Week 5 – Human-Computer Interaction | WSA Research and Communication Skills

A) Select one example to outline the key concepts of human-computer interaction. Reflect upon the role of the “human”, the “computer” and the “interaction”

Human-computer interaction (HCI) is an area of research and practice that emerged in the early 1980s (interaction-design.org Staff). HCI consists of three parts: the human, the computer and the interaction between the first two. The human is any user or group of users that need to use the computer. The computer is any piece of technology that one can think of. For instance, a tablet, a phone, a desktop, a printer, etc. The human-computer interaction attempts to make sure that both the user (the human) and the computer interact with each other in a successful way. Therefore, HCI is the study of how people interact with computers and to what extent computers are or are not developed for successful interaction with human beings (cs.bham.ac.uk Staff).

The goals of HCI are to produce usable and safe systems, as well as functional systems. 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 (cs.bham.ac.uk Staff). A very simple and conclusive example of good interaction between the human and the computer is, I believe, the earphones. I think that children and maybe even toddlers nowadays know that the earphones jack is meant to be in the phone’s round hole to be able to listen to music. Also, the only buttons that you eventually get are the pause/answer calls one or/and the volume ones. When one sees a pause icon on a button, they will obviously know what that button does. It is the same with the plus/minus icon buttons. It’s very simple to learn that because of the design. I believe that the characteristics that the earphones present make them a usable system and the human-computer interaction is effective.

Earphones

B) Discuss the relationship between games design and human-computer interaction.

I think that most of the games nowadays are quite simple to use because the game designer wants the gamer (the user) to have a great experience while playing the game. Therefore, the game designer chooses to make an accessible game interface for everybody. Sometimes, complicated games may be harder to play since the interface becomes busier and that is where the HCI fails. I believe that when designing a game, the game designers and developers must consider the HCI if they want the game to be enjoyable and more than that, they must consider who they are designing for. The game design is very important in terms of colours, style and theme. In the same manner, a game for children needs to be easier to play than a game for gamers who have been trying and playing games for years.

Consequently, I strongly believe that the human-computer interaction is one of the things game designers must take into consideration before starting to design a game. This way, the gamer (the human) will be able to enjoy the game (the computer) and to efficiently and effectively use it.