HCi

In this report I will be explaining what HCi is, what it means, the future and history
of HCI, the impact of HCi on the economy, on culture, on society, and how HCi
devices or HCi overall can be improved.

What does HCi mean?

What is it used for?
HCi stands for Human-computer Interaction; is the area of study with computers
that help people interact with; to what extent computer systems can interact with
humans, and what potential changes it needs to have a successful interaction. HCi
products are used to support and fulfill human interaction with computers, they are
applied to several different types of computer systems, some of these include air
traffic control, nuclear processing, offices and computer gaming, etc.

The past, present and future of HCi

One of the very first Human-computer interactions were Semen Korsakov's punched
cards, which were first used in approximately 1725 to control textile looms in
France. These punched cards were then updated by Herman Hollerith which were
used in 1890 for the US census. in 1964 the EBCDIC character set was born, which
was a 80 column punched card of its type widely used throughout the 20th century.
This technology is still applicable today, and is widely used in the engineering field
specifically in the aperture card, which is used for drawings from engineering
disciples.
Another chapter of the history of Computer Interface Technology is the light pen,
which was created in 1952 in the whirlwind project at MIT. The light pen was a lightsensitive wand used in association with the computer's CRT display. It was used on
graphics and text=only terminals, yet the number of people using light pens had
decreased by the early 1980's. The stylus was a concept of the light pen, which is
commonly used for tablets, phones, or any other touchscreen devices.
By 1952 the trackball was also invented by Ralph Benjamin, for radar plotting, Yet
the trackball itself was built by Kenyon Taylor for the Royal Canadian Navy. The
apple pippin gamepad created in 1995 also used a trackball to navigate. The last
seen trackball was in the old blackberry mobile phones which were created before
2010 such as the Blackberry 9000 Bold.
MS-DOS had come around by the 1970's and 1980's, other than this there was also
CP/M, Unix, and Apple-DOS. These Operating Systems came in the subset of a

Command Line Interface or CLI. But due to latest and modern technology CLI is used
more and more rarely in comparison to Graphical User Interfaces, which are more
easier to use, and are explained below.
The Graphical User Interface or GUI, was invented by Douglas Engelbart at the SRI,
or Stanford Research Institute. GUI was then updated and used additionally at
Xerox, after which the Xerox Alto was developed and was the first device to have
used a GUI. In 1963 Ivan Sutherland developed a feature for the GUI, which was the
cursor-based system called sketchpad, which has been upgraded and upgraded to
what we are using today.
The latest technology which we will see sometime in the future is the NUI or Natural
User Interface, which uses natural interaction with the real world rather than an
alternative to CLI or GUI. An example of some upcoming and currently being
developed or concept ideas include Microsoft PixelSense, Organic User Interfaces,
Projected Interfaces, etc.

Impact of HCi on society

The main impact of HCi on society is the increasingly easier and easier use of
technological devices for a variety of people. Modern computers running Graphical
User Interfaces do not require any type of experience or training to use in
comparison to Command Line Interfaces. Usually most devices are designed with
ease of use in mind such as phones, tablets, computers, televisions, etc.
The most common thing which has gained most popularity are touchscreen
interfaces, touchscreens have become portable and very common, due to the ease
of access. Another example which has gained popularity and taken off is voice
recognition, one of the most used apps on apple iPhones, iMacs, iBooks, etc, is Siri,
as it is easier to use than touchscreen in the way that, rather than typing something
you can say it directly into the mic and it will convert audio into words. The three
biggest mobile phone and technological device companies all have voice
recognition application, for Apple there is Siri, as for Samsung there is S-Voice, and
for Windows there is Cortana. Another huge impact which HCi has had on society is
the addition of specialised interfaces created and altered to help people with sight
and speech problems.
Such as the SuperNova, Lunar and Dolphin Softwares for the visually impaired, in
which it is possible to alter the appearance of screen display, e.g. a larger font size,
or different colours, if colours blind. Another feature is magnification, which enlarges
what is on the screen. The software also helps by keeping track of time and events
on screen continuing to alert eh user. In addition to this there is a range of special
electronic equipment designed for people with visual impairment, such as portable
Braille computers and Braille input output devices for standard computers. Another
feature for the specialised interfaces is also voice recognition, or using a narrator, in

which the computer can use speech to read screen content giving blind and
impaired users access.

Impact of HCi on economy

I think the main impact of HCi on economy is the increasingly developing and easier
to use interfaces for all types of different people, whereas many people were not
able to use CLI, GUI is designed by looking at more easier options to control for the
user. One of the points are that impaired people of any sort, whether that be
suffering from paralysis, visually impaired, blind, deaf, have broken bones, etc; they
are now able to download softwares suited to their needs and rather than going out
to buy groceries there are more than many stores online which can deliver to
homes, workplaces, etc. But I believe there are negative sides to how much of an
impact there has been to the economy through HCi, such as the loss of jobs in
places such as CD creating companies, because instead of actually going to an
album store or music store to buy music CDs you can download them online for
free, it also allows you to get stuff you wouldn't necessarily have access to.
The productivity of an individual is a main contributor to ultimately increase the
profit of a company. The more productive the individual or the workforce, the more
positive impact there is on the economy. Speeding inputs up allows the user to get
more information to increase the speed of the computer system therefore they
would complete tasks quicker and move on to other tasks; increasing the
productivity of the individual. Another example of how HCi has increased the
productivity of individuals is functional peripheral devices, for example a more
comfortable and perceptive keyboard and mouse; if the individual can use all the
functions of the mouse and keyboard efficiently, he would be able to input what is
needed a lot more productively and thus increase his output for the company. The
productivity increase helps the company with costs, increasing its profitability and
positively affecting the economy.
With the invention and development of electronic and technological devices such as
mobile phones, we are able to communicate and input data portably without a
power source, and thus we can use internet when travelling. Which allows us to
work when not in the workplace, increasing our productivity, as no time is lost to
input data into computer systems. This shows that HCi increases productivity per
individual, and technology speeds up our work.
HCi has reduced the complexity of technology alot, as it is a main aim when
designing any technological devices.An example of this is the increasingly
developing technology in automobiles should remain simple so the user can use it
whilst driving, many automobile manufacturers have added buttons to change the
radio channel on the steering wheel, thus the driver doesn't need to be distracted
from driving whilst tuning the radio station; This has impacted the economy as
automobile drivers are able to carry out tasks which would have been too

dangerous before such as making phone calls, increasing their individual

productivity consecutively impacting the economy and making the company more
profitable.
Through HCi varied working environments have been creating, meaning people can
work away from the office due to technology, and can therefore do work shifts and
home and remote working through: mobile phones, mobile communications, PDA,
portable devices, wireless internet, video conferencing, etc. Due to remote internet
access companies find it easier to connect to networks at home, you can also text
and email instead of speaking to confirm schedules. PDA's have replaced diaries
and paper, and are more easier to use and organise.
The last impact on economy through HCi I will be explaining is increased
automation. Increased automation in workplaces and factories have reduced
individual output by humans, and has installed more ingenious input devices such
as computer systems. This has affected the economy in the way that increasingly
more employees are being alternated for automated machines, and less money is
being spent to train workers; this means as time goes by there will be less and less
jobs available, and the unemployment rate will drastically increase, other than this
companies will save money as they wouldn't have to pay wages to employees, and
thus the company goods and products will be cheaper to buy.

Impact of HCi on culture

One of the first impacts that HCi has had on culture which I will be explaining, is the
change in the way people use computer systems, other technological devices,
mobile phones, and domestic appliances. Laptops, Tablets, and other portable
devices allow people to use internet wherever they are, this is has had a huge
impact on culture globally, as it allows people to gain information on other cultures,
cuisines, countries, religions, languages, etc. One of the most widely spread
services free to download on your mobile or other device is google translate, which
is an internet software which allows you to translate from one language to the
other, extract text from images and convert it into different languages, etc.
Entertainment which is available on mobile devices such as games, music, videos,
films, etc has impacted culture by allowing individuals to watch documentaries and
research other cultures, religions, all mentioned previously, etc. Mobile phones have
also impacted culture in the way that they have brought global communication to
an individual, and have allowed communication by sending texts, emails, or video
calls, and normal calls. Mobile phones can be used to access internet, and thus
social media sites, such as facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc.
The psychological and sociological impacts of HCi on culture are very positive as
many different places are inventing automated machines such as robots to help
build new things; e.g. newspaper factories, have started to print alot more

newspapers as they used to without machines, and are able to make mass amounts
of newspapers in short amounts of time. New machines are being invented or
researched daily, such as carpentry machines, to create tables, chairs and other
furniture. This also means people aren't needed for jobs, in the short term is
expensive but a huge advantage in the long term.

Impact of HCi on me
HCi has affected me alot, coming from a middle-class family and with parents
having never used computers before, we got our first Computer when I was 9 years
old, in 2006. Due to being the only sibling in the country and only having windows
95, with a dial-up connection, I was sucked into the computer world, and had
explored half the world by the time I was 9. By 2007, my knowledge of computers
had risen, we had a better computer with windows XP, and a hell of a lot better
Graphical User Interface. I was intrigued by the world of the computer, and unlike
many children in primary school I was very socially anxious and awkward, as a
Computer Science student would be. As the years went by, I upgraded from phone
to phone, after using infrared to transfer .mp3 files, to bluetooth, to samsung
phones, and iPhones, to tablets and laptops. I am now able to connect to internet
wherever I am through data connection on my mobile phone, to literally nearly
every shop or shopping mall having a WiFi connection. I am completely indulged in
HCi, and I dont know what would be possible without it. As losing a phone or
battery running out, stops me from communicating to the world, I would love to see
and research developing technology as it comes. I believe HCi has solely molded me
as a person.

Improving usability and user friendliness in domestic appliances

HCi development was restricted by hardware, as users were required to type in
mass amounts of code into the computer just to log in. The Commodore 64, which
was a mid 1980's HCi is an example of restricting hardware, at the time no
Graphical User Interface requesting username and password existed, another
example is the BBC B Micro. Amstrad, and others competing for market share during
the 1980's.
Modern electrical domestic appliances have several new features, as their interfaces
are updated often; the new features allow users to do many things, yet some people
may find it hard getting used to the user interfaces. People of all ages, cultures, and
abilities, should be able to get the advantage of new technologies. One of the ways
to get a vast amount of different people to explore and get used to these features is
by inputting a new user interface into their daily lives and design easier to use
products. To improve usability for domestic appliances or softwares you should run
tests for users, and let them solve any issues on their own rather than by helping
them or directing their attention to therefore contaminating the test results. You will
also need to identify the problems for domestic appliances and/or softwares to

improve user friendliness and usability, rather than running a huge and costing
study, you could run several minimal tests to fix flaws as you identify them.

Improving usability and user friendliness in softwares

The key to improving the usability and user friendliness of softwares is to design a
more usable software application and understand how people use it from day to day
in their working environment. A company called 'System Concepts' recently
designed an interface for specialist industrial equipment pieces, in which they had
to understand coexisting demands, environmental factors such as lighting, etc. The
previous are crucial features to design a usable system. Another point is to
understand the users' needs, for example you could try their job yourself, get a
team together for a productive workshop, just to get a better feel or understanding
of what you are going to design and what purpose it will carry out. Another vital
step is to test everything; you may or may not get everything right at the first
attempt, but just like increasing the usability and user friendliness for domestic
appliances, the same thing is needed for softwares.

Potential future development of HCi

The potential HCi development I am going to pick is a new concept, which could be
potentially life-changing. The holo-ring, which is as you can tell by the name a ring
which projects a hologram, this hologram could potentially be like google glass, but
rather than being so noticeable, it could be a small unnoticeable ring on your finger
applicable with whatever type of clothing youre wearing, coming in different styles
for males, females, young or old, etc.
The holo-ring could connect to closest WiFi and project a wide screen, in which you
could either press the holographic buttons, or even have a small single eyed
wireless visor, in which again rather than being noticeable like the google glass, you
could place inside your retina to navigate around with the hologram. The way this
could affect society is, it would be easier to use and bring out, there wouldnt be
heavy weight in your pocket or the feeling if you have lost your phone, it would
rather be a small unnoticeable weight on one of your fingers. This could make it
easier for the elderly to use, rather than mobile phones, or other technological
devices, it would be completely portable and could be used for businesses, and
companies; therefore increasing the productivity per individual and thus affecting
the economy in a positive manner. Other than this you would have the information
of other cultures and sorts literally at the tip of your fingers, therefore impacting
culture through HCi.

References
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Task Two assignment brief:

This will be split into two tasks, how great is that? Within this task, you
will have to produce designs, documentation, a completed project
and testing of two computer programs that possess both an input and
an output. Lucky devils.
The first project is a simple calculator that is written in Objective-C for
a mobile device. This will implement specific iPhone interaction tools;
these include an application menu, the ability to change the apps
orientation amongst others. Have a thing about what else are specific
to iPhone and smartphones that could be classed as an interaction
tool.
You will need to explain the main three principles of Human Computer
Interaction design..
Perception, Behaviour models & information processing. The second
part, you have two designs that you need. You need to have all of your
designs detailed.. You also need to use a variety of techniques. You
have to include your constants, variables, controls and other data
dictionary elements within your design.
Also, using one of your designs you should:
Explain
,
using
examples
, how it could be adapted to meet a
specialist
need
. You may be given a specific set of requirements
by your tutor. An example would be for a visually impaired user
who is unable to use a mouse the design would require adapting
for a touchscreen (rather than mouse/keyboard)

Explain
the fundamental principles that you have
applied
to your
own designs. You should also explain why alternative designs
ideas were rejected.

Explain design principles used in each of the created HCIs /

examples provided. Use screenshots and/or copies of the
designs along with explanations and annotations as evidence for
this