Book Reading #3: HCI Remixed Microblogs

Reference:
HCI Remixed: Reflections on Works that have Influenced the HCI Community
Edited by Thomas Erickson and David W. McDonald
2008 Massachusetts Instutute of Technology

Chapter 1: My Vision Isn't My Vision: Making a Career out of Getting Back to Where I Started

Summary:
This chapter is about a musician who in 1971 began his career in computer assisted music composition.  His main point is that despite the fact that he was not the most technical person, he was able to easily understand and use the system he worked with.

Discussion:
The Author has a point, but I suspect that the system he used in 1971 was limited by the hardware it ran on, and was therefore simpler than most contemporary music composition programs.  As a system gains features and functionality, it will almost necissarily become more complex to use.

Chapter 4: Drawing on SketchPad: Reflections on Computer Science and HCI

Summary:
In this chapter the author stresses the importance of keeping the fields of Computer Science and CHI together.  He argues that the CS field has advanced due to the improvements made in facilitating interaction between humans and computers.

Discussion:
I agree with the author's assessment.  If a programmer has to think about how a system might be used, then they are more likely to design an intiutive system that is easy to pick up.

Chapter 5: The Mouse, the Demo, and the Big Idea

Summary:
In this chapter the author focuses on how important product demonstrations can be.  The first demo of the computer mouse in the 1960s got the author excited in computers again and showed innovation in a field that was focused on vastly different areas.

Discussion:

Chapter 18: Observing Collaboration: Group-Centered Design

Summary:
In this chapter, the author discussed how groups who share a workspace behave and interact, and how these interactions could could still be realized in situations where not all group members are present through a computing environment. 

Discussion:
Line in ethnography, the research that went into the studies that the author discusses observed the behavior of how groups might interact with a white-board or on a sheet of paper.  These observations were then able to be applied to new technology so that groups could interact the same way even when seperated by large distances.

Chapter 20: Taking Articulation Work Seriously

Summary:
The author discusses the importance of computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW).  CSCW is an attempt to understand the requirements involved with cooperative work and the interaction and coordination involved with social interactions.
Discussion:
Much like the previous chapter, this one concerns how observations of cooperative work can be applied to CSCW technology.

Chapter 23: Video, Toys, and Beyond Being There

Summary:
The author discusses how even though modern technology enables us to talk to and see people on the other side of the world in real time, such methods of communication are not the same as "being there."  The author craves a type of communication technology that not only matches face-to-face interactions, but goes "beyond being there."

Discussion:
While I support improvements in communication tech, I am reluctant to agree that such communication will advance to a point that it is "beyond being there."  People have evolved as social animals entrenched in face-to-face interaction, and I doubt that it will be replaced anytime soon.

Chapter 24: A Simulated Listening Typewriter: John Gould Plays Wizard of Oz

Summary:

This chapter covers the advent of speech recognition interfaces.  In the described research, individuals with varying dictation experience were studied to determine how they would react and adapt to a speech recognition program.

Discussion:

 As is stated in the article, a larger vocabulary leads to more speech recognition problems.  As typing is nearly universal in modern society, for the time being speech recognition programs are best suited to specialized work (such as commercial answering services) and general purpose work should remain in the domain of the keyboard.

Chapter 25: Seeing the Hole in Space

Summary:

This chapter covered an art project called the "Hole in Space."  The project entailed a video/audio recording device on the east coast transmitting and displaying the image in a west coast store-front, and vice versa.  The purpose of this project was to utilize human relations as an art medium.

Discussion:

With our modern telecommunications and the internet, it is a trivial thing to speak to and view someone on the other side of the planet.  Still, the minds behind the "Hole in Space" certainly helped revolutionize human interactions.

Chapter 26: Edward Tufte's 1 + 1 = 3

Summary:
This chapter discusses how when multiple similar options are given to people, a split second of processing is required before making a choice.  Therefore, when designing everyday objects, such as the open/close buttons in an elevator, there should be enough of a distinction between the two options so that the user does not make an error when selecting their choice.  The less clutter in a product's design, the easier it will be to use.

Discussion:

While I am a big supporter of letting people make their own choices, the author makes a compelling argument for situations where removal of functionality would be acceptable.  If a feature has very limited and ultimately pointless utility, does it need to remain on a product?

Chapter 27: Typographic Space: A Fusion of Design and Technology

Summary:

This chapter looks into the field of kinetic typography.  In this specialization, a display is used to generate text in such a way that it conveys the pitch, loudness, tempo, inflection, and emotional content of the material. 

Discussion:

Kinetic typography hold some interesting possibilities for the future.  One of the common complaints about typewritten text is that it can be difficult for the reader to understand the material in the author's intended context.  This technology could serve to bridge that gap.

Chapter 28: Making Sense of Sense Making

Summary:

This chapter deals with two arguments made by A. Kidd; that computers are a (mostly useless) memory prostheses, and that they lack support in managing new information, or sense making.  Kidd holds that as a computor typically has a file-based architecture, it is difficult to arrange the data so that it has a deeper meaning.  While AI could be employed to assist with this task, Kidd believes that it will ultimately be up to the user.

Discussion:

I think the claim that computers act as a useless memory prostheses is boarderline absurd.  One might as well say that books are a useless data repository because we have perfectly good papyrus we could use.  To go further, who needs papyrus when we have clay tablets, and who needs tablets when cave walls are available?  On the other hand, she has a point in saying that computer lack in the ability to process working information.

Chapter 34: Revisiting and Ethnocritical Approach to HCI: Verbal Privilege and Translation

Summary:

This chapter pertains to how the HCI worker must act as a bridge between the users and the developers of a system.  The user is in a position of limited power, so the HCI worker needs to convey the wants and needs of said user to the developers while still remaining in whatever contraints the system requires.

Discussion:
There needs to be a better way of conveying user feedback to the developers of a product.  As it stands, people are usually more apt to make their dissatisfaction heard than they are their contentment, so the developers end up with a lopsided view that could lead to them altering a feature that the majority of users were happy with.