Technology and Games

by Claire L. Evans

Sample Essay

Human Computer Interactions defines the study of interactions between Human and Computers. The term Human-Computer Interaction is often used interchangeably with “Man-Machine Interactions” (MMI) or “Computer to Human Interaction” (CHI). The subject of Human-Computer Interactions is wide and multi-disciplinary  as well as complex, which not only include the research into impacts of CHI in an organizations, Into the designing approaches of CHI, Methodologies and Matching models for performing tasks and inclusion of  research from other fields of studies as well as research into Interactional Hardware and Software (Carroll, 2009).

The study of HCI is firstly and more importantly concerned with both software and hardware used in implementation of various interactional techniques and technologies.  While in the past years, the most common hardware device for interacting with the computer has been the keyboard and the mouse, The HCI research has made it possible for the design and the development of new devices which present new possibilities of interactions with computers.

However these devices also present a new set of problems as well.  The addressing of these problems as well as their effect on the communication between the use and the computer is one of the central issues of the HCI.  In other words, it aims at developing interactional techniques as well as suggests where and in what situations they can be put to best use.  Furthermore, the study of HCI is also concerned with how the users interact with the computers.  The core problem for HCI to solve is the matching of computer’s model to that of users. For this purpose it is required for both parties to have a mutual knowledge of the problem at hand. 

The research in HCI has mostly focused on finding out the knowledge required by the user and how this knowledge is applied to the computer in order to predict and describe the behavior of the user at the interface of human and computer interactions.

In short, the purpose of HCI is to enable the designers to build more usable system by making explicit the model used by the user to perform different task on the computer system. The research conducted on the subject of HCI also concerns the design of system interface fulfilling the information needs of the user as well as allowing them the freedom to perform task as they want to do it.  This measure of fit a task design around the informational needs of the user is one of the major determinant of the success and failure of any HCI hardware or software. Hence, another purpose of HCI  studies is to develop methods that can be used to determine users’ needs , in order to ensure that the computer system provide the users with the functionality they need as well as the information they require as well as in the form that they desire.

In Jeopardy’s! 47 year history, there has NEVER been a contestant like Watson. (Jan. 13)

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