Feature: Explaining the Science of HCI to the General Public

Information technology is all around us, whether we like it or not. Those once catchy, but now infuriating, mobile phone ring tones pursue us on the train, down the shops, and even in the bathroom. Our old friend the VCR can still move us to tears when it fails to properly record our favourite TV show. Interactive digital television promises enhanced television viewing, shopping, and banking right from our comfy arm chair, yet only 10% of those with access to interactive digital television actually use these services. Perhaps the not-always-reliable VCR and the new interactive digital television services both suffer from a poor user interface, which frustrates those familiar with technology, and alienates the not-so- tech-savvy.

The HCI Fun project aims to demonstrate to the public how science investigates making information technology more usable. We will be demonstrating, using interactive experiments, why technology is sometimes unusable and why this is not the user's fault. There are a wide range of HCI techniques we could explain, including
* How we find out what users want
* How we go about choosing the right bits of the user interface
* How we test technology with real people
* How making improvements is an ongoing process

In keeping with the spirit of HCI our explanations will be as interactive as possible and show the evolution of our explanations in the light of feedback from the public.

We are developing an interactive HCI science lab, www.hci-fun.org.uk on the Web. Users will explore the Human Factors of common (and not so common) pieces of information technology. A set of three small experiments are being developed so that we can roll out a new experiment every three months to maintain interest in the Web site. The three experiments are based around:
* A space ship, November 2002
* A e-home control panel, February 2003
* A mobile phone ring composer, June 2003

In the first experiment users are taken on a mission (landing or docking a ship) but their user interface is broken in several ways. After the mission they are interactively debriefed about their experience and be presented with ways they could improve the space ship before continuing on the next mission. Thus they can explore such issues as
* Naturalness of dialogue (awkward ways of operating the space ship)
* Use of technical jargon on the screen
* Aspects of design that overload people's working memory
* Inconsistencies in the interface
* Lack of feedback (such as audio-only feedback, limited graphics)
* Slow response times

We are developing the site in conjunction with our partners at ICDC. At this stage we invite members of the HCI community to visit the site and give their feedback on the current development and future direction. We look forward to your participation.

David England and John Wai
School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
Liverpool John Moores University

Associated Link: The HCI Fun site

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