HCI Remixed: Essays on Works That Have Influenced the HCI Community

by Thomas Erickson (Editor), David W. McDonald (Editor)

Personal and reflective essays that describe how particular works--whether papers, books, or demos, from classics to forgotten gems--have influenced each writer's approach to HCI. Over almost three decades, the field of human-computer interaction (HCI) has produced a rich and varied literature. Although the focus of attention today is naturally on new work, older contributions that played a role in shaping the trajectory and character of the field have much to tell us. The contributors to HCI Remixed were asked to reflect on a single work at least ten years old that influenced their approach to HCI. The result is this collection of fifty-one short, engaging, and idiosyncratic essays, reflections on a range of works in a variety of forms that chart the emergence of a new field. An article, a demo, a any of these can solve a problem, demonstrate the usefulness of a new method, or prompt a shift in perspective. HCI Remixed offers us glimpses of how this comes about. The contributors consider such HCI classics as Sutherland's Sketchpad, Englebart's demo of NLS, and Fitts on Fitts' Law--and such forgotten gems as Pulfer's NRC Music Machine, and Galloway and Rabinowitz's Hole in Space. Others reflect on works somewhere in between classic and forgotten--Kidd's "The Marks Are on the Knowledge Worker," King Beach's "Becoming a Bartender," and others. Some contributors turn to works in neighboring disciplines--Henry Dreyfuss's book on industrial design, for example--and some range farther afield, to Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis and Jane Jacobs's The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Taken together, the essays offer an accessible, lively, and engaging introduction to HCI research that reflects the diversity of the field's beginnings.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Software, Computer Science, History

337 pages, Hardcover

First published January 31, 2007

Reviews

[Henry Sturcke · Rating 4 out of 5]

In aggregate, these 51 short essays provide an informal history of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). It’s hard today to imagine a time when there were no personal computers, no icon-oriented functions, not even a mouse. Early in the 1960s, when computers filled rooms, were fed with punched cards programmed with commands, and were only in the means of corporations, research centers, and government agencies, there were people who conceived of these things. This was also the time when most research centered either on automated offices or artificial intelligence. These visionaries saw a third way: that computers could extend the work of our hands and minds, they could augment us.
I’m a non-techie, this was my first introduction to concepts such as GOMS, Fitts’ law, iterative design and how to change space to place. I was pleased to find that almost all of the essays were within my range of comprehension. It was fascinating to see how the field of HCI draws on cognitive psychology, sociology, linguistics, and hermeneutics. I’m curious to sample some of the original books and papers referenced here. I was also interested to gain an insight into some of the continuing discussions, such as the relative merits of modeling versus field studies.
I would recommend this book to anyone who’s looking to bootstrap his or her way into this field. Given how ubiquitous computers are in our world, that should be just about anyone.

[Jon]

Not bad, not bad. If I was doctoral student in HCI I would be digging through this for some good tiddbits and also just an idea how to write. That being said, there were a lot of essays collected, probably more than needed. Towards the end I was skimming quite heavily. I also must confess a preference for those that talked about more concrete papers. I also found a few papers had the unfortunate thing where they described briefly a paper that was interesting, and then dawdled on all the research they did based on the paper which was usually less interesting. (There were exceptions of course).

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still reading, but grounding my experience in some of the history of human computer interaction work has been very helpful.

[Craig Graci · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of fun pieces. An easy way to learn about some classic works that influenced the field of HCI.