Human-Computer Interaction
SI faculty member Judy S. Olson chaired the HCI specialization working group composed of Gary Olson, George Furnas, Elliot Soloway, SI faculty, and David Kieras, Professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The working group drafted a curriculum plan describing this specialization. Since faculty in this group were already teaching related courses, their main effort was to discover and eliminate overlaps, fill in gaps, and devise a plan to offer these courses in a rational sequence to students. The specialization in Human-computer Interaction (HCI) is designed to train the professional who is designing and developing technologies that fit the organization and work practices, the work to be done, and the capabilities of the user. The "interface" is broadly construed to include not just the visual/auditory display and interaction dialog, but the situation in its entirety, the group in which this task takes place, and the organizational goals and resources.
This is the first entirely new specialization to be offered in the School of Information. The specialization was advertised in fall 1995 to prospective students and received some applicants. The plan is to begin to offer these now rationalized and sequenced courses in fall 1996 and simultaneously engage in wider, more targeted advertising for the incoming class of 1997.
