Book Image

Learn Human-Computer Interaction

By : Christopher Reid Becker
Book Image

Learn Human-Computer Interaction

By: Christopher Reid Becker

Overview of this book

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is a field of study that researches, designs, and develops software solutions that solve human problems. This book will help you understand various aspects of the software development phase, from planning and data gathering through to the design and development of software solutions. The book guides you through implementing methodologies that will help you build robust software. You will perform data gathering, evaluate user data, and execute data analysis and interpretation techniques. You’ll also understand why human-centered methodologies are successful in software development, and learn how to build effective software solutions through practical research processes. The book will even show you how to translate your human understanding into software solutions through validation methods and rapid prototyping leading to usability testing. Later, you will understand how to use effective storytelling to convey the key aspects of your software to users. Throughout the book, you will learn the key concepts with the help of historical figures, best practices, and references to common challenges faced in the software industry. By the end of this book, you will be well-versed with HCI strategies and methodologies to design effective user interfaces.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
1
Section 1 - Learn Human-Computer Interaction
5
Section 2 - How to Build Human-Centered Software
11
Section 3 - When to Improve Software Systems
Validating Software Solutions

As you may be starting to understand, HCI is intimately connected to people through the data we gather on them. A computer is an awesome tool for gathering user research data, and we design computer software in order to capitalize not only on this collection of data but on how this data feeds back into the software itself. User research data on its own will not help an HCI designer create great software as it is just ones and zeros, but when used alongside an HCI designer's intuition, curiosity, and understanding of their users, data can give us an in-focus picture. The computer cannot create on its own (at least, not yet); it is only a reflection of the solutions we as HCI designers create and code. Software solutions are fundamentally better when we can incorporate the data we have on our users, the data we gather along the way about our users...