Republished from The changing face of HCI, Interfaces 68 from the British Computer Society HCI Group.

Recent collaborations into physiological studies such as ergonomics have greatly assisted the development of HCI and given a higher profile to considerations of context. Contextual usability, like its precursors contextual design (Beyer & Holtzblatt, 1998), and specifically contextual enquiry, aims to inform and evoke questions regarding real world and holistic data acquisition and their influence and shaping of the results of human-focused research. While usability studies in a laboratory environment offer an immediate practical and basic response level of data, “If I press this, this happens”, they are limited to a singular view of activity. As technology becomes increasingly mobile and embedded, its specific context adds a definitive view to real world usability, function and fitness for purpose.

Derek Nicoll (April, 2006) notes that while context contextual research is difficult to conduct the results are rich in qualitative data including insights into dynamic socio-political interactions and how they evolve. His insight into the value of such a revitalising view of ethnographic research evokes the potential for rapid integration of numerous currently disparate disciplines into HCI and usability practice. In many academic circles HCI practitioners have become the black sheep of the family by attempting to translate research into useful methods and tools for clients with real world needs. This transition from research to practical application retains elements of conflict as the negotiated resultant method is rarely a straightforward interpretation of the researcher’s conclusions. However it is essential that practical applications are not thwarted by internal differences but are developed in concert between academics and practitioners. The HCI community has drawn many useful elements from other disciplines but until recently has not considered the effect of this either in educational institutions, research or in practice. Theoretical maelstroms and fads have not assisted the sense that HCI has no clear destination, no matter how interesting the data or well attributed the case. Don Norman’s recent observation in Interactions (vol. 13:1) that HCI has no formalised metrics such as design has with ergonomics and anthropometrics, underwrites the requirement for a new perspective in the domain of HCI. HCI is no longer only seeking its place in the world but is trying to define its continuing relevance, redefining its impetus and observing a changing context of research and practice.

References

Beyer, H., & K. Holtzblatt (1998). Contextual design: Defining customer-centered systems. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.

Nicoll, D. W. (April 2006). Television and the experiential fabric of the ‘domestic’ and the ‘everyday’. CHI 2006 Workshop IT@HOME. CHI
’06 extended abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York: ACM Press.

Norman, D. A. (2006). People: the way I see it Interaction design is still an art form: ergonomics is real engineering. Interactions 13:1, 45–60. New York: ACM Press.

Author

Karl A L Smith,

MSc Interactive Technologies for eCommerce
Edinburgh Napier University