HCI Theory: Classical, Modern, and Contemporary

By Yvonne Rogers. HCI Theory, 2012

374 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Theory is the bedrock of many sciences, providing a rigorous method to advance knowledge, through testing and falsifying hypotheses about observable phenomena. To begin with, the nascent field of HCI followed the scientific method borrowing theories from cognitive science to test theories about user performance at the interface. But HCI has emerged as an eclectic interdiscipline rather than a well-defined science. It now covers all aspects of human life, from birth to bereavement, through all manner of computing, from device ecologies to nano-technology. It comes as no surprise that the role of theory in HCI has also greatly expanded from the early days of scientific testing to include other functions such as describing, explaining, critiquing, and as the basis for generating new designs. The book charts the theoretical developments in HCI, both past and present, reflecting on how they have shaped the field. It explores both the rhetoric and the reality: how theories have been conceptualized, what was promised, how they have been used and which has made the most impact in the field -- and the reasons for this. Finally, it looks to the future and asks whether theory will continue to have a role, and, if so, what this might be.

Subfields: Human-Computer Interaction

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/48e08c1c88919f085f751db8107a6a8685d6e1d5

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In Human-Computer Interaction

Citations in the corpus

‘It’s an illusion, but it looks real!’ Consumer affective, cognitive and behavioural responses to augmented reality applications (2016, background): “While that allowed high internal validity, the external validity of these results would be increased with for example ‘ in-the-wild ’ studies (Rogers, 2012), common in the HCI ﬁ eld.”
The diversity of participatory design research practice at PDC 2002-2012 (2015, background): “The PDC series does not represent the entire range of PD research, and one way to advance the work started here would be to do comparative studies involving other disciplines, such as HCI, the CHI or DIS conference series, or specific journals, such as Journal of CoDesign.”
Promoting sustainable intensification in precision agriculture: review of decision support systems development and strategies (2016, methodology): “On the other hand, Rogers (2012), for example, highlights that many HCI researchers are very motivated by addressing societal goals, but there is the tension of trying to help a community through ‘‘developing’’ and implementing appropriate ICT as opposed to trying to make contributions to the HCI…”
User experience: A concept without consensus? Exploring practitioners' perspectives through an international survey (2015, background): “At the theoretical level, UX relies on several trends (Rogers, 2012): activity theory (Kuutti, 1996), distributed cognition (Hollan, Hutchins, & Kirsh, 2000), but also usability studies (Nielsen, 1993; Shackel, 1991) and emotional design (Jordan, 2002; Norman, 2004).”
Systematic review of smartphone-based passive sensing for health and wellbeing (2017, background): “Pervasive/Ubiquitous Technology Computing devices that are present in the environment rather than as specific machines [93]; their interfaces become “invisible, natural and everywhere” for the user [94].”
A Systematic Literature Review of User Trust in AI-Enabled Systems: An HCI Perspective (2022, methodology): “Today, HCI covers computer science, engineering, cognitive science, ergonomics, design principles, economics, and behavioral and social sciences to meet rapidly changing user needs (Rogers, 2012).”
Gamification in theory and action: A survey (2015, result): “This is in keeping with the historical trajectory of theory work in human–computer interaction: while the earliest work started with scientific theories based on observation and test–retest methodology, modern trends in theory production consider a variety of disciplinary approaches (Rogers, 2012).”
Human-Computer Insurrection: Notes on an Anarchist HCI (2019, background): “t; [2] As part of the "third wave" of HCI, our ﬁeld is engaged in an ongoing "turn to the social", described by Rogers as anincreasingconsiderationofthesocialimplicationsofour work[118].Thedepthofourengagementwiththishasbeen limited by our position: HCI straddles both the academy”