For years the HCI community has struggled to integrate design in research and practice. While design has gained a strong foothold in practice, it has had much less impact on the HCI research community. In this paper we propose a new model for interaction design research within HCI. Following a research through design approach, designers produce novel integrations of HCI research in an attempt to make the right thing: a product that transforms the world from its current state to a preferred state. This model allows interaction designers to make research contributions based on their strength in addressing under-constrained problems. To formalize this model, we provide a set of four lenses for evaluating the research contribution and a set of three examples to illustrate the benefits of this type of research.

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Research through design as a method for interaction design research in HCI

Two studies are presented that investigated the constraints underlying working memory performance in children and adults. In each case, independent measures of processing efficiency and storage capacity are assessed to determine their relative importance in predicting performance on complex span tasks,which measure working memory capacity. Results show that complex span performance was independently constrained by individual differences in domain-general processing efficiency and domain-specific storage capacity. Residual variance, which may reflect the ability to coordinate storage and processing, also predicted academic achievement. These results challenge the view that complex span taps a limited-capacity resource pool shared between processing and storage operations. Rather, they are consistent with a multiple-component model in which separate resource pools support the processing and storage functions of working memory.

The complexities of complex span: Explaining individual differences in working memory in children and adults.

This paper borrows ideas from social science to inform the design of novel "sensing" user-interfaces for computing technology. Specifically, we present five design challenges inspired by analysis of human-human communication that are mundanely addressed by traditional graphical user interface designs (GUIs). Although classic GUI conventions allow us to finesse these questions, recent research into innovative interaction techniques such as 'Ubiquitous Computing' and 'Tangible Interfaces' has begun to expose the interaction challenges and problems they pose. By making them explicit we open a discourse on how an approach similar to that used by social scientists in studying human-human interaction might inform the design of novel interaction mechanisms that can be used to handle human-computer communication accomplishments

/pdf/making-sense-of-sensing-systems-five-questions-for-designers-47pdkzihqo.pdf

Making sense of sensing systems: five questions for designers and researchers

Although the power of personal computers has increased 1000-fold over the past 20 years, user interfaces remain essentially the same. Innovations in HCI research, particularly novel interaction techniques, are rarely incorporated into products. In this paper I argue that the only way to significantly improve user interfaces is to shift the research focus from designing interfaces to designing interaction. This requires powerful interaction models, a better understanding of both the sensory-motor details of interaction and a broader view of interaction in the context of use. It also requires novel interaction architectures that address reinterpretability, resilience and scalability.

http://iihm.imag.fr/blanch/ens/2014-2015/RICM4/IHM/readings/2004-BeaudouinLafon-InteractionNotInterfaces.pdf

Designing interaction, not interfaces

This article highlights the results of a survey (N=2, 156) in one of the largest school districts in the country, focusing on teachers’ instructional modes related to technology integration as outlined in the National Educational Technology Standards for Students. Approximately 50% of the teachers who responded to the survey indicated that they were using technology as a classroom communication tool. Smaller percentages were reported for technology integration as a productivity, research, or problem-solving tool. In comparisons across subject areas, statistically significant differences were noted when teachers used computers as a research tool or as a problem-solving/decision-making tool. In both cases, science teachers reported the highest usage, followed by mathematics teachers.

Large-Scale Research Study on Technology in K–12 Schools

Twenty years after it was founded, Apple is no longer the major power it once was in personal computing. Apple was the first mainstream vendor of personal computers and is still an important player, setting the pace for ease of use and graphical interfaces, but Apple has become a niche player. The company was born out of the desire of two spirited innovators, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs (Fig. 1), who wanted to bring computing power to ordinary people.

Mary A. C. Fallon

Papers

Apple computer, Inc.