WEBVTT 00:00:02.960 --> 00:00:06.560 I'm guessing the reason you're watching this video   00:00:06.560 --> 00:00:10.080 now at this moment is because you've got  an interest in human-computer interaction.   00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:20.160 However, that doesn't perhaps mean  you know exactly what it is. Maybe you   00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:24.640 just guessed. Or you just think it sounds like a  good idea. So what is human-computer interaction?   00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:29.760 Well, it's got two sides to it. On one side,  there's an academic discipline which is about   00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:35.360 studying the way people interact with technology,  and in particular the computer technology.   00:00:35.360 --> 00:00:40.791 Nowadays, computers are in virtually everything.  It's quite hard sometimes to tell the difference.   00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:46.400 But then there's another side to it, which is the  design discipline and I think probably quite a lot   00:00:46.400 --> 00:00:52.320 of you watching this video will be from a design  side – you're interested in user experience design   00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:58.720 and interaction design. One side of Human-Computer  Interaction is the academic discipline and the   00:00:58.720 --> 00:01:04.880 other is the applied design discipline, which  is about how you create interventions with   00:01:04.880 --> 00:01:10.080 technology that make a difference to people. So,  one side is studying that computer technology   00:01:10.080 --> 00:01:14.000 and how it has an impact on people  – so the way in which it works.   00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:19.440 The other is more about saying that, how do  we practically change that academic study,   00:01:19.440 --> 00:01:25.205 that interesting information we have  about the way people work, into action? 00:01:25.440 --> 00:01:31.280 The two of course interact, so on  one hand the professional experience   00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:37.440 informs the academic discipline. And you'll  probably notice that I use lots of examples,   00:01:37.440 --> 00:01:42.960 some from my own experience, some from  stories I know about from elsewhere.   00:01:42.960 --> 00:01:50.701 I use those from all sorts of times in order  to inform my general understanding. 00:01:50.701 --> 00:01:56.080 Because it works the other way around. The academic  understanding, that more generic understanding,   00:01:56.080 --> 00:02:01.920 feeds back into the design discipline too. So, if  I understand how people interact with individual   00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:08.400 computers, how people interact together in a group  when they're using technology, how environments   00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:13.680 change the way people are – if those environments  have technology in. Then I'll be in a better   00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:20.077 position to be able to design things effectively  for them. So, these two are intermingled. 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:26.160 So, if you want to understand Human-Computer  Interaction, if you want to be part of this, what   00:02:26.160 --> 00:02:34.935 kind of things would I like you to know about?  What would I hope you would learn from studying HCI? 00:02:34.935 --> 00:02:40.640 Well, first of all is bare facts. Facts about  the nature of computers. There's facts about the   00:02:40.640 --> 00:02:47.161 nature of human psychology, physiology – a whole  range of things – social interactions. 00:02:47.161 --> 00:02:54.256 There are facts that you can read in a book, and I've got  my own textbook that I produced on this. 00:02:54.256 --> 00:03:00.160 And there are many, many others. Also on the web there are  vast amounts of material. So, in some sense the   00:03:00.160 --> 00:03:06.960 facts are easy to get and then you will get some  of those. Now hopefully when I talk about   00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:12.791 HCI you get some of those facts. However, perhaps  there are other things which are more important. 00:03:13.920 --> 00:03:20.560 The second thing I hope you learn from HCI  is about analysis. It's about looking at a   00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:26.400 situation and trying to make sense of it:   what's going on there. Because if you understand   00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:30.753 a situation then you can apply the facts to  the situation. 00:03:30.753 --> 00:03:34.065 So, it's about analysis, about picking some things apart. 00:03:34.065 --> 00:03:38.952 Picking the problems  that you're having or picking the opportunities apart. 00:03:38.989 --> 00:03:43.223 And then of course, once you've done that  analysis, together with the facts and knowledge 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:49.120 from that, you can then do a design job. So  you can bring these things together in order   00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:54.488 to synthesize them, in order to create something  that will be a solution to somebody's problem. 00:03:56.240 --> 00:04:00.320 But perhaps more important almost  than all that: obviously you need   00:04:00.320 --> 00:04:07.194 the knowledge side and you need the skills to  do it. But perhaps the most important thing   00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:14.880 within HCI, particularly if you think of it in  terms of moving on into design, is an attitude   00:04:14.880 --> 00:04:22.778 of mind. An attitude that focuses on people that  sees real users, real situations as center place.   00:04:23.440 --> 00:04:27.442 That is seeking to understand people  however different they are from you. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:34.880 And to do things which are good for them and  makes sense in their lives. So, that's sort of what   00:04:34.880 --> 00:04:40.748 our purpose is in a way, particularly as we move  from just studying people to actually saying, 00:04:40.748 --> 00:04:46.142 "How do we design something for them?" So, what kinds of things might you want to know about these? 00:04:46.142 --> 00:04:51.141 And the sort of things I'll often talk about in  this context? 00:04:51.141 --> 00:04:54.388 One set of things is about the basics of design, you know. 00:04:54.388 --> 00:04:57.964 So, this goes from sort of the processes that people use when they're 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:04.080 doing design and you may be using yourself, to  methods of evaluation to understand the nature   00:05:04.080 --> 00:05:06.991 of human experience. 00:05:06.991 --> 00:05:12.345 However, undergirding that  is fundamental, undeniable, underlying knowledge 00:05:12.400 --> 00:05:17.920 and theories. Some of those, particularly  about the human, about human perception,   00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:24.400 cognition, emotion – that also leaks into how  to understand the way computers work as well,   00:05:24.400 --> 00:05:29.795 to the extent that it's important from the  point of view of their interactions with people. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:33.040 And then from a sort of practical point of view,   00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:36.891 you also need to think about and  be aware of the issues that happen   00:05:37.200 --> 00:05:41.920 when systems are implemented. Again, that's partly  about the way they're implemented in the computer,   00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:48.000 but also the way in which they get deployed into  the world. This will vary from place to place,   00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:54.320 but some of the general principles of how you make  sure that this wonderful system that you designed   00:05:54.320 --> 00:06:00.894 actually gets used by people in the real  world and makes a real difference to people.