April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 1

User Interface History Special Interest Group CHI 2008

Brad MyersCarnegie-Mellon University

Anker Helms Jørgensen IT University of Copenhagen

April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 2

Background and motivation

• Increasing interest lately– Wednesday: 25 years celebration of the

Card, Moran, Newell book– Tuesday: Gilbert Cockton revisited the

Gould & Lewis 1983/85 paper– Interactions a history column– HCI Remix and Moggridge book

• Pioneers pass away– Oral History - but not lost: written sources

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April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 3

Why history ?

• Target audience at Grudin's course at 2.30 pm:"Anyone who thinks that the best preparation for where we areheaded is to understand the road we have travelled"

• ”Cultures are like individuals: they take on meaning in terms oftime passing. Memories of the past are the lodestars of ourthoughts, collective and individual.” (Black & MacRaild)

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April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 4

Aims of the SIG

• This SIG will investigate the possibilities of launching aconcerted effort towards creating a History of UIs and HCI– concerted and inertia vs piecemeal and scattered

• This SIG will gauge the interest, motivation and commitmenttowards UI/HCI History in the CHI community, aiming at– subsequent action, special journal issue, mailing list, ......– not just inspirational, colourful discussion, ....

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950

April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 5

Who are you and we ?

1. Pioneers2. CHI person knowledgeable in UI/HCI History3. - - generally interested in UI/HCI History4. Historian of Computing or Technology5. Degree in History6. Other

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Who are you ?

Who are we ?

April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 6

Schedule

• Introduction by organizers (20 mins)• Participant's round - in groups ? (30 mins)• Joint discussion (20 mins)• Wrap-up and next steps (20 mins)

– special journal issue– panel at CHI 2009

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April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 7

A note on UI / HCI History

• HCI: an academic field– Bonnie John - Wednesday:

"Twenty-five years ago the Card, Moran, Newellbook 'The Psychology of Human-ComputerInteraction' named our field"

– Grudin (2008): A Moving Target: The evolutionof HCI. (HF, AI, MIS, CSCW, ...)

• UIs: physical artefacts and concepts– have always been around– I/O devices - I/O organs– Bush: input and output shafts– Myers (1998): A brief history of

human-computer interaction technology.

• Closely interacting and intertwined Bush's Differential Analyzer

April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 8

Where are we - look around ?

• Nearest neighbourDavid Meister (1999)The History of Human Factorsand Ergonomics

• History of Computing: 50+ books– general accounts– specialized topics

• Where are we ?

PDP 1 - Space War

April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 9

Where are we?

• History of UI/HCI at large: a small number of papers(1986, 1990, 1995, 1998, ...)

• History of particular aspects: a fair number of papersand books– History of Personal Workstations (Goldberg)– Xerox PARC & developments: Dynabook, Alto, Star, ...– Macintosh, Jobs, ....– Visionaries:

Bush, Licklider, Engelbart• What do they address?

Largely the developmentof the GUI paradigm andthe visionaries behind

April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 10

The computer & UI as medium

• As the computer has turned into a medium, the UI (GUI) hasbecome an aesthetic and cultural phenomenon

• Scholars in media & cultural studies have addressed this,often in a historical perspective– Steven Johnson (1997)– Lev Manovich (2000)– Susan Barnes (2007)– Søren Pold (2007)

• Neal Stephenson (1999):In the Beginning … was the Command Line.

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type

Johnson 1997

April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 11

Commonalities in our writings ?

• A quick survey of four papers on UI/HCI History at large– Myers (1998): A brief history of human-computer interaction

technology. Interactions.– Pew (2003): Evolution of Human-Computer Interaction: From Memex

to Bluetooth and beyond. In Jacko and Sears: Handbook for Human-Computer Interaction in Interactive Systems.

– Grudin (2005): Three faces of Human-Computer Interaction. Annals ofthe History of Computing.

– Baecker (2008): Themes in the early history of HCI - someunanswered questions. Interactions.

• All authors are HCI people, but in somewhat different subfields

IBM

360

April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 12

Commonalities ?

• Statistical History:Frequency of literature cited

• Three papers cited in all four - Bush 1945: As We May Think - Sutherland 1963: Sketchpad - Kay 1969: Reactive Engine• These are the current "pillars"

upon which we stand - based onthis very limited sample

April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 13

How has it come about ?

• People in the field write their history orthe history of their field

• Just what happened in History of Computing– Herman Goldstine (1972)– Maurice Wilkes (1985)– Lundstrom (1987)

• IEEE Annals of the History of Computing (1978)– initally dominated by pioneers– 5-10 years later historians joined in

(Holmevik 1994)

April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 14

A broader view

• Historians' perspective– internalism: technology in its own right– history from above:

great deeds of great men– technology determinism– whiggism: addressing the prevailing

paradigm - alternatives ?

• The GUI paradigm is truly a substantialand impressive achievement - but thereare numerous other relevant aspects:– IBM 360: 3270 protocol– terminology and etymology– response time

Engelbart's Chord keyboard

3270 screen

April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 15

Response time: Herbert Simon (1966)

• Time sharing was gaining foothold ...– promises: bringing computer power closer to the user– pitfalls: highly variable and loooong response times

• Reflections on time sharing from a user’s point of view• Simon proposed the user be given two options in time-sharing

– operating in conversational mode with "immediate" feedback– operating with a 10-20 minutes turn-around time, allowing

users to engage in and complete other tasks

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April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 16

Finally, historians don't (generally) chase 'firsts', but ....

• The earliest comment on user "interfaces" I have found, wellbefore computers were sold commercially

• Franz Alt (1951): Evaluation of Automatic ComputingMachines. Product Engineering.

'The input and output organs have received less attention from designers than any other machine element. Consequently they are in a rudimentary stage.'

John

niac

April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 17

Schedule

• Introduction by organizers (20 mins)• Participant's round - in groups ? (30 mins)

– Why am I here ?– My own experience ?– My own possible contribution ?– My ideas for further efforts ?– Chair

• make sure that everyone contributes• open up and converge• focus on key points for joint discussion

• Joint discussion (20 mins)

• Wrap-up and next steps (20 mins)Xerox mouse

April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 18

Possible next steps

• A special issue of a journal• An edited book• A workshop or small conference• A plan for a SIG, panel or paper

session at CHI 2009• Newsletter, mailing list, blog• http://uihistory.wordpress.com• ........

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Plans:ambitiousandrealistic

April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 19

Aims of the SIG

• This SIG will investigate the possibilities of launching aconcerted effort towards creating a History of UIs and HCI– concerted and inertia vs piecemeal and scattered

• This SIG will gauge the interest, motivation and commitmenttowards UI/HCI History in the CHI community, aiming at– subsequent action, special journal issue, ......– not (just) inspirational, colourful discussion, ....

Anal

og c

ompu

ter 1

950

April 10, 2008 CHI 2008 20

Next steps

• Circulate paper: write name and email• Leave your business card• Blog: http://uihistory.wordpress.com