Chapter 3

The Computer in HCI

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 Interacting with computers
To understand human–computer interaction, there is need to
understand computers!

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 Computer
A computer system is made up of various elements:
Each of these elements affects the interaction, some of them are:
» Input devices – text entry and pointing
» Output devices – screen (small & large), digital
paper
» Virtual reality – special interaction and display
devices
» Physical interaction
» Paper – as output (print) and input (scan)
» Memory
» Processing

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 A typical computer system
• Screen, or monitor, on which there are
windows
• Keyboard
• Mouse/trackpad

• Variations
– Desktop
– Laptop
– PDA

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 Interactivity?
• Interaction (with or without computer) is a process of
information transfer.
• The devices dictate the styles of interaction that the system
supports.
– If we use different devices, thenthe interfacewill support a different
style of interaction
• In the early days, batch processing was common: a large mass of
information was dumped into and processed by the computer.
• Nowadays, computers respond within milliseconds and computer
systems are integrated in many different devices.

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 Interactivity?
Earlier batch processing
– Punched card stacks or large data files prepared
– Long wait
– Line printer output
Now most computing is interactive
– Rapid feedback
– The user in control (most of the time)
– Doing rather than thinking

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 Text entry devices
Keyboards
• Most common text input device
• Allows rapid entry of text by experienced users
• Key press causes a character code to be sent
• Usually connected by cable, but can be
wireless

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 Layout – QWERTY
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Q W E R T Y U I O P A

XS C D B FN
V MG , .H
J KSPACEL
Z
• Standardised layout but :
– Non-alphanumeric keys are
placed differently
– Accented symbols needed for
different scripts
– Minor differences between UK
and USA keyboards
• QWERTY arrangement not
optimal for typing 8
 Alternative keyboard layouts
Alphabetic
– Keys arranged in alphabetic order
– Not faster for trained typists
– Not faster for beginners either!
Dvorak (The left hand has all of the vowels and some consonants and the right hand has only
consonants.)
– Common letters under dominant fingers
– Biased towards right hand
– Common combinations of letters alternate between hands
– 10-15% improvement in speed and reduction in fatigue
– But - large social base of QWERTY typists produce market
pressures not to change
Special keyboards
• Designs to reduce fatigue for RSI
• For one handed use -E.g. the Marlon left handed Keyboard
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 Chord keyboards
Only a few keys - four or five
Letters typed as combination of key presses
Compact size
–Ideal for portable applications
Short learning time
– Key presses reflect letter shape
Fast
– Once you have trained
BUT - social resistance, plus fatigue after
extended use
Phone pad and T9 entry
• Use numeric keys with
multiple
2 – apresses
bc 6-mno
3-def 7-pqrs
4-ghi 8-tuv
5-jkl 9-wxy
• T9 predictive entryz
– Type as if single key for each letter
– Use dictionary to "guess‟ the right word

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 Numeric keypads

• For entering numbers quickly:

– Calculator, PC keyboard
• For telephones
1 2 3 7 8 9
• ATM
4 5 6 4 5 6
7 8 9 1 2 3
Not all have the same
# 0 . =
arrangement * 0
Telephone Calculator

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 Handwriting recognition
• Text can be input into the computer, using a
pen and a digitizing tablet
– Natural interaction
• Technical problems:
– Capturing all useful information - stroke path,
pressure, etc. in a natural manner
– Segmenting joined up writing into individual
letters
– Interpreting individual letters
– Coping with different styles of handwriting
• Used in PDAs, and tablet computers

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 Speech recognition
• Improving rapidly
• Most successful when:
– Single user – initial training and learns peculiarities
– Limited vocabulary systems
– Good for the case when hands/eyes are occupied or disabled
• Problems
– External noise interfering
– Pronunciation
– Large vocabularies
– Feedback may be limited
– Speech is a single channel mode

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 Speech Recognition
• Speech recognition can be used in 3 scenarios:
– As an alternative text entry device replacing the
keyboard in the current software
– With new software especially designed for speech
recognition
– In situations where the use of keyboards is impractical
or
impossible

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 Speech Cont.
• Some guidelines for speech recognition interface design
– Consider voice recognition as an input device
when user’s hands are occupied or user’s eyes are
busy
– Avoid voice recognition as an input device
in open environments (noise & security)
– Provide a familiar vocabulary e.g., user is more
consistent when pronouncing familiar words

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Positioning, Pointing and
Drawing

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 The Mouse
• Handheld pointing device
– Very common
– Easy to use
• Hand-eye coordination problems for
beginners
• Two characteristics
– Planar movement
– Buttons
• Usually from 1 to 3 buttons on top, used for
making a selection, indicating an option, or to
initiate drawing , etc

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 How does it work?
Two methods for detecting motion
• Mechanical
– Ball on underside of mouse turns as mouse is moved
– Can be used on almost any flat surface
• Optical
– Light emitting diode (semi-conductor light source) on
underside of mouse
– May use special grid-like pad or just on desk
– Less vulnerable to dust and dirt
– Detects fluctuating alterations in reflected light
intensity to calculate relative motion in (x, z) plane

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 Touchpad
• Small touch sensitive tablets
• ‟ Stroke” to move mouse pointer
• Used mainly in laptop computers
Trackball and thumbwheels
Trackball
– An upside-down mouse
– Ball is rotated inside static housing
– Very fast for gaming
– Used in some portable and notebook
computers

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 Joystick and keyboard nipple
Joystick
– Buttons for selection
– Often used for computer games
Aircraft controls and 3D navigation
Keyboard nipple/ trackpads
– For laptop computers
– Small joystick in the middle of the keyboard
– Controls the rate of movement across the screen

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 Touch-sensitive screen
• Detect the presence of finger or stylus on the screen
• Direct pointing device
• Advantages:
– Fast, and requires no specialized pointer
– Good for menu selection
– Suitable for use in hostile environment: clean and safe
from damage.
• Disadvantages:
– Finger can mark screen
– Less accurate (finger is a fairly blunt instrument!)
– Difficult to select small regions or perform accurate
drawing
– Lifting arm can be tiring

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Stylus
– Small pen-like pointer to draw directly on screen
– May use touch sensitive surface or magnetic detection
– Used in PDA, tablet PCs and drawing tables
Light Pen
– Now rarely used
– Uses light from screen to detect location
Eye gaze
– Control interface by eye gaze direction
E.g. look at a menu item to select it
– Uses laser beam reflected off retina
– Potential for hands-free control
– High accuracy requires headset
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 Cursor keys
• For two dimension navigation
• Four keys (up, down, left, right) on keyboard.
• No standardised layout, but inverted “T”, most
common

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 Discrete Positioning Controls
• In phones, TV controls etc.
– Cursor pads or mini-joysticks
– Discrete left-right, up-down
– Mainly for menu selection

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 Guidelines for pointing device
selection
• Use touchscreen when
– training is low,
– frequency of use is low,
– desk space is small, & the task requires
little or no text input
• Mouse is faster than trackball
• Minimize hand & eye movement between input
devices
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 Display devices

Bitmap screens (CRT and LCD) Large and

situated displays Digital paper

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 Bitmap displays
• Screen is vast number of coloured dots

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 Bitmap displays
• Resolution
– Number of pixels on screen (width x height)
• E.g. SVGA 1024 x 768, PDA perhaps 240x400
– Density of pixels (dots per inch - dpi)
• Typically between 72 and 96 dpi
• Aspect ratio
– Ration between width and height
– 4:3 for most screens, 16:9 for wide-screen TV

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 Cathode ray tube
• (CRT)
Stream of electrons emitted from electron gun, focused and
directed by magnetic fields, hit phosphor-coated screen
which glows
• Used in TVs and computer monitors
electron beam

electron gun

focussing and
deflection

p
h
o
s 29
p
 Health hazards of CRT !
• X-rays: largely absorbed by screen (but not at rear!)
• Radiation from phosphors: insignificant levels
• Radio frequency emissions, plus ultrasound
• Electrostatic field - leaks out through tube to user. Intensity dependant on
distance and humidity. Can cause rashes.
• Electromagnetic fields: Create induction currents in conductive materials,
including the human body. Two types of effects attributed to this: visual
system - high incidence of cataract in VDU operators, and concern over
reproductive disorders (miscarriages and birth defects).
Health hints
• Do not sit too close to the screen
• Do not use very small fonts
• Do not look at the screen for long periods without a break
• Do not place the screen directly in front of a bright window
• Work in well-lit surroundings

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 Liquid crystal displays-LCD
• Smaller, lighter, and … no radiation problems.
• Found on PDAs, portables and notebooks, and
increasingly on
desktop and even for home TV
• Also used in dedicated displays:
Digital watches, mobile phones, etc
• Light reflected not emitted => less eye strain
• Apart from safety and comfortable reasons,
LCD can be more flexible and has more
functions

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 Large displays
• Used for meetings, lectures, etc.
• Technology
Plasma – usually wide screen
video walls – lots of small screens together
Projected– RGB lights or LCD projector
Back-projected
– frosted glass + projector behind
Situated displays
• Displays in ‘public’ places
– Large or small
– Very public or for small group
• Display only-for information relevant to
location
• Or interactive-use stylus, touch sensitive screen
• In all cases : the location matters-meaning of information or interaction is related
to the location
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 Digital paper and 3D
• Digital paper, also known as interactive paper,
is patterned paper used in conjunction with a digital
pen to create handwritten digital documents. The
printed dot pattern uniquely identifies the position
coordinates on the paper. The digital pen uses this
pattern to store the handwriting and upload it to a
computer
• Virtual reality and 3D interaction
VR Enables one or more users to move and react in a
computer-simulated environment by using 3D
interaction (interact in 3 dimension like real situations)

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 3D displays
• Desktop VR
– Ordinary screen, mouse or keyboard control
– Perspective and motion give 3D effect
• Seeing in 3D
– Use stereoscopic vision (combination of display
devices that work together)
– VR helmets (detect head motion and possibly eye gaze)
– Screen plus shuttered specs, etc.

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Sensors and Physical Controls

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 Sounds
• Sound may be beeps, bongs, clonks, whistles
(Used for error indications or confirmation of
actions e.g. key click_
• Speech output
– Digitized speech - recorded human speech
directly in digital format
– Synthesized speech - generated using
computers via speech processing techniques

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 Sound Cont…
• Advantage:
– Useful when user’s eyes are busy or user
cannot access the screen
• Disadvantages:
– Limited information because speech is transient
– Lack of privacy & security under open
environment
– Speech is a single channel mode, i.e., we cannot
listen multiple messages simultaneously
– Spoken rate (~120-180 words/min.)
is slower than reading (~200-300 words/min.)

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 Sound Cont…
• Some guidelines for use of speech output
– Consider as output device when user’s eyes are busy
or user cannot access the screen
– Avoid as output device in open environment, when privacy
& security are important, when frequency of use is high,
when multiple messages must be sent simultaneously,
when human memory is overloaded
• Use output rate of approximately 180 words per min.
• Structure voice instructional prompts to present the goal first
& the action last
e.g., telephone banking system
• “For playing message, press two”
• “Please press two to play message”

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Touch and feel
• Touch and feeling important
– In games … vibration
– In simulation … feel of surgical instruments
– Called haptic devices
Texture, smell, taste
– Current technology is very limited in using
such senses

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 Physical controls
• Specialist controls needed …
– Industrial controls, consumer products, etc.

easy-clean
smooth buttons

multi-function
large buttons control
clear dials

tiny buttons
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 Paper: printing and
scanning
Paper usually regarded as output only can be
input too
– e.g. OCR and scanning

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 Printing

• Image made from small dots

– Allows any character set or graphic to be printed
• Critical features:
– Resolution
• Size and spacing of the dots
• Measured in dots per inch (dpi)
– Speed
• Usually measured in pages per minute

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 Types of dot-based printers
• Dot-matrix printers
– Use inked ribbon (like a typewriter)
– Line of pins that can strike the ribbon, dotting the paper.
– Typical resolution 80-120 dpi
• Ink-jet and bubble-jet printers
– Tiny blobs of ink sent from print head to paper
– Typically 300 dpi or better .
• Laser printer
– Like photocopier: dots of electrostatic charge deposited on drum, which picks up
toner (black powder form of ink) rolled onto paper which is then fixed with heat
– Typically 600 dpi or better.
• Font – the particular style of text
Courier font
Helvetica font
Palatino font
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 Readability of text
• Lowercase
– Easy to read shape of words
• UPPERCASE
– Better for individual letters and non-words
E.g. flight numbers: BA793 vs. ba793

Scanners
• Take paper and convert it into a bitmap
• Two sorts of scanner
– Flat-bed: paper placed on a glass plate, whole page
converted into
bitmap
– Hand-held: scanner passed over paper, digitising strip typically 3-4”
wide
• Typical resolutions from 600–2400 dpi
• Used in: desktop publishing for incorporating photographs and other
images; document storage and retrieval systems, doing away with paper 44
Optical character recognition(OCR)
• OCR converts bitmap into text
• Different fonts
– More complex systems segment text,
decompose it into lines and
arcs, and decipher characters that way
• Page format has to be considered
– Columns, pictures, headers and footers

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 Memory
Short term and long term

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 Short-term Memory - RAM
• Random access memory (RAM)
– On silicon chips
– 100 nano-second access time
– Usually volatile (lose information if power turned off)
• Some non-volatile RAM used to store basic set-up information
Long-term Memory – disks
• Magnetic disks
– Floppy disks store around 1.4 Mbytes
– Hard disks typically 40 Gbytes to 100s of Gbytes
– Access time ~10ms
• Optical disks
– Use laser to read and write
– More robust than magnetic media
– CD-ROM and DVD
• Flash-Memory
– Silicon based but persistent
– Plug-in USB devices for data transfer
– Used in PDAs, cameras, etc.
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 Compression
• Reduce amount of storage required
• Lossless
– Recover exact text or image – e.g. GIF, ZIP
– Look for commonalities:
• E.g. AAAAAAAAAABBBBBCCCCCCCC10A5B8C
Storage formats – text
• ASCII - 7-bit binary code for each letter and character
• UTF-8 - 8-bit encoding
• RTF (rich text format)- text plus formatting and layout information
• SGML (standardized generalised markup language)
- documents regarded as structured objects
• XML (extended markup language)-simpler version of SGML for web applications
Storage formats-media
• Images: many storage formats(PostScript, GIFF, JPEG, TIFF, PICT, etc)
– Plus different compression techniques
• Audio/Video: again lots of formats : (QuickTime, MPEG, WAV, etc.)
– Compression even more important and ‘streaming’ formats for network delivery
method of access-use indexing.
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Processing and networks

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 Processing speed
• Designers tend to assume fast processors, and
make interfaces more and more complicated
• But problems occur, because processingcannot keep
up with all the tasks it needs to do
– Cursor overshooting because system has buffered key
presses
– Icon wars - user clicks on icon, nothing happens, clicks
on another,
then system responds and windows fly everywhere
• Also problems if system is too fast
- e.g. help screens may scroll through text much too
rapidly to be read

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 Limitations on interactive
performance
Computation bound
– Computation takes ages, causing frustration for the user
Storage channel bound
– Bottleneck in transference of data from disk to memory
Graphics bound
– Common bottleneck: updating displays requires a lot of effort - sometimes
helped by adding a graphics co-processor optimised to take on the burden
Network capacity
– Many computers networked - shared resources and files, access to printers
etc. - but interactive performance can be reduced by slow network speed

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 Networked computing
Networks allow access to …
– Large memory and processing
– Other people (groupware, email)
– Shared resources – especially the web

Issues
– Network delays – slow feedback
– Conflicts - many people update data
– Unpredictability of the future

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 Example 1
• What is the basic architecture of a
computer system?
• Here, architecture must be seen from
the point of interaction between human
and computer.

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• The basic architecture of a computer systems consists of the
computer itself (with associated memory), input and output
devices for user interaction and various forms of hard copy
devices.
• A typical configuration of user input/output devices would be a
screen with a keyboard for typing text and a mouse for pointing
and positioning. Depending on circumstance, different pointing
devices may be used such as ligh tpen (for more direct interaction)
or a trackball (especially on portable computers).
• The computer itself can be considered as composed of some
processing element and memory. The memory is itself divided
into short term memory which is lost
• When the machine is turned off and permanent memory which
persists.

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 Exercise
1. What kind of input and output Computer
devices do you recommend for tourist
information system?
2. Discuss the impact of increasing memory on
interaction between human and computer?

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