad foundations: theoretical principles, professional practice and a community of people. As an interdisciplinary field the theoretical roots of HCI encompass a number of other disciplines including psychology, computing, ergonomics, and social sciences; however, it also has theoretical and practical challenges of its own. The evolving internal and external context of HCI, computers, have become smaller and less costly; this has led to changes in nature of the users and uses of computers, with corresponding impact on society. The paper explores the current challenges of computers from the cloud to digital fabrication and the need to design for solitude. It suggests that HCI should not just react to the changes around it, but also shape those changes.     

Controlling a Smartphone Using Gaze Gestures as the Input Mechanism

The emergence of small handheld devices such as tablets and smartphones, often with touch sensitive surfaces as their only input modality, has spurred a growing interest in the subject of gestures for human–computer interaction (HCI). It has been proven before that eye movements can be consciously controlled by humans to the extent of performing sequences of predefined movement patterns, or “gaze gestures” that can be used for HCI purposes in desktop computers. Gaze gestures can be tracked noninvasively using a video-based eye-tracking system. We propose here that gaze gestures can also be an effective input paradigm to interact with handheld electronic devices. We show through a pilot user study how gaze gestures can be used to interact with a smartphone, how they are easily assimilated by potential users, and how the Needleman-Wunsch algorithm can effectively discriminate intentional gaze gestures from otherwise typical gaze activity performed during standard interaction with a small smartphone screen. Hence, reliable gaze–smartphone interaction is possible with accuracy rates, depending on the modality of gaze gestures being used (with or without dwell), higher than 80 to 90%, negligible false positive rates, and completion speeds lower than 1 to 1.5 s per gesture. These encouraging results and the low-cost eye-tracking equipment used suggest the possibilities of this new HCI modality for the field of interaction with small-screen handheld devices.     

Building a user-centered semantic hierarchy in image databases

Recent development in the field of digital media technology has resulted in the generation of a huge number of images. Consequently, content-based image retrieval has emerged as an important area in multimedia computing. Research in human perception of image content suggests that the semantic cues play an important role in image retrieval. In this paper, we present a new paradigm to establish the semantics in image databases based on multi-user relevance feedback. Relevance feedback mechanism is one way to incorporate the users’ perception during image retrieval. By treating each feedback as a weak classifier and combining them together, we are able to capture the categories in the users’ mind and build a user-centered semantic hierarchy in the database to support semantic browsing and searching. We present an image retrieval system based on a city-landscape image database comprising of 3,009 images. We also compare our approach with other typical methods to organize an image database. Superior results have been achieved by the proposed framework.     

Low cost remote gaze gesture recognition in real time

Predefined sequences of eye movements, or ‘gaze gestures’, can be consciously performed by humans and monitored non-invasively using remote video oculography. Gaze gestures hold great potential in human–computer interaction, HCI, as long as they can be easily assimilated by potential users, monitored using low cost gaze tracking equipment and machine learning algorithms are able to distinguish the spatio-temporal structure of intentional gaze gestures from typical gaze activity performed during standard HCI. In this work, an evaluation of the performance of a bioinspired Bayesian pattern recognition algorithm known as Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM) on the real time recognition of gaze gestures is carried out through a user study. To improve the performance of traditional HTM during real time recognition, an extension of the algorithm is proposed in order to adapt HTM to the temporal structure of gaze gestures. The extension consists of an additional top node in the HTM topology that stores and compares sequences of input data by sequence alignment using dynamic programming. The spatio-temporal codification of a gesture in a sequence serves the purpose of handling the temporal evolution of gaze gestures instances. The extended HTM allows for reliable discrimination of intentional gaze gestures from otherwise standard human–machine gaze interaction reaching up to 98% recognition accuracy for a data set of 10 categories of gaze gestures, acceptable completion speeds and a low rate of false positives during standard gaze–computer interaction. These positive results despite the low cost hardware employed supports the notion of using gaze gestures as a new HCI paradigm for the fields of accessibility and interaction with smartphones, tablets, projected displays and traditional desktop computers.     

Moving towards inclusive design guidelines for socially and ethically aware HCI

Most people acknowledge that personal computers have enormously enhanced the autonomy and communication capacity of people with special needs. The key factor for accessibility to these opportunities is the adequate design of the user interface which, consequently, has a high impact on the social lives of users with disabilities.The design of universally accessible interfaces has a positive effect over the socialisation of people with disabilities. People with sensory disabilities can profit from computers as a way of personal direct and remote communication. Personal computers can also assist people with severe motor impairments to manipulate their environment and to enhance their mobility by means of, for example, smart wheelchairs. In this way they can become more socially active and productive. Accessible interfaces have become so indispensable for personal autonomy and social inclusion that in several countries special legislation protects people from ‘digital exclusion’.To apply this legislation, inexperienced HCI designers can experience difficulties. They would greatly benefit from inclusive design guidelines in order to be able to implement the ‘design for all’ philosophy. In addition, they need clear criteria to avoid negative social and ethical impact on users. This paper analyses the benefits of the use of inclusive design guidelines in order to facilitate a universal design focus so that social exclusion is avoided. In addition, the need for ethical and social guidelines in order to avoid undesirable side effects for users is discussed. Finally, some preliminary examples of socially and ethically aware guidelines are proposed.     

On integration of interface design methods: Can debates be resolved?

There have been many debates on how to design the human–computer interface (HCI). Often, one can find that different views in a debate are simply because these views are attached to different aspects which embody the same thing. In other words, prior to giving an effective judgment of a debate, one needs to establish an understanding of the ‘total’ aspects of a thing the debate is about. Following this line of thinking, in this paper, we propose an understanding of the ‘total’ aspects of designing HCI, which is called the total interface design framework. We then judge several debates under this framework with the purpose of exemplifying the judgment process for any other debate related to designing HCI. At the end, the debates used for exemplifying our judgment process can be resolved. The effectiveness of the total interface design framework for integrating the different HCI approaches is also demonstrated.     

A Case Study in the Specification and Analysis of Design Alternatives for a User Interface

There is considerable interest within the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) community in the use of media spaces to enhance awareness and interaction between workers in offices or other spatially distributed environments. In addition to the technical challenges of providing reliable and efficient audio-visual communication, there are important social questions, in particular how users are able to control access to their personal environments, and how to advise other users about their level of availability. Within AMODEUS-2¹, an ESPRIT Basic Research Action concerned with the development, transfer and assessment of techniques for modelling human-computer interaction, a prototype media space has been analysed by various user and system oriented modelling techniques. This paper describes how formal specification can be used to express requirements on the interfaces needed to control access and availability in a media space. Beyond its obvious use in clarifying the subtle relationship between these concerns, the paper describes how the specification assists in assessing design options originating from other modelling disciplines. Received August 1996 / Accepted in revised form April 1999     

The importance of interface complexity and entropy for online information sharing

In this paper, we describe two experiments that show the powerful influence of interface complexity and entropy on online information-sharing behaviour. One hundred and thirty-four participants were asked to do a creativity test and answer six open questions against three different screen backgrounds of increasing complexity. Our data show that, as an interface becomes more complex and has more entropy users refer less to themselves and show less information-sharing breadth. However, their verbal creativity and information-sharing depth do not suffer in the same way. Instead, an inverse U-shaped relationship between interface complexity and creativity as well as information-sharing depth can be observed: users become more creative and thoughtful until a certain tipping point of interface complexity is reached. At that point, creativity and thinking suffer, leading to significantly less disclosure. This result challenges the general HCI assumption that simplicity is always best for computers’ interface design, as users’ creativity and information-sharing depth initially increases with more interface complexity. Our results suggest that the Yerkes–Dodson Law may be a key theory underlying online creativity and depth of online disclosures.     

Editorial: the evolving partnership between cognitive science and HCI

The theme of this special issue is “The Role of Cognitive Science in Human-Computer Interaction” (HCI). A generally accepted definition states that the main goal of HCI is to advance the design, implementation, and use of interactive computing systems by human beings (ACM, SIGCHI, 1992). Since the current primary use of computers is as tools for acting on and for observing the (information) world, the role of cognitive science-interpreted broadly as an endeavour to understand intelligent behaviour-is, consequently, tied to the questions:• how do our interactions with computing systems affect our representations of the objects that we manipulate?• how does interactions design influence our senses and our actions?• how does using computers to perform tasks transforms our notions of the relationships that exist in the world around us?     

The researcher's dilemma: evaluating trust in computer-mediated communication

The aim of this paper is to establish a methodological foundation for human–computer interaction (HCI) researchers aiming to assess trust between people interacting via computer-mediated communication (CMC) technology. The most popular experimental paradigm currently employed by HCI researchers are social dilemma games based on the Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD), a technique originating from economics. HCI researchers employing this experimental paradigm currently interpret the rate of cooperation—measured in the form of collective pay-off—as the level of trust the technology allows its users to develop. We argue that this interpretation is problematic, since the game's synchronous nature models only very specific trust situations. Furthermore, experiments that are based on PD games cannot model the complexity of how trust is formed in the real world, since they neglect factors such as ability and benevolence. In conclusion, we recommend (a) means of improving social dilemma experiments by using asynchronous Trust Games, (b) collecting a broader range of data (in particular qualitative) and (c) increased use of longitudinal studies.     

The media equation and team formation: Further evidence for experience as a moderator

This study extends previous media equation research, which showed that interdependence but not identity leads to team affiliation effects with computers. The current study used an identity manipulation that more closely replicated the manipulation used in traditional team and group formation research than the original media equation research in this area. The study also sought further evidence for the relationship between experience with computers and behaviour reflecting a media equation pattern of results. Sixty students from the University of Queensland voluntarily participated in the study. Participants were assigned to one of three conditions: control, human team (a team made of only humans) or human–computer team (a team made of computers and humans). Questionnaire measures assessing participants’ affective experience, attitudes and opinions were taken. Participants of high experience with computers, but not low experience, when assigned to either of the team conditions enjoyed the tasks completed on the computer more than participants who worked on their own. When assigned to a team that involved a computer, participants of high experience, but not low experience, reacted negatively towards the computer (in comparison to high experience participants working on their own or on a team without a computer as a team member)—rating the information provided by the computer lower, rating themselves as less influenced by the computer and changing their own ratings and rankings to be less like those of the computer. These results are interpreted in light of the ‘Black Sheep’ literature and recognized as a media equation pattern of results.     

The role of users in interactive systems design: when computers are theatre, do we want the audience to write the script?

User participation in the design process may be an axiom of quality design but in the design of interactive, innovative computer systems, user participation may be neither feasible nor desirable. Here, user centred methodologies miss the point. If computers are a medium rather than a tool, then we need a new design paradigm that recognizes the difference between using a product and experiencing a show. In this paper the role of users in interactive systems design within the context of Multimedia product development is discussed. The main features of Multimedia product development are outlined through reference to an empirical study of two organizations and the role of users in the design process is discussed. Finally a different design paradigm is suggested.     

The Epistemology and Ontology of Human-Computer Interaction

This paper analyzes epistemological and ontological dimensions of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) through an analysis of the functions of computer systems in relation to their users. It is argued that the primary relation between humans and computer systems has historically been epistemic: computers are used as information-processing and problem-solving tools that extend human cognition, thereby creating hybrid cognitive systems consisting of a human processor and an artificial processor that process information in tandem. In this role, computer systems extend human cognition. Next, it is argued that in recent years, the epistemic relation between humans and computers has been supplemented by an ontic relation. Current computer systems are able to simulate virtual and social environments that extend the interactive possibilities found in the physical environment. This type of relationship is primarily ontic, and extends to objects and places that have a virtual ontology. Increasingly, computers are not just information devices, but portals to worlds that we inhabit. The aforementioned epistemic and ontic relationships are unique to information technology and distinguish human-computer relationships from other human-technology relationships.     

Security and human computer interfaces

Computer users are exposed to technology mainly through user interfaces. Most users' perceptions are based on their experience with these interfaces. HCI (human computer interaction) is concerned with these interfaces and how they can be improved. Considerable research has been conducted and major advances have been made in the area of HCI. Information security is becoming increasingly important and more complex as business is conducted electronically. However, state-of-the-art security-related product development has ignored general aspects of HCI. The objective of this paper is to promote and enable security awareness of end-users in their interaction with computer systems. It thus aims to consolidate and integrate the two fields of information security and HCI. HCI as a research discipline is a well developed field of study, and the authors are of the opinion that the use of security technologies can be significantly enhanced by employing proven HCI concepts in the design of these technologies. In order to achieve this, various criteria for a successful HCI in a security-specific environment will be examined. Part of the Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall will be used as a case study and analysed according to these criteria, and recommendations will be made.     

The role of users in interactive systems design: When computers are theatre,do we want the audience to write the script?

User participation in the design process may be an axiom of quality design but in the design of interactive, innovative computer systems, user participation may be neither feasible nor desirable. Here, user centred methodologies miss the point. If computers are a medium rather than a tool, then we need a new design paradigm that recognizes the difference between using a product and experiencing a show. In this paper the role of users in interactive systems design within the context of Multimedia product development is discussed. The main features of Multimedia product development are outlined through reference to an empirical study of two organizations and the role of users in the design process is discussed. Finally a different design paradigm is suggested.     

The moderating role of sensation seeking tendency in robotic haptic interfaces

This study examined the interaction effects between haptic force feedback and users’ sensation seeking tendency (i.e. need for sensations) on users’ feelings of presence (i.e. the state in which users experience virtual objects and virtual environments as if they were actual) in robotic haptic interfaces. Users with low sensation seeking tendency felt stronger physical presence and spatial presence in response to force feedback haptic stimuli (versus no force feedback), whereas users with high sensation seeking tendency did not show any difference between the two conditions, thus confirming the moderating role of the users’ sensation seeking tendency in the robotic haptic interface. Theoretical implications for human–computer interaction (HCI) research and managerial implications for the interactive media market are discussed.     

Citizen Science: New Research Challenges for Human–Computer Interaction

Citizen science broadly describes citizen involvement in science. Citizen science has gained significant momentum in recent years, brought about by widespread availability of smartphones and other Internet and communications technologies (ICT) used for collecting and sharing data. Not only are more projects being launched and more members of the public participating, but more human–computer interaction (HCI) researchers are focusing on the design, development, and use of these tools. Together, citizen science and HCI researchers can leverage each other’s skills to speed up science, accelerate learning, and amplify society’s well-being globally as well as locally. The focus of this article is on HCI and biodiversity citizen science as seen primarily through the lens of research in the author’s laboratory. The article is framed around five topics: community, data, technology, design, and a call to save all species, including ourselves. The article ends with a research agenda that focuses on these areas and identifies productive ways for HCI specialists, science researchers, and citizens to collaborate. In a nutshell, while species are disappearing at an alarming rate, citizen scientists who document species’ distributions help to support conservation and educate the public. HCI researchers can empower citizen scientists to dramatically increase what they do and how they do it.     

Shifting viewpoints: Artificial intelligence and human–computer interaction

The AI and HCI communities have often been characterized as having opposing views of how humans and computers should interact. As both of them evolve, there is a deeper contrast that cuts across these communities, in how researchers conceive the relationship between knowledge and design. By examining the rationalistic and design orientations underlying bodies of work in both disciplines, we highlight relevant differences and possibilities for effective interaction with computers.     

The new HCI? navigation of information space

When we use the term ‘human–computer interaction’ (HCI), the image that is conjured up is of a person sitting at a visual display unit staring in at the world of ‘information’; the person is very much outside the space of information. But when we think of other activities such as going shopping, having a meeting or driving across town, we do not think of the person as outside this space. On the contrary, we see the person as inside a space of activities, surrounded by, and interacting with, assorted artefacts and people. Navigation of Information Space is an alternative conceptualisation of HCI that sees people as existing inside information spaces. Looking at HCI in this way means looking at HCI design as the creation of information spaces. This paper explores these ideas in more detail, arguing that Navigation of Information Space is not just a metaphor for HCI; it is a ‘paradigm shift’. The paper illustrates how Semiotics has informed this conception and discusses why such a paradigm shift is needed.     

Creating a design science of human-computer interaction

An increasingly important task of computer science is to support the analysis and design of computers as things to learn from, as tools to use in one's work, as media for interacting with other people. Human-computer interaction (HCI) is the speciality area that addresses this task. Through the past two decades, HCI has pursued a broad and ambitious scientific agenda, progressively integrating its research concerns with the contexts of system development and use. This has created an unprecedented opportunity to manage the emergence of new technology so as to support socially responsive objectives.