Understanding the HCI ethos

Before we dive deep into the HCI ethos, you must dive into your interests in the interactions between humans and computers, which starts with some self-reflection. HCI requires a lot of personal interest and fortitude to keep learning. I recommend you dig deep as we grow our HCI skills. 

Challenge 5 – Questions refresher

Setup:

Get out a sheet of paper or create a Google doc/Word doc.

Part 1: Write down these questions:

Add each question to your page:

• Why do you love computers?
• Where have you already started digging into your HCI sandbox?
• Where do you want to start digging?
• Why do you want to grow your HCI skills?
• What do you want to get out of joining the HCI community?
• Where are you in your HCI journey (beginning growth, middle expansion growth, or end maintaining growth)?

Part 2: Answer each question:

Write a short answer to each question.

Now that you have some questions to ask yourself throughout your HCI journey, let's discuss why HCI matters. HCI is the practice of designing computer technology, focusing on the interaction between humans and computers. 

Between 2019 to 2020, US adults spent an average of 3+ hours on their devices or small computers a day (https://www.emarketer.com/content/us-time-spent-with-mobile-2019). This is close to 10 percent of a 24-hour day. Given that humans need to sleep, we can assume that they were only using their computer during waking hours, which is on average 16 hours, taking into account a normal 8 hours a night of sleep, and so the amount of time spent on their phones alone came close to 20 percent of their waking hours using a phone interface. Smartphone computer usage has a staggering average: 3 hrs 35 mins/day, which is equal to 1,291 hrs 22 mins a year:

Over a lifetime, the amount of time a user spends on their computers working, playing games, or scrolling through Instagram might make your stomach turn. The prevalence of computers plus the massive scale of devices has driven down the cost of computer hardware, as well as exploded the market for software. As the price has gotten cheaper, the access has gone up. According to Worldometer (https://www.worldometers.info/computers/), in 2015, we reached 2 billion personal computers. The ability for 2 billion people to use computers is a product of HCI designers making software worthy of users' attention and helps them solve problems, communicate, and operate in the modern world, as well as is representative of the intrinsic human value that technology creates.

The heart of HCI technology

As computers have rapidly moved into existence, so has the care we should be taking in building software for our users, which is at the heart of HCI. There are three major factors that an HCI designer should consider when designing software, websites, or products.

Let's cover the three primary considerations: 

• Usability factors
  
• Accessibility factors
• Time-on-task factors

Usability factor

Usability is related to the ease of use of a product or website. Designing products, interfaces, or software that are usable or unusable is a spectrum. Usability is typically scored and based on a set of software design features based on a set of human-centered tasks. The useability of a software product can only be defined together with the context of the user. Usability has to determine what a user wants to do in their environment. Testing users is the only way to determine the level of usability for a design solution. 

For an official definition of usability, refer to the official ISO 9241-11 definition (https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:9241:-11:en).

Accessibility factor

Accessibility as a factor defines how a software product can be used by the widest audience possible in the widest set of environments possible. HCI designers should design software solutions that accommodate the needs of all potential users in all scenarios. Accessibility (https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/accessibility) is not only closely aligned with people who have a disability, such as color-blindness (affecting 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women, ~4.5% of the entire population) or physical disabilities (1 in 4 adults in the United States, or ~26% of the entire population) but also encompasses anyone facing physical barriers, such as being forced to multitask or using a screen outdoors. The UX/UI Möbius strip is a continuum of usability and accessibility considerations as we design solutions for people:

The Möbius strip (https://www.math.hmc.edu/~gu/curves_and_surfaces/surfaces/moebius.html) is a unique shape—it can be constructed by cutting a long strip of paper, putting a half twist in it, and gluing the ends of the strip together. The resulting object has one continuous shape; if you were to take your finger and draw along the flat space of the strip, your finger would touch both sides of the paper and loop around. It is quite a simple shape that is continuous, just like usability and accessibility. A product that is usable but not accessible ignores the totality of the humans that can be affected by not considering their accessibility needs. Throughout this book, in order to avoid having to always write usable and accessible together, we need to understand that these terms are connected, and if we say something is usable, we include the accessibility factor.

For example, if we test a software solution for its usability, then, of course, accessibility to part of that test. A product, service, or interface that is not accessible is not usable. 

Usability and accessibility are cornerstones in Universal Design (http://universaldesign.ie/What-is-Universal-Design/), a goal of HCI solutions. There are many books and articles on Universal Design, but the main idea is that a designer should consider the diverse needs and abilities of their users throughout the design process. Universal Design creates products, services, and environments that meet users' needs.

Time-on-task factor 

A unique factor for any computer is time. Time is a function of the required user task plus the context/interface plus the environment. For example, if the job is to fill out a form to receive information about a product, then time is defined by how long it takes your user to complete the form successfully. The form completion then needs to be understood on which modality—smartwatch, mobile phone, tablet, computer, smart TV, smart speaker, and so on—along with the time of day and under which environment. Concentrating on time requires HCI to deeply understand our users and respect their time when designing solutions.

Because not all tasks require the same time, it is essential for HCI designers to understand the job that is being done by the user before evaluating the time required to accomplish the desired task. Time is an important factor in determining the usability of a software solution. If an HCI designer values their users' time, they will design solutions that use up the appropriate amount of time to solve a problem.

The user has time expectations and the software system has time requirements. For example, search in a web browser for the Google search engine. The time it takes a user to type/speak the search item and hit Google search is relatively small. This request activates the system time requirements by the Google search engine, which has to receive the "query," parse the content, cross-reference it between keywords, and then return a list of content related to the search query back to your web browser. Hopefully, this is also fast, but system time requirements are reliant on communication speeds and internet connectivity. The time required by the system is interconnected to other systems that supply the software data and thus impacts the time expectations of a user. When an HCI designer considers time-on-task, they should consider the entire software and technology system in order to deliver the best user experience. 

The holy trinity (mirepoix) of HCI

HCI skills are linked to these three factors, and we will be using them throughout our process in growing our HCI skills. If you like to cook, you can think of usability/accessibility/time-on-task like the mirepoix of HCI. Mirepoix (https://www.marthastewart.com/268585/mirepoix), the holy trinity of cooking, is the combination of carrots, onions, and celery, for those you that don't know your French cuisine. The mirepoix of cooking is translatable to the mirepoix of HCI:

A wide variety of dishes, stocks, soups, stews, and sauces use the combination of these three ingredients for their flavor base. Usability/accessibility/time-on-task is also at the core of all HCI solutions and, like mirepoix, make all sorts of user interfaces, products, services, websites, and software better.   

The ability to use and improve your root HCI skills is essential as all the professions that stem from HCI hold these skills necessary. The occupations that utilize HCI skills when designing and building computer technology are multidisciplinary. The explosion of technology systems, the internet, and application services has resulted in tons of demand for people who can execute software and web solutions.

Some HCI professions

It is required that those working in professions that use HCI skills are experts in usability/accessibility/time-on-task; otherwise, they would be producing solutions that are not used by their users. The HCI profession opportunities that stem from HCI skills include the following:

This can be further explained with the following list:

• User experience designer (my background): Research and design products and services using a design process that places user satisfaction with a product at the center. A UX designer improves the end-to-end experience of a product by considering the usability, accessibility, and desirability of a solution. Includes other user experience professions, such as service design, learning experience, user-centered research, user strategy, UX writing, and so on.
• User interface designer (designer/frontend engineering): Design and invent user interfaces for software, machines, and digital products. The goal of user interface design is to make the user's interaction as efficient and straightforward as possible, in terms of accomplishing user goals within an HCD. Includes other user interface professions, such as visual design, graphic design, content strategy, UI copywriting, branding, and so on.

• Information architect: Design and research structural information solutions. Utilizing the art and science of organizing and labeling information content. Information architecture applies architecture design principles to the structure, logic, and content of our digital landscape to support usability and findability. Includes other information architecture professions, such as system architecture, information strategy, information security analyst, and so on.
• Interaction designer: Design and invent interactive digital products, environments, and services through the consideration of human behavior, environments, and technology. Interaction design applies a broader consideration, exploring how a user might interact, including human-to-human interaction as well as HCI. Includes other interaction designer professions, such as prototyper, interaction strategy, sociology, psychology, and so on.
• Human factors/usability engineering: Research and design software using psychological and physiological principles of engineering. The goal of human factors is to reduce human error, increase productivity, and enhance safety and comfort, with a specific focus on the interaction between the human and the thing of interest. Includes other human factors/usability professions, such as ethnography, anthropology, material science, architecture, and so on.
• Computer science engineering: Design and code as they apply the principles of software engineering to computer software. Includes other computer science professions, such as network administer, SEO specialist, information technologist, computer network architect, and so on.
• Artificial intelligence engineering: Use the advances in artificial intelligence programming systems to design human-inspired artificial intelligence software from cognitive and emotional intelligence and understanding human emotions into software systems. Includes other artificial intelligence engineering professions, such as machine learning specialists, language/semiotic, data scientists, business intelligence developers, and so on.
• Web designers/developers (frontend/backend/applications): A programmer who specializes in the development of internet software solutions using a client-server model. The applications typically use HTML/CSS and JavaScript. Includes other developer professions, such as webmaster, frontend (FE) development, backend (BE) development, full-stack developer, solutions architect, and so on.

Of course, these are many more roles, and some that have not yet been invented that will continue to rely on the HCI skillset to address the needs of a rapidly changing technological world.

At this point, you may not know where in the HCI sandbox you fall, and that is okay. I know many professionals that are uncomfortable with labeling themselves as well. They possess the HCI ethos but at the same time, don't want to get pigeonholed. If you are brand new to HCI, this is an excellent opportunity for you to consume all the HCI skills equally and start to identify what fits you best. If you already have some HCI experience, reviewing and adding to your skills is equally important and might help you deeper identify which profession in HCI you should be focusing on. During the process of this book, if you have a unique aptitude for a specific skill or activity of the HCI design process, make a personal note, as that helps drive your future learning, and gives you an idea of which HCI topics you would like to pursue deeper. Before we move on, let's do some self-reflection.

Challenge 6 – Profession of interest

Setup:

Get a sheet of paper or create a Google doc.

Part 1: Professional interest:

1. Write down the profession(s) you are most interested in.
2. Write down the profession(s) you are least interested in.

Part 2: Answer why:

Write down why you are interested or not interested in these HCI professions.

Because of the large number of professions in HCI, there is a lot of ground to cover, and even more to consume to be knowledgeable in HCI, and knowing what resonates with you is vital for future decisions.

HCI is the study of how humans interface with computers. Computers have gotten more sophisticated, smaller, faster, and much more powerful over time, which is part of the reason why HCI and professionals (such as yourself) are trying to grasp, understand, and hopefully design better. In the past, HCI focused on the desktop computer and the interaction paradigm of the mouse and keyboard. Other paradigms exist and will be discussed throughout this book.

The reality is that we have all used software that is frustrating, encountered a web page where we couldn't complete a task, or used an application that made you say out loud "Why does it work like this?! No?! Is that just me?". As the author, I am relying on the fact that a big part of why you have picked up this book is because you too have found yourself in this position, and now you want to do something about it.

Challenge 7 – Software naming and shaming

Setup:

Create a new Google Doc.

Part 1: Bad software experiences:

1. Write down any software experience that was memorably bad. 
2. What was the last interface that annoyed you?
3. Why was it so bad, and how did it make you feel?

Part 2: Share the bad software experience:

Share your bad memories with friends, colleagues, or on social media.

Recognizing that the world is not perfect and the computer is not complete, is precisely where you should be. You have identified a problem like a teenager with a pimple on their nose, and it is less important to point out the problem and more important to go about cleaning up the factors that led to the problem in the first place.  

At its core, we use our understanding of computers, design, and interaction to solve human problems first. The H comes first for a reason. Designing solutions for human beings is at the center of all HCI thinking, and we want to design for everyone the best we can. Humans want usable solutions (usability), and we want as many people as possible to use our solutions (accessibility) so that they can accomplish their tasks (time-on-task) and hopefully repeat the process and share its value with more and more users. We are repeating the cycle and value for HCI designers to solve software solutions. 

The process starts with understanding humans, and a big question to ask is "What do users (humans) need?".

Human needs come first. This is an essential ethos in HCI and HCD. Our ability to relate why a computer can help a user with their needs is connected deeply with understanding their needs first. Users are our primary responsibility, and we want to make sure we know them deeply before relying on the computer to solve their problems. To give us a starting place for thinking about users' needs, let's document some needs to start. 

Challenge 8 – Human needs identification table

Setup:

• Create a Google doc with a table for listing human needs.

Part 1: Human needs: 

1. Set a timer for 10 mins.
2. Write down as many human needs you can think of.
   

Part 2: Human needs from the computer:

1. Set a timer for 5 mins.
2. Write down as many human needs from a computer. 
   

An example of what your human needs table might look like is as follows:

Some human needs are enormous—for example, the need to be loved. Technology cannot necessarily solve this user's need. I'm sorry to let you know, but your smartphone does not love you back; however, it does assist in users communicating and transmitting messages that convey love. Love is a human quality, and when software developers consider the user's needs and understand that software is about connecting one person to another, then the ability to convey emotion is an essential feature. The connection that phones make with others using the software it controls places more emphasis on the software to be usable, useful, delightful, and beloved because it is being relied on by its users to communicate their emotions. Because the use of these devices helps users express emotions, its result in users personifying glass and aluminum to say things such as "I love my phone" is nothing short of remarkable. Making it highly usable and accessible, and tasks for sending emotions quickly and easily plays an essential role in this emotional transfer. Done? Great! Congratulations, you are on your way to focusing your human needs barometer.

Throughout this book, we are going to grow your ability to sniff out users' needs and ultimately find ways to meet them with a software interface. I hope that you captured many more user needs than the 20 slots provided, and if you made a Google sheet, you could continue to add to them. There are thousands of user needs. As you can imagine, not all needs are immediately solvable through computer technology; for example, the human need to transport from point A to point B through teleportation. Teleportation is not yet a viable technology, although it would be cool.

Users still need to get from point A to point B, and there is a technology that exists that is designed to assist in solving that need—for example, Google Maps. Many users are unaware of when they are interacting with a usable and accessible software solution but will say things such as "I can't leave the house without my phone" or "I love my phone." Relying on a software solution over time creates computer love:

We will discuss user needs in greater depth; however, the vast landscape of user needs is inherently dynamic. The needs of today are not necessarily the needs of tomorrow, which is the opportunity we have as HCI designers. HCI is uniquely adept at solving problems within these changing user needs. Our growing knowledge of computers and their impact on users is made possible because we can ask:   

How can a computer help solve this user (human) need? 

We start by understanding that humans design computers. It is not an alien technology gifted from a far-off world. We made it, and we can remake it when and if we want. Computers and the internet, a network of interconnected computers, operate in the service of human needs. The creation of software interfaces is the expression of how technology can help solve users' needs. 

For example, email. Mail has existed as a communication standard for millennia. In Greece, Pheidippides, a Greek soldier, ran between Marathon and Athens (40 kilometers) to deliver a message (which very well could have been the first letter delivery) of the defeat of Persian foe at the Battle of Marathon. Tragically, he died from exhaustion. This is the modern-day story and justification for marathon races, but at its core, humans need to communicate.

Whether it be Pheidippides with an announcement of "νικῶμεν!" ("Hail, we are the winner!"), to papyrus scrolls, to parchment decrees, to letters from the wild, wild west, to modern-day Instagram Stories, the through-line is that human beings have always invented ways to communicate more effectively. Email became a dominant driver for introducing consumers to a new way to communicate: the internet. Email used the efficiency of computer networks to advance how we communicate. It fundamentally changed how businesses and computer users operate.

Email did not replace the role of handwritten letters, although it may have diminished its prominence in users' needs to communicate. Email and its many iterations are the extensions of humans' need to talk. Email as a solution for communication through the internet is also a compelling case as its ability to be widely adopted by users and corporations. Its mass appeal has also spawned a whole new set of problems. An email is not a perfected communication modality, and it is just another version propped up through technology and advanced through software. The ease of use and convenience of email has lead to its overuse. 

Users are regularly over-communicated with through email. We had to invent terms for unwanted email: spam. Spam is often a legal term used to describe an electronic promotional message sent to a consumer without the consumer's prior request or consent. Spam makes up a large percentage of all emails and is frankly annoying (https://www.spamlaws.com/spam-stats.html). This is a function of how the system is designed. Spam email is made possible because computers can automate email messages and propagate them across billions of email addresses. HCI has had deep hooks into understanding the power of technical communication solutions and how it impacts the speed and efficiency of how we keep in touch. As spam increases, so does the inability of our email software to handle the sheer volume of communications. The nuisance of unwanted email has resulted in many different iterations and software solutions, from Gmail, to Apple Mail, to Microsoft Outlook, and others. The reality is that the problems emails solved created a whole set of new issues that were hard to anticipate.

These new problems are linked with and multiplied by the volume they make a user capable of. Office work is not necessarily about email, but the pure dominance of the communication software has resulted in workers being conditioned to consider email "work." Email is one of the many technologies that require HCI professionals; with them, it wouldn't exist, and it could potentially be an even worse experience. I am not suggesting email is a perfect experience by any means, but it has gotten better over time because of the diligent work of others. 

The success of email is the outcome of software designers thinking deeply about what users wanted from their email communications. In 2020, it has never been easier to write a sufficient email. Software such as Gmail will actively help you write an email as you type, applying AI learning algorithms and language processing to complete common email sentences. I am sure that at this very moment, talented designers and technologists are dreaming up ways to eliminate writing an email at all. You will just have to think about writing an email and "poof," an email will be sent. We will invent new technologies to address the old, and the implications of these ideas will be discussed through an HCI lens. Will a mind-reading email tool replace email? NO! Just as email didn't eliminate writing letters; however, there will be many other considerations, and the skills we will build in HCI will prepare you for inventing, designing, and implementing these new technologies.

The reason HCI can address any new technology is fundamentally linked to the idea that it is a tool, or, more accurately, a tool aggregator. Computers may have been created as a tool for counting, and now you can run hundreds of programs for executing countless tools. The computer as a tool has shaped our world profoundly, and not just through email. Let's discuss a case where software has shaped us. 

Case 1 – the crosswalk

One of the best skills an HCI designer should continue to grow is their ability to observe humans not only in their environments and how they behave but also how they use technology. Humans operate strangely and are not always predictable. We know this because we observe uncommon behavior and unique patterns. As an HCI designer, your ability to recognize and observe patterns in humans requires a lot of practice; therefore, let's practice observing with the next challenge.

Challenge 9 – Observing humans and technology

Setup:

1. Create a Google doc or get a sheet of paper to document your observations.
2. Create a table with the following headings:

• Total number observed/Total number observed on a computer/smartphone.
• What were they doing?
• What did you learn about your users?

Part 1: Intersection observation:

1. Go to an intersection in your town or city, preferably where a lot of people are walking across the street.
2. Get out a notepad and set a timer for 10 mins.
3. Count how many people you see using a computer/smartphone as they cross the street:
   Tally the total number of people you observe in 10 mins.
   Tally the number of people on their phones.
   Take notes on those that were using their phones.
   What did you observe them do?

Part 2: Observation documentation:

I recommend taking photographs, video recordings, and notes on your observations to review later.

Is it safe to cross the street while using your smartphone? NO! Was everyone using their phones for critical tasks? NO! Have humans quickly been shaped by their technology that they increase their own risk? YES, absolutely! Our tools are continually developing us. This is both a scary concept as well as an excellent opportunity. How a smartphone is shaping its users is entirely unknown and being studied by researchers far more qualified than myself. However, the skill of observing humans is essential not only to identify user needs but also as a feedback loop into how our computer technology impacts our users' behaviors. The truth about computers is that they are learned and socially mediated, and therefore, they can be unlearned or retrained. 

I have a young child who is currently younger than 1 year old, and he is learning to control his body by practicing standing up, moving his arms, and grabbing things. He is learning. He watches me and my wife for cues and starts to mimic our behavior. Everything a human being learns is done through experience. Everything is learned. Humans and their use of computers are also in the constant learning feedback loop. We are using a smartphone on a crosswalk, although not advisable, because we observe others do it successfully and then modify our social behavior based on those observed rules. Will my child use a smartphone on a crosswalk? Hopefully not, but unless there is training or more learning built into smartphones, it will be a hard behavior to retrain.

How software shapes its users 

The challenge in how a tool shapes humans continues to return to a user-centered approach: does the tool meet user needs first? Identifying how a tool is useful will help articulate why it was created in the first place. However, knowing that our users are malleable and shapable needs to be considered with great care. HCI skills will allow you to gain insight into how computer tools shape us and how we can ultimately shape computer software so that it hopefully doesn't damage us. It is a constant dance, and the reason we want skilled HCI practitioners building these technologies is that we need to trust the people who design our software. We need to know that technology has our best intentions in mind and at their core, they are human-centered.

Software tools are dominant in our culture and need to be taken seriously, which is the goal of HCI. We do know that human beings are highly habitual creatures. Habits drive behavior, and behavior is reinforced through a software interface. We will discuss software habits more deeply as we get into understanding our users. As technology changes, so do the habits. Take your observation challenge of observing users cross the street. Before the smartphone, I am sure you could observe humans do other things while crossing the street. Back in the day, I am sure people were reading the newspaper, using their Sony Walkman, or playing with a yo-yo as they crossed the road. The fact is that the smartphone is just a catalyst in occupying existing human behaviors. Our ability to tap into these behaviors as well as train our users to learn our interfaces can impact their lives for the better.

A valuable part of the HCI skills associated with this thinking is that we can be both reactive and proactive when it comes to technology. Technology moves fast, and we have to react to new interfaces, modalities, services, and so on. As practitioners, we also have agency over the creation process and the ability to invent new technology, new software interfaces, and new services. The HCI designer's balancing act occurs between the past and the future:

The balancing act we play is learning enough about how humans use existing technology to anticipate the future. At the core of this space between what is happening now with technology and what is happening in the future are some truths:

• Humans (users) need interfaces to be usable. 
• Humans (users) want to have access at all times. 
• Humans (users) learn everything through experience. 

For example, the on and off button is an interface that allows a user to control a device. The interface is a byproduct of users' need to control technology. A computer, for example, has an on and off button because it is operated through electricity. The power runs the hardware and produces a visual representation of the data that is stored within the mechanical memory of the computer as binary code, as we discussed earlier. On early computers, on and off were represented by 0 and 1—the binary relationship where a 0 is off and 1 is on:

These graphic shapes were also designed in our products and became interface buttons. Over time, the 0 and 1 individual symbols were combined to create the power icon interface. The combined shapes got more sophisticated. They then used LED lights to help the user understand when the computer was on or off, represented by the power icon displaying visual feedback:

Without electricity or battery power, the on and off button is an unnecessary interface. As computers become omnipresent in our world (ubiquitous computing), the prevalence of a usable on and off button interface has diminished. Many of our modern computers and phones make it downright complicated to turn them off. This is not arbitrary as the users' need to turn off their technology is not required. We can argue the human value of this, but that will come later.

The dominance of computer technology in our modern lives is because we have increased our need for it to operate. We have intertwined our human needs with technology. We use technology to get around, find food, communicate, earn money, engage in trade, have fun, be entertained, read, and even lose or gain weight, and more. If we are going to continue, we might as well work hard to make sure our solutions are usable at a minimum. However, the goal is not to solve the minimum of human needs with technology, but rather to delight our users in how we have deeply considered their needs.