Human Computer Interaction (HCI)

Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is an interdisciplinary research field devoted to the study of interaction between people and computers. It covers a range of disciplines from computer science, human factors and ergonomics to social and behavioral sciences and design disciplines.

The field includes research on design, evaluation, and use of interactive systems, with emphasis on ‘user’ and ‘interaction’ and less on computer systems. It has been argued that the field of HCI has legitimized its existence through emphasizing the need to ‘represent the users’. HCI is needed to fight and speak for the users, an ignored group in systems design and computer science [1]. The initial focus was on user interface designed for individuals which was later extended more broadly to include user interface for collaborative and organizational use as well as to varying contexts of use such as multiple work practices and settings. More recently, strong design orientation has emerged within the field.

HCI research in MIS emphasizes the interaction between humans, information, technologies, and tasks, especially in the business, managerial, organizational, and cultural contexts. This track welcomes submissions dealing with more traditional MIS concerns, as well as submissions addressing HCI topics with strong design orientation. Furthermore, since this ECIS will be in Helsinki, Finland, a particular focus and interest will be on studies addressing the users’ role in systems design, potentially having background or inspiration in the Scandinavian collective resources tradition. Of interest are also more recent approaches focusing on the users and their needs such as user-centered design, participatory design, cooperative design, usability engineering, interaction design and user experience design – all aiming at ensuring a central position for the users in the design process.

The track aims to offer a forum for HCI researchers to interact and to share their thoughts and ideas. Submissions reflecting different research traditions and approaches are welcome. Both conceptual, theoretical and empirical papers are invited. The empirical papers may rely on quantitative or qualitative research tradition, as well as participatory/action research or design science/design research. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • The perceptual, behavioral, cognitive, motivational, and affective/emotional aspects of humans and their interaction with IT
  • User task analysis and modeling
  • Digital documents/genres and human information seeking behavior
  • User-centered/participatory/informed user interface design and evaluation for different types of applications in a variety of development contexts:
    • B2B, B2C, C2C E-Commerce
    • E-marketplace and supply chain management
    • Group collaboration
    • Negotiation and auction
    • Enterprise systems
    • Intranets
    • Extranets
    • Small-screen mobile devices and pervasive computing
    • Multi-dimensional information visualizations
    • Applications for elderly, children, young and special needs populations
    • Applications for home/leisure context
    • Outsourced, offshore or application package based IS development context
    • Open source software development or end user development context
  • Integrated or innovative approaches and guidelines for analysis, design, and development of interactive devices and systems
  • Usability engineering, metrics, and methods for user interface assessment
  • Evaluation of end-user computing in work or non-work environment
  • Information technology acceptance and diffusion issues from cognitive, behavioral, affective, motivational, cultural, and user interface design perspectives
  • The impact of interfaces/information technology on attitudes, behavior, performance, perception, and productivity
  • Issues in software learning and training
  • Gender and technology
  • Issues related to the elderly, the children, the young and special needs populations
  • User interfaces for different cultural contexts or cultural usability
  • Innovative ideas for human computer interaction

Track chairs:

Netta Iivari, University of Oulu, Finland, Email: netta.iivari@oulu.fi

Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA, Email: fnah@unlnotes.unl.edu

[1] Cooper, C. & Bowers, J. (1995): Representing the users: Notes on the disciplinary rhetoric of human-computer interaction. In Peter J. Thomas (Ed.): The Social and Interactional Dimensions of Human-Computer Interfaces. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 48-66.