The Intellectual Advancement of Human-Computer Interaction Research: A Critical Assessment of the MIS Literature (1990-2008)

This paper assesses the intellectual advancement of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) scholarship as one of the five research streams of the Management Information Systems (MIS) discipline. It particularly demonstrates the vitality and maturity that the HCI stream (or sub-discipline) has achieved in recent years, and adds to the few studies that draw an overarching picture of HCI. This study uses the same approach as that of Zhang and Li (2005), and delineates the intellectual development of HCI research in MIS by employing a multifaceted assessment of the published HCI articles over a period of 19 years (1990-2008) in eight primary MIS journals. In addition, this study includes several journal special issues and two book collections in the assessment. Twenty-four specific questions are addressed to answer the following five mega-research questions about the HCI sub-discipline: (1) What constitutes HCI’s intellectual substance? (2) What relationships does HCI have with other disciplines? (3) How is HCI evolving? (4) What are the patterns of HCI publication in the primary MIS journals? And, (5) Who are the contributing scholars? A number of areas for future research are predicted, along with a discussion of potential future directions for the sub-discipline. This study is of interest to researchers in the HCI sub-discipline, the MIS discipline, and other related disciplines to inform future research, collaboration, publication, and education. It should also be of interest to doctoral students for identifying potential topics for dissertation research and to identify academic institutions for future employment where such research is understood, appreciated, and encouraged

The Intellectual Development of Human-Computer Interaction Research: A Critical Assessment of the MIS Literature (1990-2002)

As one of the five research streams of the Management Information Systems (MIS) discipline, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) was predicted to resurge in the post-millennium era. To date, however, few studies have either synthesized existing studies or drawn an overarching picture of this sub-discipline. This study delineates the intellectual development of HCI research in MIS by a multifaceted assessment of the published HCI articles over a period of 13 years (1990-2002) in seven prime MIS journals: MISQ, ISR, JMIS, Decision Sciences, Management Science, DATA BASE, and JAIS. Twenty-two specific questions are addressed to answer the following five general research questions about the HCI sub-discipline: (1) What constitutes its intellectual substance? (2) What relationships does it have with other disciplines? (3) What are its recent evolutions? (4) What are the patterns of publishing HCI studies in the primary MIS journals? And, (5) Who are its contributing members? We use classification approach to address these questions. Descriptive analyses, including co-occurrence and cross-facet analyses, depict the key relationships. Trend analyses demonstrate recent evolutions. We present number of areas for future research, along with a discussion of potential future directions for the sub-discipline. This study should be of interest to researchers in this sub-discipline, in the MIS discipline, and in other related disciplines for future research, collaboration, publication, and education. It should also be of interest to doctoral students to identify potential research topics for dissertation research and to identify academic institutions for future employment where such research is understood, appreciated, and encouraged

A Review of the HCI Literature in IS: The Missing Links of Computer-mediated Communication, Culture, and Interaction

The field of human-computer interaction (HCI) is a significant subset of information systems. Despite its importance, there are few systematic reviews of HCI literature, especially as it pertains to the IS discipline. This study attempts to contribute to the discipline by reporting on a review of HCI research published in seven top IS journals over six years (2003–2009). Our review suggests a few critical gaps: 1) there is a dearth of research focusing on CMC-related issues, especially with respect to dyadic communication, 2) while past research acknowledges that culture plays an important role in HCI, and has implications for interface design, few studies have focused on cultural issues, 3) more research is needed in the human-computer interaction involving enterprise systems, and 4) more focus needs to be paid to the “levels of analysis” issues while conducting HCI studies. We also propose specific guidelines for addressing the gaps identified above

Learnable Computing

We have to learn all new technologies and we continue to learn for as long as we use them and develop that use. Learning is therefore an integral part of human engagement with technology, as it is with all areas of life. This paper proposes that we should consider learning as an important part of all human computer interaction and that theories of learning can make an important contribution to HCI. It presents 6 vignettes that describe different ways in which this could happen: rethinking HCI concepts in terms of learning, applying learning theory to better understanding established ideas in HCI, using learning research to inform HCI practice, understanding how people learn software and inspiring us to rethink the aims of this discipline. This paper aims to start a conversation that could bring valuable new ideas into our "inter-discipline"

Exploring Cultural Differences in HCI Education

The discipline of human-computer interaction has become a subject taught across universities around the world, outside of the cultures where it originated. However, the intercultural implication of its assimilation into the\ud syllabus of courses offered by universities around the world remains underresearched. The purpose of this ongoing research project is to provide insights for these implications in terms of the student and teacher experience of HCI. How this subject is socially represented across the different universities studied is a key question. In order to develop intercultural awareness of these questions\ud universities from UK, Namibia, Mexico and China are collaborating in a multiple case study involving students and lecturers engaged in evaluation and design tasks. Findings will then be used to propose an international HCI curriculum more supportive of local perspectives. This paper describes the initial steps of this study and some preliminary findings from Namibia, India and Mexico about cognitive styles and cultural attitudes

Human-computer interaction as science

Human-computer interaction (HCI) has had a long and troublesome relationship to the role of 'science'. HCI's status as an academic object in terms of coherence and adequacy is often in question---leading to desires for establishing a true scientific discipline. In this paper I explore formative cognitive science influences on HCI, through the impact of early work on the design of input devices. The paper discusses a core idea that I argue has animated much HCI research since: the notion of scientific design spaces. In evaluating this concept, I disassemble the broader 'picture of science' in HCI and its role in constructing a disciplinary order for the increasingly diverse and overlapping research communities that contribute in some way to what we call 'HCI'. In concluding I explore notions of rigour and debates around how we might reassess HCI's disciplinarity

AMCIS 2002 Panels and Workshops I: Human-Computer Interaction Research in the MIS Discipline

Human Computer Interaction (HCI)or Human Factors studies in MIS are concerned with the ways humans interact with information, technologies, and tasks, especially in business, managerial, organizational, and cultural contexts. This article describes the existence and importance of HCI research in the MIS discipline, its historical development, some of its characteristics, publication opportunities, and future research directions. It is believed that HCI is the subject of a strong research stream in MIS, and will continue to be strong in the foreseeable future. It is hoped that HCI studies can provide the evolution of the human centered technology development that enhances our work/job, our various needs, our organizations, our societies, and ourselves

From premature semantics to mature interaction programming

As HCI has progressed as a discipline, perhaps just as time has passed, the engineering work of programming has become increasingly separated from the HCI, the core user interface design work. At the same time, the sophistication of digital devices, across multiple dimensions, has grown exponentially. The result is that HCI and User Experience (UX) professionals and programmers now work in very different worlds. This separation causes problems for users: the UX is attractive but the program is unreliable, or the program is reliable but unattractive or unhelpful to use, correctly implementing the wrong thing. In this chapter, we dig down from this high-level view to get to what we identify as a new sort of fundamental problem, one we call premature semantics. Premature semantics must be recognised and understood by name by UX and HCI practitioners and addressed by programmers