The Human-Computer Interface - Assignment Example

The Human-Computer Interface Human computer interface is the description of the interaction between computer and a user. Many things are considered to be part of the Human Computer Interface (HCI) such as the look of screen. 1. Haptic feedback, Key Issues and Its requirement Haptic feedback is the critical constituent of the virtual environment that is used for the cognitive research. Time and cost are also the feedback Haptic, which are required to build the innovation. In human computer interface, haptic feedback is the force that relies upon the tangible and realistic sensation to the user. Haptic interface application in the development of computer aided design and prototypic allows the user to interact with a visual object before its production. Key Issues: Haptic feedback issues are sorted into three categories such as info communication, control and other cognitive aspects. Performance of force feedback control is influenced by the uncertainties, time delay, and non liberalities. Info communication is another point as time delay for the switch packets creates problems. Cognitive process is another problem created by the sensation of incoming information during virtual and remote interaction (Galambos, 2012). Importance: Haptic feedback is used in the simulators for medical assessment and training. It is also equally important for minimally invasive surgery (MIS). It is also useful for the study of the surgical skills. It is too advantageous during the initial phase for the acquisition of the psychomotor skills. 2. Compare the various types of human memory and their impact on the human-computer interface There are various types of the human memory, and human have limited capability to process the information. This information is stored in the different types of memory. Short term or working memory: The short term memory is the capacity and store situated in the frontal lobes. Its function is to manipulate and update the representation, dividing and switching towards the tasks, and selection for the appropriate information. The retention time of the information in the short term memory is from seconds to minutes. Sensory Memory: It corresponds to the perception of an item, and some of the information goes to sensory store, which is actually called as the short term memory. The retention time in sensory memory is in milliseconds to seconds. Long term memory: Cognitive theory is also known as the theory of long term working memory in HCI. This is a long term memory, and requires practice as a prerequisite. Long term theory supposes that information is encoded in the long term memory, and pace of encoding enlarges with the practice. Information in the long term memory, is encoded in a very organized system. Contrary to Short term memory, the long term memory is not inferred by the secondary task. (Oulasvirta and Saariluomas, 2004). 3. Describe the potential outcomes of not using consistency in the human-computer interface. A design team does not know the people behavior about the use of a product. A designer pays a conscious attention for the designing of the internal consistency. Consistency is more required in graphics and layout, dialogue forms and selection techniques. Each domain of the interface has a set of consistent dimensions. Inconsistency in color, size, style and shapes may create issues for the user. For example, Move forward is consistent with Move backward, but reverse, Go backward is not consistent. Inconsistency in HCI also fosters the level of confusion and frustration for the user as a user may access or generalize the other menu. In case of the inconsistent information, a user takes more time to answer the question on the screen. 4. Summarize and explain the steps of the user-centric design process. An engineer only operates the system to construct the design. System is developed on the need of the users. The users’ involvement for the design process is called as the User-Centered design. This process puts the user in the development team and considers them a key part for the software development. Like the development of other software, UCD also has a sequence of the steps, which is followed for a successful development of a product. A UCD is always integrated in the software process. Prototype model is best model as it releases iteration and a prototype. Prototype model is represented by the iteration cycle, which starts with analysis. Analysis refers to the information collection about a project. Design is the next, which determines the designing of the collected data and information. It also involves the release of the initial release. A non working prototype is given to a user for testing and also feedback. Code state starts after the design is completed. In the next step, the use test is done, and customer asked any mistake there for corrections. Whole process requires the involvement of a user from start to a final step. Analysis step involves the information collections and ways of doing things by the user (Eid, 2003). Figure: A user centered design Process 5. Explain the role of human motion in the design of the human-computer interface For the interactive scenarios and settings, human motion is essential and natural. The idea of human motion is new for the human computer interaction. It has been concluded that there was a high potential, which enhanced the experience by inclusion of the human motion data for the interaction design and also user experience. A user’ eye movement is equally important as it gets information from natural movements for the interaction designing. Fitt’s law is a major model for the human movement that determines the time to reach a target. Both, target size, and visual feedback require the consideration for Human Computer Interface design (Wu, Yang, and Wu, 2010). There are four phases for human motion capture as “initialization, tracking, poses estimation and recognition”. Space and time present the stimuli, which can change the percept and may result into a new percept. Summarizing the concepts related to Human Computer Interaction, a number of questions are answered in the paper. These questions determine the importance of different aspects for HCI. References Eid, M.P. (2003). User Centred Design, Available from http://users.encs.concordia.ca/~pa_eid/Research/Papers/User%20Centered%20Design.pdf Accessed on 10/12/2012. Galambos, P. (2012). “Vibrotactile Feedback for Haptics and Telemanipulation: Survey, Concept and Experiment”, Acta Polytechnica Hungarica Vol. 9 No. 1, 2012. Oulasvirta, A., and Saariluomas, P. (2004). “Long-term working memory and interrupting messages in human – computer interaction”, Behavior & Information Technology, Vol. 23, No. 1, p.p53–64. Wu, Q., Yang, J., and Wu, J. (2010). “Evaluation of human pointing movement characteristics for improvement of human computer interface”, IEEE, p.p. 799-804. Read More