Human-Computer Interaction

A very good book that provides a solid foundation in a clear and easily readable format. If you're after a quick "HCI fix" or are trying to satisfy a course requirement where usability is seen as a niche then look elsewhere. If you want a good understanding of HCI and have a desire to make things more usable then this is a worthwhile read.

I used this book when teaching senior undergraduates HCI. Admittedly, it is quite dense, which made some of the reading assignments a bit of a bear for the students. The thoroughness, however, is a large part of what I liked about it. I only used minimal supplemental materials, and I found that using this book, students got not only an in depth history and theoretical underpinning of this important field, but they also got some insight into emerging related fields, like ubiquitous and mobile computing. I was very pleased with the rigor applied to the lessons, something very necessary as we in the field demonstrate there is real "science" and "theory" behind what we do.

Let me begin by saying that years back I won an international award for something or other to do with contributions to ergonomics - the design of a computer system in fact. I looked at this book as a possible text for an undergraduate course I teach. This is a good book, despite the reviews, if you have the time the read it. It is thorough at the theoretical end and pretty damn thorough at that. If you want to know the history of HCI, recent and possible developments, this is a good book - but it is just too long for most undergrads and this is the main problem. Most undergrads believe that HCI is just pure waffle and in many cases that is unarguable - it takes the likes of Jef Raskin to restore some intellectual credibility to the area. One the major strikes against this book, and it isn't alone, is the lack of connection with actual software packages in common usage and the alleged 'software engineering' skills they require. For too long HCI books have operated at a distance from actual 'multimedia' software or else have assumed that everyone has a bespoke lab of geniuses under their arms when a novel tool is required. This book, despite the calibre of the authors, does nothing to challenge the "grandstanding" that defines most HCI. Over tweny years ago, when I worked on expert systems, there was a creeping scepticism about their practical value - a solution in search of a problem. I would have liked this book to have done more to convince me that this epithet is not applicable to HCI. I hope the next edition expresses that reassurance.

I used this book for one of my courses in professional computing.I find this book to be quite readable, the essential and pertinent concepts are well-explained, and the scope of coverage is comprehensive. All the necessary aspects of HCI, the models of the user, interaction, system, are touched on. The chapter regarding the usability paradigms and principles is elucidated in a structured and systematic way, and the chapter on the dialog notations and design introduces some commonly used notations, including Petri Nets, which are also in common use in other IT topics. This book does not delve into the more esoteric applications and theories behind HCI, but I would not necessary classify that as a shortcoming, for the book was probably never meant to be targetted at advanced researchers anyway.All in all, I would highly recommend this book to those who want to get into the fundamentals of HCI, be able to use the concepts for practical applications in daily life, and who need a handy reference.