Social scientist 2.0 in the domain of Human-Computer Interaction

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THE SOCIAL SCIENTIST 2.0 IN HCI @BIEKEZAMAN

description

The proliferation of advanced technologies, social networks and digital media is radically touching upon many aspects of our daily life. Technology is everywhere; it is increasingly mediating our social activities and affecting the way we experience our lives, the world and each other. These evolutions have urged the need to revitalize the debate on the contribution social sciences may provide in shaping our digital future. Social sciences have always been characterized by a multiplicity of directions. Bieke Zaman's presentation is dedicated to exploring the relationship between social sciences and contemporary human-computer interaction. In studying the complex interaction between technology and people, Bieke will argue that it is not only instructive to question how technology is shaping the way we behave, think, interact and socialize, but also how we are shaping technologies. Acknowledging that many properties of technologies and design choices are not value-free as they elicit certain benefits or harms for the stakeholders involved, Bieke will advocate to pursue value-sensitive design and explain how social sciences can play a major role in complementing the more traditional focus on instrumental rationality in our interaction with technologies with reflexive analyses and discussions of values, interests, experiences and context. // Presentation at IMS Brown Bag Seminar (KU Leuven) : http://instituteformediastudies.wordpress.com/

Transcript of Social scientist 2.0 in the domain of Human-Computer Interaction

Page 1: Social scientist 2.0 in the domain of Human-Computer Interaction

THE SOCIAL SCIENTIST 2.0 IN HCI@BIEKEZAMAN

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Anno 2004

CUO: CENTRE FOR USABILITY RESEARCH

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Anno 2014

CUO: CENTRE FOR USER EXPERIENCE RESEARCH

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WHAT IS HCI?

Human-Computer Interaction

= interdisciplinary field concerned with:

“design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for

human use and with the study of major phenomena surrounding them” Hewett et

al., 1992 ACM definition

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PERIODIZATION OF HCI RESEARCH

Three major intellectual virtues

Never replaced one another

Co-exist, sometimes overlap

Good rhetoric to describe major shift from

researching what is technically feasible, mitigating people’s shortcomings

to a thorough consideration of what is desirable, empowering users in living a valuable life

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• Early ’80s

• Computers for computation and individual productivity

• Cognitive science

• Predictive and prescriptive knowledge

• Towards a dominant interpretation for the interactive system

FIRST WAVE

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• Controlled lab experiments

• Rigid guidelines

• User requirements

CUO & FIRST WAVE RESEARCH

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• Late ’80s, early ’90s

• Computers in a network, for communication and collaboration

• Social sciences

• Holistic, in-depth descriptive accounts of the situated action

• Acknowledging that “computation is part of a richer fabric of relationships between people, institutions, and practices

SECOND WAVE

Picture Flickr Rob n Rae Cornelius

Picture Flickr Oriol Salvador

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• Studying work practices in context

• Participant observations

• Contextual inquiries

• Understanding why & how

CUO & SECOND WAVE RESEARCH

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• Iterative prototyping

• User-centered design

CUO & SECOND WAVE RESEARCH

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• Late nineties - present

• Ubiquitous computing

• Non-work, non-purposeful & non-rational settings, pursuing healthier, more meaningful lifestyles

• Influences from various disciplines, incl. critical reflection insights from arts and humanities

• Designers can no longer anticipate all future users and meanings

THIRD WAVE

Picture Flickr Rain Rabbit

Picture Flickr Emmanuel Gadenne

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• Focus on emotion-related phenomena, hedonics, motivational aspects

• Critical reflection, accountability

• Starting by understanding the human values that the technology will be designed to serve

• Empowering users in and through design

CUO & THIRD WAVE RESEARCH

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THE SOCIAL SCIENTIST 2.0 IN HCI

Social scientists can complement the first wave study of rule-based behaviours with reflexive analyses and discussions of values, interests, experiences and context.

Link with the social and cultural virtues of resp. second and third wave HCI

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HOW?

Studying interactions between people and technology in a holistic, interpretative way, revealing aspects of intuitive decision-making and contextual practices

Bottom-up, ethnography-inspired research practices

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HOW?

Consulting the voices of the various stakeholders, revealing tacit knowledge and empowering the users

Participatory design, creative (visual and/or generative) techniques

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HOW?

Researching the subjective cultural qualities of interactions with technologies

Artifact-centered techniques from the arts and humanities

Figure source: Bardzell & Bardzell, 2008

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WHY?

Because…

it is not only instructive to question how technology is shaping the way we behave, think, interact and socialize,

but also how we are shaping technologies

Many technologies and design choices are NOT VALUE FREE

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THE SOCIAL SCIENTIST 2.0 AS VALUE-SENSITIVE DESIGN CRITIC

Resonating with Web 2.0

… coming as a response to technological and social changes

… sharing similar characteristics: participation, user empowerment, collaboration, rich user experiences

Instrumental rationality remains vital, but it is time to complement Human-Computer

Interaction 1.0 research with social science sensitivity.

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THANKS

@BIEKEZAMAN