Book Reading #17: HCI Remixed

Chapter 6
Summary
Henry Lieberman writes about the paper “Pygmalion: A Creative Programming Environment” and the impact it had on him and computer science. Pygmalion, a graphical programming language, was one of the first systems to use icons and drag-and-drop. Lieberman also points out that it introduced the idea of programming by example. He also discusses how, thanks to D. C. Smith – the author of the paper – programming by example is one of Lieberman’s major areas of research. Lieberman also highlights some lessons provided by the paper: Don’t let the big questions scare you; think globally, act locally; hunt for the good stuff, even in out-of-the-way places; teach by example.

Discussion
Lieberman sounds very enthusiastic and appreciative of Smith’s work. I find it really interesting that Smith included so much information about creativity in his thesis, and as Lieberman pointed out, I don’t think it would be well accepted at HCI conferences now.

Chapter 7
Summary
Sara Bly writes about the Xerox Red Book and why it is important to her. She explains how the book had two main categories –  document creation and document management – and outlines three reasons why it is important to her:
1)    the interface was a primary concern
2)    they considered consistency and used it advantageously
3)    it offered a conceptual model
For her it acted as a guide for developing user interfaces and helped her better understand user interface design.

Discussion
I like the way Bly set up the chapter by first listing why it is important to her and then going into greater detail in three different labeled sections. I liked how she pointed out how consistency did not hinder them in their design process and how they managed to use it to their advantage. That’s not always easy to do.

Chapter 9
Summary
Norbert A. Streitz talks about the paper, “The Computer for the 21st Century.” The paper describes how the computer will be so integrated into our society in the 21st century that it will disappear. When Streitz read this paper, it resonated with him, and after seeing and using one of the first ubiquitous computers, he decided to continue the research in that area. He discusses the different steps he took in his research and two forms of disappearance: physical and mental.

Discussion
I’ve got to say that M. Weiser, the author of the paper, was pretty spot-on. I’d say the computer is pretty integrated into our lives. We don’t exactly have computers built into our walls and tables yet, but we definitely don’t look at all computers like computers anymore.
 
Chapter 10
Summary
Anind K. Dey writes about the paper, “The Active Badge Location System” and the first location-based system. In the Active Badge location system people could wear badges that allowed other people to locate them. It also allowed for the receptionists at the office to route phone calls to the phone nearest to the badge-wearer when a call came in for them. Dey praises the work, writing that it “arguably spawned the field of context-aware computing.”

Discussion
This paper describes more ways in which computers can be ubiquitous. The badge system was actually pretty neat. I’m not sure I’d like people being able to follow me everywhere I go at work, but then again I have usually stayed in my office/cubicle most of the time. This would probably be very beneficial in an environment where one moves around a lot.

Chapter 46
Summary
Kate Ehrlich discusses the book, The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction, how influential the book was to her and the model people make in their minds of the computer system. Ehrlich explains how mental models helped developers design their systems and provided a theory of the user’s representation of the computer system. Ehrlich also discusses a particular model called GOMS (standing for goals, operators, methods and selectional rules).

Discussion
I found the last page where Ehrlich brings up some the controversy between psychologists, computer scientists, engineers and designers to be really interesting. I hadn’t considered how the blending that takes place within HCI could cause tension between the different fields. I also like the idea of the mental model. It helps us keep in mind the users that are not as knowledgeable about computers as we are.

Chapter 47
Summary
Gary M. Olson writes about the paper, “The Information Capacity of the Human Motor System in Controlling the Amplitude of Movement,” and how Paul M. Fitts, the author of the paper, had the goal of keeping the characteristics of human behavior in mind when designing equipment. Olson describes Fitts’s law, MT = a + b lg (2A/W) where MT = movement time, a and b are constants, A is the distance of the movement and W is the width of the target. As described in the paper, the law states that “the time it takes to move to a target is a function of the length of the movement and the size of the target. He notes this law because it has led to many interface innovations and because it is a quantitative law rather than qualitative, as many things in HCI are. Olson then outlines several design ideas that come from Fitts’s law.

Discussion
I found the point Olson raised near the beginning of the chapter about how HCI is greatly based on qualitative methods to be an interesting one. I hear and read a lot more about qualitative data than I do quantitative data in regards to HCI.