The answers my friends- are blowin’in the wind….

Brenda Battleson’s discussion of HCI (human computer interaction) provided a lot of linkages to many of the other articles we have read so far.  It was also a great step by step guide as to how to test the usability of one’s website- both inexpensively and easily.  While Battleson explored HCI as it relates to the design and implementation of the library site at the University of Buffalo and as a frame work for usability testing, I would argue that HCI thinking extends well beyond web site design and that an astute awareness of HCI is one of the main factors responsible for the recent boom in technology enabled communication.   

HCI is measured through usability testing which identifies problems that would have otherwise gone unnoticed; basically it is the balance between form and function.  According to Battleson the goal of usability testing is to determine how effectively a site can be used by people with no experience of the given site.  Important questions to ask are: “how quickly did the user work? Did choices seem obvious? How carefully did students read the information on the screens?  Was there an increasing level of certainty and success as the test progressed?” (Battleson, page 192) 

These questions, while important to web design, extend well beyond just the internet however and can be applied to a myriad of other technologies that have enabled two way communication outside of traditional chat rooms.  In short, HCI enables highly capable technologies to be placed in the hands of even the lowest denominator in our society and still work properly and thus have the ability to communicate with whomever- wherever…   

Immediately, the technology discussed in the Sept. 14^th readings comes to mind as an example of this idea, particularly Rheingold’s article on smart mobs.  The on street gaming played through one’s cell phone or the ability to drive around with a complete computer system in one’s back seat is possible because of designers understanding of HCI.  Furthermore, the overwhelming popularity of text messaging and other related technologies is in part due to how easy it is to send messages in the first place. 

Another aspect of HCI which Battleson also touched on was the idea of instant usability.  Whether it is a web site or any other technology, people want to be able to instantly begin using it.  The Ipod is the perfect example of this and really a demonstration of HCI at its best.  Apple did something very right when it designed this little music mogul… They understood human kind’s impatience with reading directions, they made the tool highly capable but extremely easy to use- so much so that even my grandmother has one now…  

The prevalence of HCI designed products is taken for granted nowadays but according to Battleson, “only recently have “user needs” become part of software and interface development. During the 1990s software companies began to address their customer needs seriously and to design “usability” into their products rather than focusing solely on functionality,” (Battleson, page 188.)

 Had this industry paradigm shift never occurred – the world of blackberries and palm pilots and text messaging would never have existed- let alone saturated societies around the world to the extent that it has.  HCI usability enables accessibility and thus grandmothers around the world can now groove down the supermarket aisle with their ipods – while checking out the sale prices at a competing store on their blackberries….