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What are the grand goals in HCI?





2 Responses to “What are the grand goals in HCI?”

  1. Tessa Lau says:

    I think the lack of grand goals in HCI hurt us as a field. Contrast with AI, where the goal of human-level intelligence provides a mechanism for researchers to put their work into the broader context of advancing the field’s goals as a whole. Goals in AI are also easily stated, because there is a benchmark against they can be tested; for example, “build a human-level chess opponent”.

    Here is an interim goal for HCI (which, though not a grand goal, can fulfill part of its function): how can we design the interfaces that people will use to interact with computing devices 10 years from now?

    Yet even now, after many years of being in HCI, I still find myself inspired by the AI goals and still use them to drive my own research.

  2. admin says:

    Hi Tessa,

    Thanks for your post. I agree with you that if a field has a grand goal (like AI) it does help a field progress towards that goal.

    I also agree with you that the lack of grand goals hurt the HCI field. I suspect people have their own personal research goals (at least I hope they do). However, since these goals are not clearly articulated they cannot be properly embraced or critiqued by other researchers. This leads to inefficiency and confusion in the system. On the other hand, it also encourages diversity.

    I like your comment on being inspired by AI goals. I think I myself am heavily inspired by goals in cognitive science.

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