HCI 2007: HCI – Not as we Know it!

British HCI is twenty-one years old, having grown from its inception at the 1985 conference at the University of East Anglia, through infancy (where it made quite a lot of noise) and its terrible teens (struggling for substantive and methodological independence from its parents), before maturing into an autonomous discipline, ready to make its own way in the world.

At least that’s one way of looking at it. The main theme of the recent HCI 2007 conference was “HCI – not as we know it!”, which darkly hints that British HCI may not be the same creature that saw the light 21 years ago; that it has, perhaps, been led astray or become possessed by an alien force.

Rather than the negative connation of alien possession, however, the theme might better be taken to reflect how British HCI has not merely matured into adulthood but is now an evolving life-form that is adapting to meet the many emerging research challenges within the contemporary landscape of interaction design. Central amongst the changing contexts of current HCI research are the realms of mobile, virtual and everyday interaction that are far removed from the focus on static, desktop-based interaction that prevailed at the inaugural conference.

Papers demonstrating this evolution appeared in a strand entitled ‘Creative and Aesthetic experiences’, beginning with Sheridan et al. who described a framework for characterising people’s behaviour with Digital Live Art. With an emphasis on the intriguing concept of our ‘witting participation’ in live performance and play, the presenters exemplifed this framework through an exploration of people’s interaction with a digitally-based variant of an ancient Maori art form (poi).

An even more unusual paper was given by Eales and Perera , who focused on uncovering insights for the development of creativity support tools. This involved the detailed observation of the creative practices of two artists whose work straddles the digital-atomic border, not only manipulating paint atoms but also manipulating digital bits.

Finally, focusing in on “Usability – not as we know it”, Paula Alexandra Silva & Alan Dix attempted to explain how YouTube, arguably the Internet success story of 2006, when subjected to conventional usability evaluation appears to fail miserably. With this and other social Web services, they suggest, the objective of the user is fun, uncertainty, engagement and self-expression. Web2.0 has turned the passive 'user' into an active producer of content and shaper of the ultimate user experience. This more playful, more participative, often joyful use of technology appears to conflict with conventional usability, but the presenters argue that a deeper 'usability' emerges that respects the user's intentions when acting as that playful creature, homo ludens.

HCI appears to have become a very broad umbrella indeed. Is this a good thing, or does it imply a lack of focus? For some disciplines it would be a negative development, but consider this: today we are researching and implementing technologies which simply did not exist, as little as three years ago. To do so, we have to expand, accommodate and explore, allowing disciplines beneath that HCI umbrella to expand into more fully formed areas without compromising their essential focus on the human. It means things are changing, fast, and we can either stagnate, or boldly go.

Beam me up, Editor.

Associated Link: HCI 2007

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