Lecture 7 paradigms
Dec 19, 2015
Lecture 7
paradigms
Today’s Outline Topics of discussion included today are,
Paradigms, interaction and Example Time Sharing Video Display Units Programming Toolkits Window systems and the WIMP interface Metaphor Direct manipulation Language versus Action Modern evolving paradigms of computing
Introduction to Paradigm The primary objective of an interactive
system is to allow the user to achieve particular goals in some application domain, that is, the interactive system must be usable.
Introduction to Paradigm The designer of an interactive system,
then, is posed with two open questions:1. How can an interactive system be developed to ensure its usability?
2. How can the usability of an interactive system be demonstrated or measured?
Paradigms One approach to answering these
questions is by means of example, in which successful interactive systems are commonly believed to enhance usability and, therefore, serve as paradigms for the development of future products.
What are Paradigms Predominant theoretical frameworks or scientific world
views e.g., Aristotelian, Newtonian, Einsteinian (relativistic) paradigms
in physics
Understanding HCI history is largely about understanding a series of paradigm shifts Not all listed here are necessarily “paradigm” shifts, but are at
least candidates History will judge which are true shifts
A paradigm is a way of thinking about the world.
Paradigms of interaction
New computing technologies arrive, creating a new perception of the human—computer relationship.We can trace some of these shifts in the history of interactive technologies.
The initial paradigm
Batch processing
Impersonal computing
Batch processing
Example Paradigm Shifts
Batch processing Time-sharing
Interactive computing
Example Paradigm Shifts
Batch processing Timesharing Networking
???
@#$% !
Community computing
Example Paradigm Shifts
Batch processing Timesharing Networking Graphical
displays
% foo.barABORTdumby!!!
C…P… filenamedot star… or was
it R…M?
Move this file here,and copy this to there.
Direct manipulation
Example Paradigm Shifts
Batch processing Timesharing Networking Graphical display Microprocessor
Personal computing
Example Paradigm Shifts
Batch processing Timesharing Networking Graphical display Microprocessor WWW
Global information
Example Paradigm Shifts
A symbiosis of physical and electronic worlds in service of everyday activities.
• Batch processing• Timesharing• Networking• Graphical display• Microprocessor• WWW• Ubiquitous
Computing
Time-sharing In the 1940s and 1950s, the significant advances in
computing consisted of new hardware technologies. Mechanical relays were replaced by vacuum electron tubes.
Tubes were replaced by transistors, and transistors by integrated chips, all of which meant that the amount of sheer computing power was increasing by orders of magnitude.
By the 1960s it was becoming apparent that the explosion of growth in computing power would be wasted if there was not an equivalent explosion of ideas about how to channel that power.
Time Sharing A new concept of time sharing is
introduced.a single computer could support multiple
users. Previously, the programmer was restricted to
batch sessions, in which complete jobs were submitted on punched cards or paper tape to an operator who would then run them individually on the computer.
Time Sharing Time-sharing systems of the 1960s made
programming a truly interactive venture and brought about a subculture of programmers known as ‘hackers’ i.e.; single-minded masters of detail who took
pleasure in understanding complexity. Now with time-sharing capability, true
human computer interaction is possible.
Video Display Units As early as the mid-1950s researchers were
experimenting with the possibility of presenting and manipulating information from a computer in the form of images on a video display unit (VDU).
These display screens could provide a more suitable medium than a paper printout for presenting vast quantities of strategic information for rapid assimilation.
The earliest applications of display screen images were developed in military applications, most notably the
Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) project of the US Air Force.
Visual Display units Primary user hardware for displaying visual
media such as graphics, text, images.
Consists of components such as Monitor, Video adapter card, video adapter cable.
Various such devices are CRT, color CRT, DVST, Flat Panel Displays (LCD & Plasma), LED monitors, etc.
Old monochrome vs Lcd
Video Display Units In1962, a young graduate student at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Ivan Sutherland, astonished the established computer science community with his Sketch pad program, that the capabilities of visual images were realized.
Sketch pad Program
Video Display Unit Sketchpad demonstrated two important
ideas. First, computers could be used for more than
just data processing. Secondly, Sutherland’s efforts demonstrated
how important the contribution of one creative mind
Programming Toolkits Douglas Engelbart’s ambition since the
early 1950s was to use computer technology as a means of complementing human problem solving activity.Engelbart’s idea as a graduate student at the
University of California at Berkeley was to use the computer to teach humans.
Douglas Engelbart’s ambition “By ‘augmenting man’s intellect’ we mean
increasing the capability of a man to approach a complex problem situation, gain comprehension to suit his particular needs, and to derive solutions to problems.... We refer to a way of life in an integrated domain where hunches, cut-and-try, intangibles, and the human ‘feel for the situation’ usefully coexist with powerful concepts, streamlined terminology and notation, sophisticated methods, and high-powered electronic aids”.
Programming Toolkits Ideas that Engelbart’s team developed at
the Augmentation Research Center includes word processing and the mouse
Programming toolkits in Overview Engelbart at Stanford Research Institute
1963 – augmenting man's intellect
1968 NLS/Augment system demonstration
the right programming toolkit provides building blocks to producing complex interactive systems
Personal computing 1970s – Papert's LOGO
language for simple graphics programming by children
A system is more powerful as it becomes easier to user
Future of computing in small, powerful machines dedicated to the individual
Kay at Xerox PARC – the Dynabook as the ultimate personal computer
Window systems and the WIMP interface humans can pursue more
than one task at a time
windows used for dialogue partitioning, to “change the topic”
1981 – Xerox Star first commercial windowing system
windows, icons, menus and pointers now familiar interaction mechanisms
Metaphor relating computing to other real-world
activity is effective teaching technique LOGO's turtle dragging its tail file management on an office desktop word processing as typing financial analysis on spreadsheets virtual reality – user inside the metaphor
Problems some tasks do not fit into a given metaphor cultural bias
Metaphore In developing the LOGO language to
teach children, Papert used the metaphor of a turtle dragging its tail in the dirt.Children could quickly identify with the real-
world phenomenon and that instant familiarity gave them an understanding of how they could create pictures.
Metaphor Metaphors are used quite successfully to
teach new concepts in terms of ones which are already understood.Metaphors are used to describe the
functionality of many interaction widgets, such as windows, menus, buttons and palettes.
Direct Manipulation In the early 1980s as the price of fast and
high-quality graphics hardware was steadily decreasing, designers were beginning to see that their products were gaining popularity as their visual content increased.
Direct Manipulation As long as the user–system dialog remained
largely unidirectional – from user command to system command line prompt computing was going to stay within the minority population of the hackers (programmers) who reveled in the challenge of complexity. In a standard command line interface, the only way to
get any feedback on the results of previous interaction is to know that you have to ask for it and to know how to ask for it.
Direct Manipulation Rapid feedback is just one feature of the
interaction technique known as direct manipulation.
Direct Manipulation Ben Shneiderman highlights the following features of a
direct manipulation interface: visibility of the objects of interest incremental action at the interface with rapid feedback on all
actions reversibility of all actions, so that users are encouraged to
explore without severe penalties syntactic correctness of all actions, so that every user action is a
legal operation replacement of complex command languages with actions to
manipulate directly the visible objects (and, hence, the name direct manipulation)
Direct Manipulation The first real commercial success which
demonstrated the inherent usability of direct manipulation interfaces for the general public was the Macintosh personal computer, introduced by Apple Computer, Inc. in 1984
Direct manipulation – in overview 1982 – Shneiderman describes appeal of graphically-
based interaction visibility of objects incremental action and rapid feedback reversibility encourages exploration syntactic correctness of all actions replace language with action
1984 – Apple Macintosh the model-world metaphor What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG)
Language versus Action actions do not always speak louder than
words! Image projected as DM – interface
replaces underlying system language paradigm interface as mediator interface acts as intelligent agent programming by example is both action
and language
Hypertext 1945 – Vannevar Bush and the
memex
key to success in managing explosion of information
mid 1960s – Nelson describes hypertext as non-linear browsing structure
hypermedia and multimedia
Nelson's Xanadu the first hypertext project still a dream today
The memex (a portmanteau of "memory" and "index" or "memory" and "extender") is the name of the hypothetical proto-hypertext system that Vannevar Bush described in his 1945 The Atlantic Monthly article "As We May Think".
Hypertext and Hypermedia Ted Nelson coined the term hypertext in
1963. Also credited for being first to use words like
hypermedia. Hypertext spawned from the concept of
Memex (Vannevar Bush):a mechanical desk linked to an extensive archive of microfilms, able to display books, writings, or any document from a library.
Earlier hypertext: footnotes
Example of hypertext <html>
<body>
<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>
</body></html>
Multimodality
a mode is a human communication channel
emphasis on simultaneous use of multiple channels for input and output
Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)
CSCW removes bias of single user / single computer system
Can no longer neglect the social aspects
Electronic mail is most prominent success
The World Wide Web Hypertext, as originally realized, was a
closed system Simple, universal protocols (e.g. HTTP)
and mark-up languages (e.g. HTML) made publishing and accessing easy
Critical mass of users lead to a complete transformation of our information economy.
World wide web
Agent-based Interfaces Original interfaces
Commands given to computer Language-based
Direct Manipulation/WIMP Commands performed on “world” representation Action based
Agents - return to language by instilling proactivity and “intelligence” in command processor Avatars, natural language processing
Ubiquitous Computing“The most profound technologies are those that
disappear.”
Mark Weiser, 1991
Late 1980’s: computer was very apparent
How to make it disappear? Shrink and embed/distribute it in the physical world Design interactions that don’t demand our intention
computing is made to appear everywhere and anywhere
Sensor-based and Context-aware Interaction Humans are good at recognizing the
“context” of a situation and reacting appropriately
Automatically sensing physical phenomena (e.g., light, temp, location, identity) becoming easier
How can we go from sensed physical measures to interactions that behave as if made “aware” of the surroundings?
Summary Today we have covered
Examples of effective strategies for building interactive systems provide paradigms for designing usable interactive systems.
The evolution of computing usability paradigms also provides a good perspective on the history of interactive computing.
Paradigms range from the introduction of time-sharing computers, through the WIMP and web, to ubiquitous and context-aware computing