Goals

A basic goal of HCI is to improve the interactions between users and computers by making computers more usable and receptive to the user's needs. Specifically, HCI is concerned with:

• methodologies and processes for designing interfaces (i.e., given a task and a class of users, design the best possible interface within given constraints, optimizing for a desired property such as learning ability or efficiency of use)
• methods for implementing interfaces (e.g. software toolkits and libraries; efficient algorithms)
• techniques for evaluating and comparing interfaces
• developing new interfaces and interaction techniques
• developing descriptive and predictive models and theories of interaction

A long term goal of HCI is to design systems that minimize the barrier between the human's cognitive model of what they want to accomplish and the computer's understanding of the user's task.

Professional practitioners in HCI are usually designers concerned with the practical application of design methodologies to real-world problems. Their work often revolves around designing graphical user interfaces and web interfaces.

Researchers in HCI are interested in developing new design methodologies, experimenting with new hardware devices, prototyping new software systems, exploring new paradigms for interaction, and developing models and theories of interaction.

Differences with related fields

HCI differs from human factors in that with HCI the focus is more on users working specifically with computers, rather than other kinds of machines or designed artifacts. There is also a focus in HCI on how to implement the computer software and hardware mechanisms to support human-computer interaction. Thus, human factors is a broader term; HCI could be described as the human factors of computers - although some experts try to differentiate these areas.

According to some experts,^[who?] HCI also differs from ergonomics in that there is less of a focus on repetitive work-oriented tasks and procedures, and much less emphasis on physical stress and the physical form or industrial design of the user interface, such as keyboards and mice. However, this does not take a full account of ergonomics, the oldest areas of which were mentioned above, but which more recently has gained a much broader focus (equivalent to human factors). Cognitive ergonomics, for example, is a part of ergonomics, of which software ergonomics (an older term, essentially the same as HCI) is a part.

Three areas of study have substantial overlap with HCI even as the focus of inquiry shifts. In the study of personal information management (PIM), human interactions with the computer are placed in a larger informational context - people may work with many forms of information, some computer-based, many not (e.g., whiteboards, notebooks, sticky notes, refrigerator magnets) in order to understand and effect desired changes in their world. In computer supported cooperative work (CSCW), emphasis is placed on the use of computing systems in support of the collaborative work of a group of people. The principles of human interaction management (HIM) extend the scope of CSCW to an organizational level and can be implemented without use of computer systems.