An Engineering Sciencewithin HCI?

William NewmanUCLIC

15 June 2007

Overview

• Technology’s human-enhancement role• Engineering science• Past attempts within HCI• What it means to do engineering science

• Human-human communication as a domain

• Opportunities within this domain• How this could affect HCI research

Technology’s role in society

• Enhancing us as human beings

• Increasing...– our bodily efficiency– our sensory efficiency– our intellect(Rogers 1983)

• Can we disregard the enhancement imperative?

The Science of Enhancement

Design’s dependency chain:• Measurement• Prediction• Models• Theories• Data

Provided by engineering science.

Engineering Science in HCI:

Past successes • GOMS, Cognitive Walkthrough• Providing models of interaction• Supporting analyses and predictions ofhow technologies support human activities

Application of Engineering Science:

Project Ernestine*• Enhancement of telephone operators’ efficiency in handling calls for assistance

• What to measure? Call handling time• How to predict? CPM-GOMS models• The prediction: new design 0.65s slower• Field-trial finding: 0.63s slower• How to enhance? Personal response system

• New prediction: 0.9s faster*Gray, John and Atwood (1993)

The Challenge for HCI

• Design’s diminishing emphasis on supporting repetitive work

• Can we develop an engineering science for today’s design?

• What kinds of research would this involve?

• What does it mean to do engineering science?

• Would it divide the research community?

What it means* to doEngineering Science

A. Select a domain of designB. Collect lots of dataC. Try lots of analytical approachesD. Identify patterns, build and test

modelsE. Identify criteria for measuring

behavioursF. Transform models into design tools

And iterate! * according to W.G. Vincenti (1990) and others

Selecting the Design Domain

• From within Rogers’s areas of human enhancement:–bodily efficiency–sensory efficiency–intellect–enjoyment–human-human communication

• From within Rogers’s areas of human enhancement, with some additions:

An Engineering Science ofHuman-Human Communication• Why?

– a context for much of human-computer interaction – even in Project Ernestine!

– offers a purchase for modelling (Sacks et al. 1974, Goodwin 1980, Clark 1996, ...)

– room for improvements to technology• Where are some opportunities?

– meetings, including face-to-face– e-mail– writing

Enhancing Communication inFace-to-Face Meetings

• Today’s technology designs show little consideration for the needs of conversants

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Finally:How this could affect HCI

research?• First, must there be a methodological divide?

• Or can existing methods contribute?

implications

findings

guidelines

metrics

modelslevel of science

effort

In summary:How this could affect HCI

research?• Lengthy start-up research involved

but...• Need not create a methodological divide• Intellectually challenging• Different from research that developers do

• Provides what designers often need• Remains relevant while technology advances

• Offers a place for truly inter-disciplinary collaborations