chapter 4

paradigms
why study paradigms

Concerns
– how can an interactive system be developed
to ensure its usability?
– how can the usability of an interactive
system be demonstrated or measured?

History of interactive system design

provides paradigms for usable designs
What are Paradigms

• Predominant theoretical frameworks or

scientific world views
– e.g., Aristotelian, Newtonian, Einsteinian (relativistic)
paradigms in physics
• Understanding HCI history is largely about
understanding a series of paradigm shifts
– Not all listed here are necessarily “paradigm” shifts,
but are at least candidates
– History will judge which are true shifts
Paradigms of interaction

New computing technologies arrive,

creating a new perception of the
human—computer relationship.
We can trace some of these shifts in
the history of interactive technologies.
The initial paradigm

• Batch processing

Impersonal computing
Example Paradigm Shifts

• Batch processing
• Time-sharing

Interactive computing
Example Paradigm Shifts

• Batch processing @#$% !

• Timesharing
• Networking

???

Community computing
Example Paradigm Shifts

• Batch processingC…P… filename Move this file here,

• Timesharing dot star… or was
it R…M?
and copy this to there.

• Networking
• Graphical displays % foo.bar
ABORT
dumby!!!

Direct manipulation
Example Paradigm Shifts

• Batch processing
• Timesharing
• Networking
• Graphical display
• Microprocessor

Personal computing
Example Paradigm Shifts

• Batch processing
• Timesharing
• Networking
• Graphical display
• Microprocessor
• WWW

Global information
Example Paradigm Shifts

• Batch processing • A symbiosis of physical

and electronic worlds in
• Timesharing service of everyday
activities.
• Networking
• Graphical display
• Microprocessor
• WWW
• Ubiquitous
Computing
Time-sharing

• 1940s and 1950s – explosive technological

growth

• 1960s – need to channel the power

• J.C.R. Licklider at ARPA

• single computer supporting multiple users

Video Display Units

• more suitable medium than paper

• 1962 – Sutherland's Sketchpad

• computers for visualizing and manipulating

data

• one person's contribution could drastically

change the history of computing
Programming toolkits

• Engelbart at Stanford Research Institute

• 1963 – augmenting man's intellect

• 1968 NLS/Augment system demonstration

• the right programming toolkit provides

building blocks to producing complex
interactive systems
Personal computing

• 1970s – Papert's LOGO language for simple

graphics programming by children

• A system is more powerful as it becomes

easier to user

• Future of computing in small, powerful

machines dedicated to the individual

• Kay at Xerox PARC – the Dynabook as the

ultimate personal computer
Window systems and the
WIMP interface
• humans can pursue more than one task at a
time

• windows used for dialogue partitioning, to

“change the topic”

• 1981 – Xerox Star first commercial windowing

system

• windows, icons, menus and pointers now

familiar interaction mechanisms
Metaphor

• relating computing to other real-world activity

is effective teaching technique
– LOGO's turtle dragging its tail
– file management on an office desktop
– word processing as typing
– financial analysis on spreadsheets
– virtual reality – user inside the metaphor

• Problems
– some tasks do not fit into a given metaphor
– cultural bias
Direct manipulation

• 1982 – Shneiderman describes appeal of

graphically-based interaction
– visibility of objects
– incremental action and rapid feedback
– reversibility encourages exploration
– syntactic correctness of all actions
– replace language with action

• 1984 – Apple Macintosh

• the model-world metaphor
• What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG)
Language versus Action

• actions do not always speak louder than

words!
• DM – interface replaces underlying
system
• language paradigm
• interface as mediator
• interface acts as intelligent agent
• programming by example is both action
and language
Hypertext

• 1945 – Vannevar Bush and the memex

• key to success in managing explosion of

information

• mid 1960s – Nelson describes hypertext as

non-linear browsing structure

• hypermedia and multimedia

• Nelson's Xanadu project still a dream today

Multimodality

• a mode is a human communication

channel

• emphasis on simultaneous use of

multiple channels for input and output
Computer Supported
Cooperative Work (CSCW)

• CSCW removes bias of single user /

single computer system

• Can no longer neglect the social aspects

• Electronic mail is most prominent

success
The World Wide Web

• Hypertext, as originally realized, was a

closed system
• Simple, universal protocols (e.g. HTTP)
and mark-up languages (e.g. HTML)
made publishing and accessing easy
• Critical mass of users lead to a
complete transformation of our
information economy.
Agent-based Interfaces

• Original interfaces
– Commands given to computer
– Language-based
• Direct Manipulation/WIMP
– Commands performed on “world” representation
– Action based
• Agents - return to language by instilling
proactivity and “intelligence” in command
processor
– Avatars, natural language processing
Ubiquitous Computing

“The most profound technologies are those that

disappear.”
Mark Weiser, 1991

Late 1980’s: computer was very apparent

How to make it disappear?

– Shrink and embed/distribute it in the physical world
– Design interactions that don’t demand our intention
Sensor-based and Context-
aware Interaction
• Humans are good at recognizing the
“context” of a situation and reacting
appropriately
• Automatically sensing physical
phenomena (e.g., light, temp, location,
identity) becoming easier
• How can we go from sensed physical
measures to interactions that behave as
if made “aware” of the surroundings?
Beginnings – Computing in 1945

• Harvard Mark I
– Picture from http://piano.dsi.uminho.pt/museuv/indexmark.htm

• 55 feet long, 8 feet high, 5 tons

 Context - Computing in 1945

• Ballistics calculations
• Physical switches
(before microprocessor)
• Paper tape
• Simple arithmetic &
fixed calculations
(before programs)

Picture from http://www.gmcc.ab.ca/~supy/

• 3 seconds to multiply
Batch Processing

• Computer had one task,

performed sequentially
• No “interaction” between
operator and computer
after starting the run
• Punch cards, tapes for input
• Serial operations
People

• Who are the people associated with

various interactive paradigm shifts?
Other Resources

• Howard Rheingold – Tools for Thought

– History of interactive breakthroughs

– On-line at http://www.rheingold.com/texts/
tft/
 Innovator: Vannevar Bush
• “As We May Think” - 1945 Atlantic Monthly
– “…publication has been extended far beyond our
present ability to make real use of the record.”
• Postulated Memex device
– Stores all records/articles/communications
– Items retrieved by indexing, keywords, cross
references (now called hyperlinks)
– (Envisioned as microfilm, not computer)
• Interactive and nonlinear components are key
• http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/computer/
bushf.htm
 More About Vannevar Bush

• Name rhymes with "Beaver"

• Faculty member MIT
• Coordinated WWII effort with
6000 US scientists
• Social contract for science
– federal government funds universities
– universities do basic research
– research helps economy & national defense
Innovator: J. R. Licklider

• 1960 - Postulated “man-computer

symbiosis”

• Couple human brains

and computing machines
tightly to revolutionize
information handling
Innovator: Ivan Sutherland

• SketchPad - 1963 PhD thesis at MIT

– Hierarchy - pictures & subpictures
– Master picture with instances (ie, OOP)
– Constraints
– Icons
– Copying
– Light pen input device
– Recursive operations
Innovator: Douglas Englebart

• Landmark system/demo:
– hierarchical hypertext, multimedia, mouse,
high-res display, windows, shared files,
electronic messaging, CSCW,
teleconferencing, ...

Inventor
of mouse
 About Doug Engelbart
• Graduate of Berkeley (EE '55)
– "bi-stable gaseous plasma digital devices"
• Stanford Research Institute (SRI)
– Augmentation Research Center
• 1962 Paper "Conceptual Model for Augmenting
Human Intellect"
– Complexity of problems increasing
– Need better ways of solving problems

Picture of Engelbart from bootstrap.org

Innovator: Alan Kay

• Dynabook - Notebook sized computer loaded

with multimedia and can store everything
• @PARC
• Personal
computing
• Desktop
interface
• Overlapping
windows
Innovator: Ben Shneiderman

• Coins and explores notion of direct

manipulation of interface
• Long-time Director of
HCI Lab at Maryland
Innovator: Ted Nelson

• Computers can help people, not just

business

• Coined term
“hypertext”
Innovator: Nicholas Negroponte

• MIT Architecture Machine Group

– ’69-’80s - prior to Media Lab
• Ideas
– wall-sized displays, video
disks, AI in interfaces
(agents), speech recognition,
multimedia with hypertext
– Put That There (Video)
Innovator: Mark Weiser

• Introduced notion of Ubiquitous

Computing and Calm Technology
– It’s everywhere, but recedes quietly into
background
• CTO of Xerox PARC