Interaction criticism : an introduction to the practice

Jae Sang Yoo

The field of HCI lacks a proper discipline of interaction criti-cism.

In the past, Representationalism, the correspondence theory of truth used to be accepted as a pragmatic knowledge fit for HCI.

In the present, there are some more areas of HCI that cannot be fulfilled with those philosophical studies.

Introduction

Normative theories of usable interfaces• Nielsen’s ten usability heuristics-double correspondence

• Norman ”Ideally, the user’s model and the design model are equiva-lent.”

Professional evaluational practices• GOMS’s predicting task completion times

Past

The critical mass of HCI has moved beyond the goals and value of interaction design before.• Rise of aesthetics, affective interaction, experience design, intimate

and embodied interaction.

->a new type of criticism in the perspective of the arts and humanities.

Now

subjective and non-perspectival.

Thus, aesthetic judgments surrounding art, design, and other cultural phenomena have been emerged to develop, share, and evaluate among scholars and experts.

Criticism on a view of aes-thetics

1. Art and/or criticism educates our perception and/or directs acts of cognition.

2. Criticism and aesthetic response are inseparable.

3. Critical activity involves a back and forth movement be-tween pointing out material particulars and relating them to interpreted wholes.

4. Art/criticism is enlightening.

5. Art/criticism is ethically uplifting.

Criticism as aesthetic response : 5 claims

Perception is an cultivatable skill.

Not all the humans are good at perception.

We can improve cognition.

When a theory of science is well explained, there is little con-cern for the epistemological problem of how a reader per-ceives and comes to understand the meaning of this data. However, in art, it is hard to notice whether the user gets the idea of the work or not.

1. Art and/or criticism educates our per-ception and/or directs acts of cognition.

Criticism and aesthetic Response ↔scientific notions of knowl-edge production

The discursive form of expert aesthetic knowledge is insepa-rable from the personal and subjective activity of engaging with a work.

Everyday aesthetic experience is implied by the notion of criti-cism as a form of directing attention.

2. Criticism and aesthetic response are inseparable.

Aesthetic beauty can be found only in the union of material works and human life worlds.

The film, triumph of the will, has been discussed even though the content is inappropriate.

3. Criticism is a back-and-forth between ma-terial particulars and interpreted wholes.

4. art/criticism is enlighten-ing.

Since criticism educates our perception and cognition, we be-come habitually more perceptive to the intersubjective re-sponses and values of others situated in ours and other cul-tures.

Enhances empathy, social solidarity and a more just society.

5. Art/criticism is ethically uplifting.

Traditional criticism

1. Creator

2. Artifact

3. Consumer

4. Social context

4 perspectives on interaction criti-cism

Categories in HCI1. Interaction de-

signer2. Interface3. User 4. Social context

http://gizmodo.com/5421983/lumino-project-next-generation-lego-crossed-with-microsoft-surface/all

Lumino

Researchers’ view need to be focusing not only in pure engi-neering problems, but also in arts and humanities.

For the Lumino, they expanded the realm of researcher by DIY system. By providing the video, ppt, and other resources, they made readers into creator.

Interaction designer

Features of LuminoDomino

Tangram-like patterns

Tactile pleasure

Demo-application of checkers

Rubber stamp

Blurred the boundaries between engineering, crafting, and presentation.

Interface

Every user has their own subjec-tive intention and prejudices.

Aesthetic judgment is not just whatever what I think is beauti-ful, but rather is what we think is beautiful.

Implied reader• With this idea, we can critique effec-

tively.

User

Users of Lumino• Members of the

HCI community• A Lumino end

user• Members of the

DIY community

Lumino

Historical context

Social groups(DIYers, scientific community)

Made in the context of masculin-ity

The social context of HCI

Most complex and dynamic->

Description+interpretation

HCI community should view in criticism and humanist theory like cognitive science and social science.(how we experience, perceive, understand, and feel about our experiences with technology.)

Conclusion