1.1 Introduction
The Human computer interaction is the practice and study of usability. It is about the relationship between a human and a computer, their mutual understandings and by creating a software which would ease the work of a human and people would love to use, and would be able to use it. The initial step to an intelligent HCI is having the abilities to respond and sense appropriately according to user’s affective feedback and detect, interpret the affective states shown by the user instinctually. Computers can be used as a tool for helping blind people, and so can be used as an interface between the person and the environment trying to compensate human vision lack. The user interface can be broadly classified into the command line interface and GUI. The GUI comprises the Window, Icon, Menus and Pointers (WIMP) and facilitates interaction through graphical elements. However, the GUI is more users friendly and attractive to use than the command line interface. The command, files and folders can be represented by an image called an icon (Farooq et al., 2011).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
In the early 1960s experimental time-sharing computers were being built which allowed a computer to work on several jobs simultaneously. Computer time could be switched automatically between users, allowing people to work at the computer screen in bursts of activity and to solve problems by interacting with the computer rather than presenting it with pre-prepared programs. Early work on military computer systems had shown that it was possible to display and manipulate images on a computer console, and researchers began to explore the possibilities of graphical interaction between humans and computers.
The Human Computer Interaction (HCI) product is produced and used by the humans which are the users of the product. For understanding humans as an information-processing system, how they communicate, characteristics of the human/user as a processor of information Memory, attention, problem-solving, learning, motivation, motor skills, conceptual models and diversity. The computers are used for interaction with the users as they have special components that can interact with the users. The computers also provide a platform to user to formulate and interact with the components and provide and effective learning. Computers are good at counting and measuring, precise storage and recall, rapid and consistent responses, data processing or calculation, formulations, repetitive actions, and performance over time, “Simple and sharply defined things.
The object of HCI is to design computer systems supportive of user productivity and safety. Humans and machines interact through a user interface which facilitates the manipulation and monitoring of the system status. Functionality of a system is defined by the set of actions or services that it provides to its users. Usability of a system describes how a system can be used efficiently and adequately to accomplish a task. An effective design process pays attention to the work being supported and the users that operate the system. The human factor is an attribute (physical or cognitive) which is specific to people that use a system and how it influences the normal operations of the system as well as the achievement of human-environment equilibriums. The three most commonly used user interfaces are the popular Graphical User Interface (GUI), Voice User Interface and Multi-Modal Interface which uses a combination of several methods of user input into a system.
Surface technology eliminates input/output devices through a touch sensitive feature which plays the role of input/output devices as a result of the merger between the physical and the virtual world (Farooq et al., 2011, p.25). Through surface technology, the user eliminates the use of GUI mediums and reduces the gap between the physical and the virtual world.
According to Farooq et al (2011, p.26), a user interacts with the digitalized world by just a finger touch by virtue of the surface technology. There are two classes of surface technology, one for the display and the other one which uses a touch sensitive mechanism for the interpretation of user signals. He also articulated that the display component can be built on the display platform. On the contrary, the user signal interpretation component is based on an image taken by image sensing cameras which are generally infrared based. In such a setup, cameras are adjusted in a manner that covers the whole screen. The three ways in which the infrared based sensing can be achieved are frustrated total internal reflection, diffuse illumination, and diffused surface illumination (Farooq et al., 2011).
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Human Computer Interaction on the Design of Communication Technology.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that the earliest use of computers was to solve specific problems, in mathematics, engineering, ballistics, logic. Accordingly, the research psychology of problem-solving was applied and adapted to the study of computer use. More recently, it has been recognized that people use computers for tasks that do not easily fit the problem-solving mould, such as design, exploration, and communication.
New models are being developed which draw on studies of human creativity, exploration, and social interaction. Heuristic evaluation is similar to expert evaluation above, where specialists in user interfaces study the interface in depth and look for properties which they know, from experience, will lead to usability problems.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to examine the Human Computer Interaction on the Design of Communication Technology. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To investigate the challenge of HCI towards the utilization of computers to empower people;
- To assist the design of computer systems that can be used with ease; and
- To analyze the trends and best practices in Human Computer Interaction and communication technology.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- What is the challenge of HCI towards the utilization of computers to empower people?
- What is the design of computer systems that can be used with ease?
- What are the trends and best practices in Human Computer Interaction and communication technology?
