Usability and Human Computer Interaction (HCI): Past vs. Present

Do the principles (and criteria) of “usability” that you’ve been working through and finding examples of (from Issa & Isaias, 2015, 2.4.3) fit into HCI’s ‘present,' as set out in the above diagram? Or do these principles (and criteria) of “usability” fit better in its ‘past’?

I would argue that the principles of usability fit better into HCI’s past, rather than its present, as depicted in this diagram. As noted in the chapter, “HCI is a discipline focusing on design, evaluation, and implementation of interactive computer systems” (Issa, 2015, p. 22), and when taking modern or current computer systems into account, it is relatively apparent that these systems have already been designed, evaluated, and implemented in an interactive manner that already suits its users. HCI illustrates that these systems “should be easy to use by people within their work settings” (Issa, 2015, p. 22). I would argue that the systems that are currently in use (word processing like Microsoft Word, data entry utilizing systems such as Excel, photo and video manipulation and processing using AutoCad or Photoshop, etc.) are already designed in such a way as to be easy to use by people who operate within their work setting. The latest version of Windows does not radically alter how well the system interacts with or integrates with its users, rather it is slowly being refined over each iteration. While there is real innovation in how we interact with these system, through implementation of Augmented Reality systems or Virtual Reality systems, we are still using these systems in an intuitive way already: Instead of using your mouse to indicate what you wish to interact with, you gesture with your hand instead or utilize an alternative handheld device; you are still using your physical form to input actions into a system that then reacts to those inputs. We have simply changed the “furniture” surrounding this system.

The Chapter referenced in this post can be found here:

Issa, T., & Isaias, P. (2015). Usability and human computer interaction (HCI)Links to an external site.. In Sustainable Design (pp. 19-35). Springer.