What is HCI?

Human-computer interaction (HCI) is the study and planned design of human and
computeractivities. HCI uses productivity, safety and entertainment to support and
fulfill human-computeractivities and is applied to various types of computer systems,
including air traffic control,nuclear processing, offices and computer gaming. HCI systems are
easy, safe, effective andenjoyable.
2.

Who is involved in HCI?

User:
"user", we may mean an individual user, a group of users working together.
Anappreciation of the way people's sensory systems (sight, hearing, touch) relay
informationis vital. Also, different users form different conceptions or mental
models about theirinteractions and have different ways of learning and keeping
knowledge and. In addition,cultural and national differences play a part.
Computer
When we talk about the computer, we're referring to any technology ranging
fromdesktop computers, to large scale computer systems. For example, if we were
discussingthe design of a Website, then the Website itself would be referred to as
"the computer".
Devices such as mobile phones or VCRs can also be considered to be “computers”.

Interaction
There are obvious differences between humans and machines. In spite of these,
HCIattempts to ensure that they both get on with each other and interact
successfully. In orderto achieve a usable system, you need to apply what you know
about humans andcomputers, and consult with likely users throughout the design
process. In real systems,the schedule and the budget are important, and it is vital to
find a balance between whatwould be ideal for the users and what is feasible in
reality.
3.

What are the 5 major senses?

Sight Hearing Touch Taste Smell
4.
What is meant by visual perception?
Visual perception is the ability to see, organize, and interpret one's environment.
Visual perception is the ability to interpret the surrounding environment
by processing information thatis contained in visible light. The resulting perception is also
known as eyesight, sight, or vision(adjectival form: visual, optical, or ocular). The various
physiological components involved invision are referred to collectively as the visual system,
and are the focus of much research inlinguistics, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience,
and molecular biology, collectivelyreferred to as vision science.
6.

What are the effo ectors?

Limbs Fingers Eyes Head Vocal system.

7.

What are the two stages of vision

The physical reception of the stimulus from outside world, and
•

The processing and interpretation of that stimulus.

8.

What is rods and cones?

Rods are highly sensitive to light and therefore allow us to see under a low level ofIllumination.
The rods have been active and are saturated by the sudden light.The cones do not operate either
as they are suppressed by the rods. We are therefore temporarilyunable to see at all. Rods
therefore dominate peripheral
9.

What are the input and output channels of human?

Input in human is mainly though the senses and output through the motor control of
theeffectors.There are five major senses: Sight, Hearing, Touch, Taste, and Smell.There are
a number of effectors: Limbs, Fingers, Eyes, Head, Vocal system.
10.

What is reading?
There are several stages in the reading process. First, the visual pattern of the word on the page
is perceived. It is then decoded with reference to an internal representation of
language. Thefinal stages of language processing include syntactic and semantic analysis and
operate on phrases or sentences.
11.

What is hearing?
Provides information about environment: distances, directions, objects etc.
Physical apparatus:

outer ear
–
protects inner and amplifies sound

middle ear
–
transmits sound waves as vibrations to inner ear

inner ear
–
chemical transmitters are released and cause impulses in auditory nerveSound

pitch
–
sound frequency

loudness
–
amplitude timbre
–
type or quality
12.

What is meant by processing sound?

Sound is changes or vibrations in air pressure. It has a number of characteristics which we
candifferentiate. Pitch is the frequency of the sound. A low frequency produces a
low pitch, a highfrequency, a high pitch. Loudness is proportional to the amplitude of the
sound; the frequencyremains constant. Timbre relates to the type of the sound: sounds may
have the same pitch andloudness but be made by different instruments and so vary in timbre.
13.

What is touch?
Touch Provides important feedback about environment. May be key sense for someonewho is
visually impaired. Stimulus received via receptors in the skin:

thermoreceptors
–
heat and cold

nociceptors
–
pain

mechanoreceptors
–
pressure (some instant, some continuous)Some areas more sensitive than others e.g.
fingers.Kinethesis - awareness of body position affects comfort and performance
Draw the structure of human Memory.15.

What is sensory memory?

Buffers for stimuli received through senses

iconic memory: visual stimuli

echoic memory: aural stimuli

haptic memory: tactile stimuliExamples

: “sparkler”
trail, stereo sound
16.

What is long term memory? And mention its types

Long-term memory is intended for the long-term storage of information.There are two types of
long-term memory: episodic memory and semantic memory.
Episodic memory:
 It represents our memory of events and experiences in a serial form. It is fromthis memory that
we can reconstruct the actual events that took place at a given point in our lives.
Semantic memory:
is a structured record of facts, concepts and skills that we have acquired. Theinformation in
semantic memory is derived from that in our episodic memory, such that we canlearn new facts
or concepts from our experiences.
17.

What is Short term memory?

Short-
term memory or working memory acts as a „scratch
-
pad‟ for temporary recall
ofinformation. It is used to store information which is only required
fleetingly.Short-term memory can be accessed rapidly, in the order of 70 ms.Short-term
memory also has a limited capacity
18.

What is semantic memory?

The information in semantic memory is derived from that in our episodic memory;
Semanticmemory is structured in some way to allow access to information, representation of
relationships between pieces of information, and inference. One model for the way
in which semantic memory
is structured is as a network associated to each other in classes, and may inherit attributes
from parent classes. This model is known as a semantic network.
19.

Define Moore’s law

.
Moore's law refers to an observation made by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in
1965. Henoticed that the number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits had
doubled everyyear since their invention.Moore's law predicts that this trend will continue into
the foreseeable future. Although the pacehas slowed, the number of transistors per square inch
has since doubled approximately every 18months.
20.

What is forgetting?
Forgetting or disremembering is the apparent loss or modification of information already
encodedand stored in an individual's long term memory. It is a spontaneous or gradual process
in whichold memories are unable to be recalled from memory storage. Forgetting also helps to
reconcilethe storage of new information with old knowledge.There are two main theories
of forgetting:
decay and interference.
The first theory suggests that the information held in long-term memory may eventually
beforgotten.The second theory is that information is lost from memory through
interference. If we acquirenew information it causes the loss of old information. This is
termed retroactive interference.
21.

What is retrieval?

recall -information reproduced from memory can be assisted by cues, e.g. categories,imagery

recognition -information gives knowledge that it has been seen before

less complex than recall - information is cue

22.

Differentiate deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning and

abductive reasoning

Deductive reasoning derives the logically necessary conclusion from the given premises.

Induction is generalizing from cases we have seen to infer information about cases wehave not
seen.

Abduction reasons from a fact to the action or state that caused it. This is the method weuse to
derive explanations for the events we observe.
23.

What is gestalt theory?

problem solving both productive and reproductive

productive draws on insight and restructuring of problem

attractive but not enough evidence to explain `insight' etc.

24.

What is problem space theory?

Newell and Simon 1972, problem
space theory to problem solving differs from reconstructionand trial and error
mentioned in a previous blog. This theory believes that we search the problemspace to find
the answer
The problem space consists of two states. We have the initial state, which is our state that we
arecurrently in and the goal state which is where we are aiming to get to, or
the solution. Forexample take the Tower of Hanoi Problem. The initial state would be where the
rings are at the beginning and the goal state will be strategy used to get
the rings to the end pole in size orderonly moving one at a time.25.

Mention the types of error?

Slips

right intention, but failed to do it right

causes: poor physical skill,inattention etc.

change to aspect of skilled behaviour can cause slip

Mistakes

d. wrong intention

e. cause: incorrect understandingHumans create mental models to explain behaviour. if wrong

(different from actual system) errorscan occur
26.
What is meant by Batch processing?
Batch processing interactions takes place over hours or days. In contrast the typical
desktopcomputer system has interactions taking seconds or fractions of a second (or with slow
web pagessometimes minutes!). The field of Human
–
Computer Interaction largely grew due to this changein interactive pace. It is easy to assume
that faster means better, but some of the paper-basedtechnology
27.

Define Richer interaction.

Information appliances are putting internet access or dedicated systems onto the
fridge,microwave and washing machine: to automate shopping, give you email in your kitchen
orsimply call for maintenance when needed. We carry with us WAP phones and smartcards,
havesecurity systems that monitor us and web cams that show our homes to the world.
28.

What are text entry devices available in computer?

keyboards (QWERTY et al.), alphabetic keyboard,

chord keyboards, phone pads

handwriting, speech
29.

What is meant by chord Keyboards.

A keyset or chorded keyboard is a computer input device that allows the user to enter
charactersor commands formed by pressing several keys together, like playing a "chord" on a
piano. Thelarge number of combinations available from a small number of keys allows text or
commands to be entered with one hand, leaving the other hand free. A secondary
advantage is that it can be built into a device that is too small to contain a normal-
sized keyboard. A chorded keyboardminus the board, typically designed to be used while
held in the hand, is called a keyer
List the parts of human Eye.

a hand or finger, or virtually, by pointing to an object on a computer monitor using

a pointingdevice.
23.

Differentiate Hover-Reveal Tools and Toggle-Reveal Tools.

Hover-Reveal Tools: Show Contextual Tools on mouse hover.Toggle-Reveal Tools: A master
switch to toggle on/off Contextual Tools for the page.
24.

What is meant by Multi-Level Tools?

Multi-Level Tools: Progressively reveal actions based on user interaction.25.

What is meant by Radial menus?

Experienced users can rely on muscle memory rather than having to look directly at themenu
items.

the proximity and targeting size make the menu easy to navigate since the revealed menuitems
are all equally close at hand
26.

What is meant by Dialog Overlay?

Dialog Overlay contains important information that the user should not ignore. Both the
NetflixPurchase dialog and the Flickr Rotate dialog are good candidates for the Lightbox Effect
27.

What is meant by Light box Effect?

Lightbox is a JavaScript library that displays images and videos by filling the screen,
anddimming out the rest of the web page
28.

What is meant by Detail Overlay?

The Detail Overlay allows an overlay to present additional information when the user clicks
orhovers over a link or section of content. Toolkits now make it easier to create overlays
acrossdifferent browsers and to request additional information from the server
without refreshing the page.
29.

What is meant by Input Overlay?

Input Overlay is a lightweight overlay that brings additional input information for each
fieldtabbed into. American Express uses this technique in its registration for premium cards
such as itsgold card
30.

What is meant by Dialog Inlay?

Dialog Inlay as a way to reveal customization controls for its home page. Inlays get around
this problem by inserting themselves directly into the context of the page.Separate
page to customize the home page appearance, the user can make changes and view theeffects
directly.Dialog Inlay reveals its home page customization tools
31.

What is meant by List Inlay?

The List Inlay works as an effective way to hide detail until needed while at the same
time preserving space on the page for high-level overview information. List Inlay
pattern shows onlyone open panel in a list at a time
32.

What is meant by Detail Inlay?

Detail Inlay pattern shows a carousel of photos when the user clicks on the “View photos” link.
It
uses a Detail Overlay to blow up a thumbnail when clicked on.
33.

How to combine inlays and overlays?

Roost‟s solution was to combine several patterns. First, it uses the Hover Reveal, a Contextual
Tools pattern, to reveal a set of tools when the user hovers over a listing. Second, it
uses the
Detail Inlay pattern to show a carousel of photos when the user clicks on the “View photos”
link.
And finally, it uses a Detail Overlay to blow up a thumbnail when clicked on.
34.

What is meant by Virtual Scrolling?

The virtual scrolling feature of datagrid can be used to display large amounts of records
without paging. When scrolling with the vertical scrollbar, the datagrid executes
ajax requests to load andrefresh the existing records. The overall behavior is
smooth and with no flicker.
35.

What is meant by Inline Paging?

Inline Paging feels like the user never leaves the page even though new virtual pages of
resultsare being brought into view.Inline Paging can also be useful when reading news content
onlineA set number of messages is displayed on the page.36.

What is meant by Scrolled Paging

?The virtual scrolling feature of data grid can be used to display large amounts of records
without paging. When scrolling with the vertical scrollbar, the data grid executes
ajax requests to load andrefresh the existing records. The overall behaviour is smooth and
with no flicker.37.

What is meant by Virtual Panning

?A great place for Virtual Panning is on a map. Virtual panning the canvas only moves while
themouse is dragging it around. With flicking, if the user starts the dragging operation and
releases,the canvas will continue moving with some momentum.
38.

What is meant by Zoomable User Interface?

A Zoom able User Interface (ZUI) way to create a virtual canvas.ZUI interactions is in a
concept demo for Firefox on the mobileZUIs provide the ultimate virtual canvas. By extending
the concept of the page, the user neveractually leaves the virtual page.
39.

What is meant by Google Blogger?

Blogger is a blog-publishing service that allows multi-user blogs with time-
stamped entries. Itwas developed by Pyra Labs, which was bought by Google in 2003.
Generally, the blogs are
hosted by Google at a subdomain of blogspot.com. Blogger is Google‟s fr
ee tool for creating blogs. It can be found on the web at http://www.blogger.com.
40.

Define Magic Principle.

Alan Cooper had brought a wonderful technique for getting away from a technology-
drivenapproach and discovering the underlying mental model of the
user. He calls it the “magic
principle.
41.

What is meant by Interactive Single-Page Process?

The Gap accomplishes this kind of product selection in a single page using Interactive Single-
Page Process.Broadmoor Hotel uses Interactive Single-Page Process for room reservations
42.

What is meant by Inline Assistant Process?

The Gap employed an Inline Assistant Process pattern for its shopping cart when it re-
launchedits siteThe Gap is betting that making it quick and easy to add items to the cart across
four stores willequal more sales.
43.

What is meant by Dialog Overlay Process?

Dialog Overlay Process to encapsulate a multi-step flow inside a Dialog Overlay.Process Flow
is meant to invoke delight
44.

What is meant by Static Single-Page Process?

The user sees all the tasks needed to complete the full process.Static Single-Page Process, many
options are defaulted and a simplified form is presented to theuserStatic Single-Page Process
when you only have a few steps and want to avoid taking the chancethat a user will quit while
moving from page to page.