Encounters with HCI Pioneers

The huge success of personal computing technologies has brought astonishing benefits to individuals, families, communities, businesses, and government, transforming human life, largely for the better. These democratizing transformations happened because a small group of researchers saw the opportunities to convert sophisticated computational tools into appealing personal devices offering valued services by way of easy-to-use interfaces. Along the way, there were challenges to their agenda of human-centered design by: (1) traditional computer scientists who were focused on computation rather than people-oriented services and (2) those who sought to build anthropomorphic agents or robots based on excessively autonomous scenarios. The easy-to-learn and easy-to-use interfaces based on direct manipulation became the dominant form of interaction for more than six billion people.

This book gives my personal history of the intellectual arguments and the key personalities I encountered. I believe that the lessons of how the discipline of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and the profession of User Experience Design (UXD) were launched can guide others in forming new disciplines and professions. The stories and photos of the 60 HCI pioneers, engaged in discussions and presentations, capture the human drama of collaboration and competition that invigorated the encounters among these bold, creative, generous, and impassioned individuals.

Ben Shneiderman is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Founding Director (1983-2000) of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory and a Member of the UM Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) at the University of Maryland. He is a Fellow of the AAAS, ACM, IEEE, and NAI, and a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, in recognition of his pioneering contributions to human-computer interaction and information visualization. His innovative contributions include the webs highlighted link that makes it easy for billions of users to get the information they want and the tiny touchscreen keyboard on mobile devices used around the world. His theories, research methods, and software tools have become popular topics in computer science, while revolutionizing the ways people use technology to improve their lives. He has received six honorary doctorates. Shneidermans recent books are Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction (6th ed., 2016) and The New ABCs of Research: Achieving Breakthrough Collaborations (2016).