quote: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 learnability 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.
As such the user does need an ability to interface in a more effective way with the end product however the end usage does not need to be significantly complicated by glitches in the GUI that lead one to a less than favorable end-user experience.
Not all users are knowledgeable with computer terms and they do expect instant gratification rather than computer-ese.