The Personal Computer and HCI

Today I read a very intersting article titled "The Future of Human-Computer Interaction," by John Canny, who is a Professor of Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. In his article he discusses the design of the Star computer, by Don Massaro and Xerox's Office Products division in 1976. This was the first computer with a WIMP (windows, icons, mouse, pointer) interface), and although the Star was not a commercial success, it had a huge influence on the development of the first Apple Macintosh.

The designers of the Star computer utiltized correct principles of HCI design so successfully that their design process has influenced personal computer design for the past thirty years. The features they used in the development of this computer included task analysis, scenario development, rapid prototyping, and users' conceptual models.

Intel has just reorganized itself to meet the needs of four major market sectors: office, home, medical, and mobile. In his article Dr. Canny discusses the idea of "contect awareness," and presents the scenario of a hungry visitor to a city being able to locate a nearby restaurant using a cell phone.

He also discusses speech-based interfaces for mobile computing devices, social media, and privacy issues.

If you are interested in reading more about Professor John Canny, his home page is at this address: John Canny's Home Page

Resources for HCI:

Wikipedia

User-Centered Design

HCI International Conference Series

ACM Computer Human Interaction Special Interest Group

CHI 2007

CHI 2006

List of Human-Computer Interaction Topics from Wikipedia

List of HCI Sites

HCI Lab at University of Maryland

Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University