controversy and provocation

Alan Dix

alan@hcibook.comhttp://www.hcibook.com/alan/papers/HCIE2004/

the invitation …

“wondering if you would start off Friday morning's session by being controversial

- as we know only you can ;-)”

“Sure, but I'll not be deliberately provocative of course”

.. so I won’t mention

• student fees and the two tier HE system

• A’ level grades as social apartheid

• abolishing homework and extending the school day

…or even unlimited re-sits for UG and PG degrees

controversydebate between disciplines

controversy: disputation, (prolonged) debate, esp. conducted in writing

[L. controversus (CONTRA-, vertere, vers- turn)]

changing expertise

in the past …

psychologistscomputer scientists who do HCIetc.

now …psychology

HCI people who use computingetc.

now …psychology

HCI people who use computingetc.

the danger

• loss of roots

• intellectual decoupage

• professional practice passed off as academic

is the best HCI educationno HCI education?

vocational & academic

tension is growth

… but stretched or natural

joined up thinking?

theory and practice together?

… but

mature disciplines … … separate theory and professional practice

theory vs. practice

• opposed?

• theory is the language of generalisation

• guidelines and methods last a while … but theory keeps you going

longer

theory is the viagra of professional life

just-in-time theory

mini-case studies

• wot I do… during teaching

• when technology doesn’t work …– analyse why– use it as extended examples

• plus other real examples

Excel modes

• wouldn’t closewhy?

• theory:– hidden mode– closure

www.hcibook.com/alan/casestudy/excel-mode/

does it work?

• weakness– knowing it is ‘teaching’ time

• strengths– ‘real’ example– introduces theory when relevant

ecological validity

• examples– one issue at a time– a good ‘solution’– from theory to practice

ecological validity

• examples– one issue at a time– a good ‘solution’– from theory to practice

• mini-case study– lots of relevant issues– no easy solution – tradeoffs– from practice to theory

passing on knowledge

• case studies, examples, patterns– good for use in practice– but how to generalise– textbooks full of theory!

• just-in-time theory– appropriate theory when needed

just-in-time theory

• appropriate theory– given when needed

• contextualised theory– apply theory in actual context– including trade-offs

• situated theory– make new theory if necessary

e.g. toilet rolls

• example of T-model

what we teach

breadth

depth

what students learn?

breadth

depth

T model

breadth

depth

grounding

extension

why T ?

• texture• more engaging!

• grounding• more rigorous

• mastery• more motivating

provoking theory in HCI

provocative: tending to cause provocation (of curiosity, anger, lust, etc.).

[L. PRO(vocare call)]

importance of HCI

• late 20th and 21st century... technology meets people

• so where is our own theory and methods?

• some … MHP, Norman, Inf. Foraging Theory …… but enough?

• do we need it anyway?

a little story …

• BIG ACM sponsored conference• ‘good’ empirical paper• looking at collaborative support for a task X• three pieces of software:

– A – domain specific software, synchronous– B – generic software, synchronous– C – generic software, asynchronous

A

B C

asyn

c

sync

domainspec.

generic

experiment

• reasonable nos. subjects in each condition• quality measures

• significant results p<0.05– domain spec. > generic– asynchronous > synchronous

• so really want asynchronous domain specific

A

B C

asyn

c

sync

domainspec.

generic

domainspec.

generic

asyncsync

what’s wrong with that?

interaction effects– gap is interesting to study– not necessarily good to implement

more important … if you blinked at the wrong moment …

NOT independent variables– three different pieces of software– like experiment on 3 people!– say system B was just bad

domainspec.

generic asyncsync

A

B C

asyn

c

sync

domainspec.

generic

?

B < A B < C

can we fix it?

• borrowed psych method– … but method embodies assumptions– single simple cause, controlled environment

• HCI needs ecologically valid exp.– multiple causes, open situations

• what to do? – understand assumptions and modify

• both and …– quantitative – what is true end to end – phenomena– qualitative and anecdotal – why – mechanism

a call (vocare)

HCI – a defining discipline of Century 21

we must develop and teach knowledge that will last