Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence: Three Fresh Ideas

Human-Centered AI (HCAI) is a promising direction for designing AI systems that support human self-efficacy, promote creativity, clarify responsibility, and facilitate social participation. These human aspirations also encourage consideration of privacy, security, environmental protection, social justice, and human rights. This commentary reverses the current emphasis on algorithms and AI methods, by putting humans at the center of systems design thinking, in effect, a second Copernican Revolution. It offers three ideas: (1) a two-dimensional HCAI framework, which shows how it is possible to have both high levels of human control AND high levels of automation, (2) a shift from emulating humans to empowering people with a plea to shift language, imagery, and metaphors away from portrayals of intelligent autonomous teammates towards descriptions of powerful tool-like appliances and tele-operated devices, and (3) a three-level governance structure that describes how software engineering teams can develop more reliable systems, how managers can emphasize a safety culture across an organization, and how industry-wide certification can promote trustworthy HCAI systems. These ideas will be challenged by some, refined by others, extended to accommodate new technologies, and validated with quantitative and qualitative research. They offer a reframe -- a chance to restart design discussions for products and services -- which could bring greater benefits to individuals, families, communities, businesses, and society

Mapping Twitter Topic Networks: From Polarized Crowds to Community Clusters

Conversations on Twitter create networks with identifiable contours as people reply to and mention one another in their tweets. These conversational structures differ, depending on the subject and the people driving the conversation. Six structures are regularly observed: divided, unified, fragmented, clustered, and inward and outward hub and spoke structures. These are created as individuals choose whom to reply to or mention in their Twitter messages and the structures tell a story about the nature of the conversatio

Categorized Graphical Overviews for Web Search Results: An Exploratory Study using U.S. Government Agencies as a Meaningful and Stable Structure

Search engines are very effective at generating long lists of results that are highly relevant to user-provided query terms. But the lack of effective overviews presents challenges to users who seek to understand these results, especially for a complex task such as learning about a topic area, which requires gaining overviews of and exploring large sets of search results, identifying unusual documents, and understanding their context. Categorizing the results into comprehensible visual displays using meaningful and stable classifications can support user exploration and understanding of large sets of search results. This extended abstract presents a set of principles that we are developing for search result visualization. It also describes an exploratory study that investigated categorized overviews of search results for complex search tasks within the domain of U. S. government web sites, using a hierarchy based on the federal government organization

From Keyword Search to Exploration: How Result Visualization Aids Discovery on the Web

A key to the Web's success is the power of search. The elegant way in which search results are returned is usually remarkably effective. However, for exploratory search in which users need to learn, discover, and understand novel or complex topics, there is substantial room for improvement. Human computer interaction researchers and web browser designers have developed novel strategies to improve Web search by enabling users to conveniently visualize, manipulate, and organize their Web search results. This monograph offers fresh ways to think about search-related cognitive processes and describes innovative design approaches to browsers and related tools. For instance, while key word search presents users with results for specific information (e.g., what is the capitol of Peru), other methods may let users see and explore the contexts of their requests for information (related or previous work, conflicting information), or the properties that associate groups of information assets (group legal decisions by lead attorney). We also consider the both traditional and novel ways in which these strategies have been evaluated. From our review of cognitive processes, browser design, and evaluations, we reflect on the future opportunities and new paradigms for exploring and interacting with Web search results

Future directions for human-computer interaction

This paper offers a set of goals for user interface development and then scenarios of future developments. The applications include home control, hypermedia, office automation, digital photography, collaborative meeting/classrooms, public access, professional workstations, and medical record-keeping. Also, predictions are made for some of the underlying technologies such as User Interface Management Systems, remote control, flexible search, display devices, and touchscreens. (Also cross-referenced as CAR-TR-436

Reflections on authoring, editing and managing hypertex

This chapter offers recommendations for potential authors of hypertext documents based on the experience of designing a hypertext system and of creating a series of substantial hypertext databases on personal computers and larger workstations. Advice on choosing projects, identifying useful author tool features, and structuring knowledge is presented. Additional issues such as the design of the root document, article size, and conversion from existing databases are covered. While hypertext has exciting potentials, the dangers of poor design must be overcome to create attractive and effective products. (Also cross-referenced as CAR-TR-410

Bridging the Digital Divide with Universal Usability (2001)

How do you explain a trashcan to a culture that doesn have one? How do you describe a top loss limit orderto retirees managing their funds? Can you design a text-only interface that conveys the contents and experience of an animated Flash presentation? These puzzles emerged during the first ACM Conference on Universal Usability (http://www.acm.org/sigchi/cuu/), held on November 15-17, 2000 near Washington, DC. The international group of organizers, presenters, and attendees of this conference shared an unusual commitment and passion for making information and communications services accessible, usable, and useful. They want to see effective healthcare services and appealing distance education. They want to create successful e-commerce and accessible government services for all. Realizing these possibilities requires more than low-cost hardware or broadband networks. These mass- market services are often too complex, unusable, or irrelevant for too many users; usability and design become the keys to success. The source of these problems was often attributed to designers who make incorrect assumptions about user knowledge. This leads to difficulties with technical terminology and advanced concepts that are not balanced by adequate online help or live assistance. Unfortunately, most designers never see the pain they inflict on novice and even expert users. These problems have contributed to the growing digital divide in internet technology adoption levels between lowincome poorly-educated and high-income well-educated users [2]. Even as the gap between men and women internet users has been eliminated and the gap between young and old is shrinking, the slow adoption rates by poor and poorly educated users remains a problem. Low-cost equipment is needed, but progress in design will help make internet services more accessible to more people

Designing for Fun: Can we design user interfaces to be more fun? (2004)

User interfaces are taking their place in the world of fashion and style, which is great news. Just as dining out is more than getting a balanced diet and wearing clothes is more than staying warm, using interfaces is becoming a personal statement. It great that designers are turning attention to fun, as a separate design space, distinct from functionality, usability, and reliability. Did anyone notice that fun is part of functionality