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“I highly recommend the Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction [...] the breadth and depth of the invited contributions are quite impressive [...] all with highly qualified authorities as authors
-- From Don Norman's review

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We produce world-class educational materials by elite professors and elite designers. And give them to you for free.

We think you deserve free access to materials written by the world's foremost authorities - worth thousands of dollars - whether you are from New York or New Delhi. In fact, we wrote a mission statement about what we want to continue to do for you and the rest of the world.

In short, we do it as a labour of love and because we know you will help us in return!

Featured chapter

Google's founder Sergey Brin is a fan of our author, Steve Mann. Steve is the father of wearable computing.

Read Steve's chapter

Encyclopedia Chapters (so far)

1. Interaction Design

by Jonas Lowgren

2. Human Computer Interaction (HCI)

by John M. Carroll

3. User Experience and Experience Design

by Marc Hassenzahl

4. Social Computing

by Thomas Erickson

5. Visual Representation

by Alan Blackwell

6. Data Visualization for Human Perception

by Stephen Few

7. Bifocal Display

by Robert Spence & Mark Apperley

8. Contextual Design

by Karen Holtzblatt & Hugh R. Beyer

9. Action Research

by Ned Kock

10. End-User Development

by Margaret M. Burnett & Christopher Scaffidi

11. Philosophy of Interaction

by Dag Svanaes

12. Affective Computing

by Kristina Höök

13. Requirements Engineering

by Alistair G. Sutcliffe

14. Context-Aware Computing

by Albrecht Schmidt

15. Usability Evaluation

by Gilbert Cockton

16. Activity Theory

by Victor Kaptelinin

17. Disruptive Innovation

by Clayton M. Christensen

18. Open User Innovation

by Eric von Hippel

19. Visual Aesthetics

by Noam Tractinsky

21. Somaesthetics

by Richard Shusterman

22. Card Sorting

by William Hudson

23. Wearable Computing

by Steve Mann

25. Semiotics

by Clarisse Sieckenius de Souza

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Our TV station

Here is a preview from our upcoming TV Station. We're very close to being able to launch.

Affective Computing video 2: Main Guidelines and Future Directions

by Rikke Friis Dam and Mads Soegaard. How to cite in your report.

Affective Computing video 2 - Main Guidelines and Future Directions.

Design for the Disabled

by Donald A. Norman. How to cite in your report.

Video: Don Norman talks about designing for the disabled. Vintage video from 1994 - still highly relevant today.

Conceptual Models of Fle Systems

by Donald A. Norman. How to cite in your report.

Video: Don Norman explains conceptual models of file system software. Vintage video from 1994 - still highly relevant today.

Social Computing video 7 - How to integrate Social Computing in the Enterprise

by Rikke Friis Dam and Mads Soegaard. How to cite in your report.

Social Computing video 7 - How to integrate Social Computing in the Enterprise.

Conference Calendar

May 21

The 6th Intl. ICST Conf. on Pervasive Computing Techn. for Healthcare
1 February 2012: Paper submission deadline
See pervasivehealth.org

May 21

AVI '12 - Intl. Working Conf. on Advanced User Interfaces
21 December 2011: Paper abstract submission deadline
28 December 2012: Paper submission deadline
See avi2012.it

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Quote of the Day

May 16

“ Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. ”

-- Antoine de Saint Exupéry

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The Wiki Bibliography

Latest additons:

Gallagher, Shaun (2007): Social cognition and social robots. In Social Cognition, 3 (3) pp. 435-453.

“Social robots are robots designed to interact with humans or with each other in ways that approximate human social interaction. It seems clear that one question relevant to the project of designing such robots concerns how humans themselves interact to achieve social understanding. If we turn to psychology, philosophy, or the cognitive sciences in general, we find two models of social cognition vying for dominance under the heading of theory of mind: theory theory (TT) and simulation theory (ST). It is therefore natural and interesting to ask how a TT design for a social robot would differ from the ST version. I think that a much more critical question is whether either TT or ST provide an adequate explanation of social cognition. There is a growing although still minority consensus that, despite their dominance in the debate about social cognition, neither TT nor ST, nor some hybrid version of these theories, offers an acceptable account of how we encounter and interact with one another. In this paper I will give a brief review of the theory of mind debate, outline an alternative theory of social cognition based on an embodied interactive approach, and then try to draw out a few implications about social robotics. ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR Copyright of Pragmatics&Cognition is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s)”

Wheeler, Michael (2005): Reconstructing the Cognitive World: The Next Step (Bradford Books). The MIT Press

“In Reconstructing the Cognitive World, Michael Wheeler argues that we should turn away from the generically Cartesian philosophical foundations of much contemporary cognitive science research and proposes instead a Heideggerian approach. Wheeler begins with an interpretation of Descartes. He defines Cartesian psychology as a conceptual framework of explanatory principles and shows how each of these principles is part of the deep assumptions of orthodox cognitive science (both classical and connectionist). Wheeler then turns to Heidegger's radically non-Cartesian account of everyday cognition, which, he argues, can be used to articulate the philosophical foundations of a genuinely non-Cartesian cognitive science. Finding that Heidegger's critique of Cartesian thinking falls short, even when supported by Hubert Dreyfus's influential critique of orthodox artificial intelligence, Wheeler suggests a new Heideggerian approach. He points to recent research in "embodied-embedded" cognitive science and proposes a Heideggerian framework to identify, amplify, and clarify the underlying philosophical foundations of this new work. He focuses much of his investigation on recent work in artificial intelligence-oriented robotics, discussing, among other topics, the nature and status of representational explanation, and whether (and to what extent) cognition is computation rather than a noncomputational phenomenon best described in the language of dynamical systems theory. Wheeler's argument draws on analytic philosophy, continental philosophy, and empirical work to "reconstruct" the philosophical foundations of cognitive science in a time of a fundamental shift away from a generically Cartesian approach. His analysis demonstrates that Heideggerian continental philosophy and naturalistic cognitive science need not be mutually exclusive and shows further that a Heideggerian framework can act as the "conceptual glue" for new work in cognitive science.”

Our news feed

Mar 21

New chapter: Context-Aware Computing
New Chapter on Context-Aware Computing - out now ! http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/context-aware_computing.html .
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Mar 07

New additions: Disruptive Innovation and Affective Computing - Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction
Dear all, We've hit a major milestone with our free educational materials: Our newest chapter is written by NY Times bestseller and Harvard Professor, Clayton Christensen. Also, Don Norman has written a lengthy commentary on Clayton's chapter, starting with the statement: 'Anyone who cares about innovation must read Clayton Christensen.' Indeed, Clayton is consistently acknowledged as one of the world's leading thinkers on innovation and we're delighted that he has contributed to our free encyclopedia. Also, we recently published a chapter by Kia Hook with on Affect and Emotion: Affective Computing, Affective Interaction and Technology as Experience. It featured 4 lengthy commentaries by some notable people, for example Rosalind Picard from MIT. We would *love* if you posted a short note on your blog/website about any of our chapters. You can see the two new chapters at: http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/ Again, thanks for helping us give everyone around the world free access to educational materials written by the world's foremost authorities! On behalf of the team behind Interaction-Design.org /mads .
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