week 1 post 2: Introduction to Human Computer Interaction

     Every element of humans are taken into consideration in human computer interaction, from the way they perceived and interact with the world. Computers mediate the the interaction between humans and a task. HCI is interested in making the interface as invisible as possible, so users do not spend more time focusing on the interface than the actual task they had in mind. There is a border field to human computer interaction which is Human Factors Engineering, HCI is just one subset. Human Factors Engineering is interested in many of the same ideas HCI is, except human factors is not as interested in computers. Instead Human Factors focuses on designing interactions between people and products, and devices or systems. It is interested in designing the "environment" and not just the electronic elements. Many human factors engineering principles are applied to HCI, but is more narrowly focused towards computerized systems. Because computers are becoming more ubiquitous (being present, appearing or found everywhere), the areas in which HCI can be applied is expanding. even products such as shower heads and refrigerators have become computerized.

   Like HCI is a subset of Human Factors there are many sub disciplines in Human Computer Interaction as well. The sub-disciplines generally use the same principles, but are applied differently to a more narrow domain. Some may even have there own principles and methods in addition to the ones in HCI. One of the subfields of HCI is User Interface Design. Many of the concepts in HCI were originally stemmed from UI design, because HCI was mainly about User Interface Design in the beginning. Now HCI is interested beyond the a users interaction with a single screen. The field of HCI is large and complex, and since computers are becoming more ubiquitous, there is going to be a time where almost everything in cars for example will be run through computers, and since computers are everywhere HCI is also everywhere.