CIS 524 Computer Interaction and Design

Strayer University

This paper will attempt to show the development processes in HCI by comparing design interfaces. It will describe legal, societal, and ethical issues in HCI design. Provide solutions to HCI environment design issues by analyzing and evaluating interface design models. I will examine crowdsourcing in the field of interface design and its’ impact. The invention and growth of crowdsourcing in the field of interface design. It will show the development processes in human-computer interaction, HCI by comparing design interfaces. By describing the impact that crowdsourcing has had on the field of interface design, I will analyze and discuss at least three (3) benefits of incorporating crowdsourcing in a design project. I will explain and address at least three (3) challenges of incorporating crowdsourcing in a design project. It will also propose a solution for generating interest in a design project from an online community. Suggest a solution for evaluating the skill set and quality of the code submitted by potentially unknown users. Describe how crowdsourcing may affect the budget and timeline of a design project. Assess crowdsourcing regarding the legal, societal, and ethical issues it raises, and suggest methods to alleviate these concerns. And it will describe legal, societal, and ethical issues in HCI design and crowdsourcing.

Before 1970 few people had contact with computers. Those that had access were government, scientist, or professionals. There was a vast number of users, so there was no need to consider what the consumer wanted. Computers were room size and very expensive. (A Brief History of Human-Computer Interaction. 2019).

Consumers were interested in personal computers in the mid-1970s. 1975, the first personal computers, were released came as kits the MITS Altair 8800, then later the IMSAI 8080, an Altair clone.

Figure 1 The MITS Altair 8800

(The MITS Altair 8800)

The next year, 1976, Apple, (Jobs and Wozniak) released their 1st kit computer, the Apple I. The Apple I didn’t have a keyboard, power supply, or enclosure to the assembled motherboard, around the 6502 processor. That same year a 5.2 floppy disk was added.

In 1979, Apple released the Apple 11 was released. It was color, had slot expansion slots and a floppy drive.

Figure 2: The Apple II

(AppleII)

Human-computer interaction is believed to be traced back indirectly in 1979 when VisiCalc introduced users to visual manipulation of data. It was a spreadsheet that users could do calculations and results on the same screen with the use of spreadsheets.

In 1982, The (U.S.) National Bureau of Standards conference, on “Human Factors in Computer Systems, was the beginning of designing software that people would want to use.

HCI Guides

HCI involves at least three areas of science, computer science, cognitive science, and human factors engineering. There and six standard practices when developing an HCI general guidelines a designer must adhere to for a successful interface

Clarity is the baseline of a successful interface. The design needs to be clear and set up for the user’s purpose. That means the designer should remember why the user would even use the interface. The interface should have directions to guide the user through the process. For example, the interface should include instructions, type here, enter here, next, etc. (Vukovic, 2018).

• Be Clear
• What is the purpose
• Show what is next
• Defaults are king
• Make it easy-don’t make the user think
• Show the user what to do
• Always allow feedback

The interface should also follow these seven best practices to include the following content;

Users expect the ability to search for information or an item; therefore: a search bar would be ideal — the ability to click menus that drop down or expand to give the user more information. A loading icon shows the user that a process is happening. Clickable links should be consistent and visually noticeable. Te user should not have to guess how to continue or perform an action, A shopping cart icon if purchases are possible in the interface, and formatted payment inputs, for example, the exact spaces needed for a credit card, the4 spaces for the year and 3 to 4 slots for the security, etc. A log-in should be available for the users who intend to return and want their information available to use, or a guest log-in for users that do not want to sign in but want to use your interface.

• Have a search bar.
• Have the content expand or collapse.
• Have a loading icon.
• Have a shopping cart, log-in, register, and guest options.
• Have visible links.
• Format payment methods.

Design.

Types of HCI Interfaces.

The natural-language interface is an interface that allows you to speak directly to a computer, or type in a question. Siri, Alexia, Google are all-natural language interfaces. Easy to use. Don’t have to know how to write code. It’s great if it understands you. One pitfall it sometimes it does not recognize your command. That can be due to the user’s dialect, accent, or even knowledge on how to ask or pronounce a command.

Question-and-answer interfaces, the computer displays a question, and the user inputs the answer. QAI is typically testing options, for example at the DMV, Real-estate test, etc. (Types of User Interface. 2017)

Menus, form-fill interfaces, the computer provides a visual form on the screen and the user types in the requested information. Typically this interface that is generally on a travel site, train reservation, flight reservations, etc.

Command-language interfaces are when the user enters a command into the program but is rare.

Graphical user interfaces (GUIs), this is using menus to interact with the computer, For example, Windows

A variety of Web interfaces for use on the Internet.

Interfaces are two parts: the computer’s part-the language and the users’ part -the action. (Toledo, 2017)

There are three conventional methods of determining if users are frustrated with an interface

The interface can be tested by crowdsourcing. Harnessing human computation through crowdsourcing offers an alternative approach to solving complex problems, especially those that are relatively easy for humans but difficult for computers (Davis, (2016). In 2006 author Jeff Howe of Wired Magazine was coined, coined the word crowdsourcing (the process of using an open call contest or a ‘crowd’ of people to get something done), but the process of crowdsourcing began early.

• Analysis and review of the interfaces by experts. They attempt to judge the usability from the user’s perspective.
• Small test groups test and review random pages or scenarios of the interface.
• The third method is to do nothing and rely on the designers and product creators to decide if there are areas for improvement (Rotolo, Rotolo, Rotolo, Gautam, David, Gautam, Gautam. 2017).

In 1714, the British government needed a solution to what they called “The Longitude Problem,” which made sailing difficult and dangerous (killing 1,000s of seamen every year). Seeking innovation, the British government offered £20,000 for people to invent a solution (£20,000 in 1714 is around 4.7 million dollars in 2010) — possibly the first-ever example of crowdsourcing. The contest, considered almost unsolvable, was won by John Harrison, the son of a carpenter. Harrison invented the ‘marine chronometer’ (i.e., an accurate, vacuum-sealed pocket watch). The aristocrats were hesitant to award Harrison the prize but eventually paid him the £20,000. This example of crowdsourcing is a fantastic one because it highlights one of the principles of crowdsourcing – innovation, and creativity can come from anywhere. (Davis, 2016)

There has been various other crowdsourcing down in history. In 1936, there was a logo contest by Toyota. 1955 Australia’s Premier Joseph Cahill, ran a contest to design a building for Sydney’s Harbour. He offered £5,000, (almost 50 thousand today), to the winner. In 2001 Wikipedia, 2005 YouTube, was founded. Even todays realty TV is crowdsourcing. Shows such as American Idol, So You Thin You Can Dance, Top Model, are all a product of crowdsourcing.

Crowdsourcing.

Crowdsourcing in the field of interface design has multiplied over the years — no drought by the increase in internet traffic, and internet communities. People crowdsource for various reasons., for money, for society, for a sense of purpose. They perform tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals and spreads them out among the group of people or a community. These assignments usually completed an open call (Ambati, Vogel, & Carbonell, 2012). Through crowdsourcing the talent comes to you. It brings people together.

Benefits.

Crowdsourcing has several benefits:

Some benefits of incorporating crowdsourcing in a design project are:

• Budget-friendly, increase customer satisfaction and profits.
• More testing without outsourcing. Outsourcing cost is more expensive.
• The overhead is small or nonexistent.
• Free marketing, if the community like your project they become prompters.
• Provide access to a diverse test group.

Challenges.

• It is valuable market research at an affordable rate. Budget-friendly, increase customer satisfaction and increase profits. Crowdsourcing provides access to more testing without outsourcing. Outsourcing cost is more expensive. There is no need for salaries, benefits, taxes.
• With crowdsourcing, there are many designers available 24 hours-a-day. There is no need for managers; each is an independent contractor.
• Build up customer contacts that are available later.
• Crowdsourcing gives access to a diverse test group.
• The participants can create buzz around your brand (Thieringer, 2019,) Tap into your sources and have them vote on the winning selection, and the participants will be excited about the process.

Don’t let the advantages make you think it is all the advantages. There are also several disadvantages

1. Conventionality can be compromised. Due to the crowd not being necessarily loyal to your brand, information may be put out.

2. Then the entire project may not have been tested. Because there are no ties to the participants, not all of the results are true.

3.Schedule may be put at risk if participants aren’t severe (Advantages and Disadvantages of Crowdsourcing: QualiTest.) Testers may have barriers to scheduling and or language. One of the problems in crowdsourcing is choosing the right crowd. There must be some guideline and qualifying questions going in. Once you chose the correct crowdsourcing quality is the next objective. Standard procedures and code of conduct and expectations should be in place. The third challenge is keeping the vision clear. Communicating the details is very important. The fourth challenge is controlling the crowd, have clearly defined rules, expectations, and accountability standards (McCarty, 2019)

Make it the Buzz.

To create a buzz about your project, you would have to initiate a plan. Thoroughly proposed a solution for generating interest in your design project from an online community. Address how and what would generate interest in your project, what would draw participants? Why would it bring them? How would you convince people to want to work on your project instead of someone else’s’. Creating a buzz about a project, by setting up an online community during the market research and continue to proactive a presence. Also, have a social media presence. The top six social sites, Facebook, Instagram, Tweeter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest, should be used. Open call on social media about a prize for winners of certain activities, such as a scavenger hunt, twitter tag, etc. Also user testing and translations.

Choosing the Right Crowd.

The success of the plan depends upon choosing the right crowd. Many brands have established their communities, from merchants in the business, employees, scientist, etc. Companies such as DeWalt and Samsung have their communities. Most innovative companies. Lego’s latest competition has offered 1% shares of sale of the winners’ ideas. The most effective way to crowdsource is a contest. The prize will need to be substantial enough to bring out the best contenders. The rules and regulations will need to be specific (Boudreau, 2019.)

Affects.

Crowdsourcing save money. No recruiting, hiring process, benefits, or employees to deal with, it’s all pay per use. Crowdsourcing is becoming more appealing as social media becomes more appealing. However, some of the participants may not adhere to the project timeline. They may become distracted and even abandon a project for another.

Legal, Societal, and Ethical Issues.

Crowdsourcing regarding the legal, societal, and ethical issues it raises are the treatment of the participants. Cheap labor often works more hours are preformed than if it was minimum wage, because participation is typically free (Tucker, Pan., Mathews, Stein, Bayus, & Rennie, 2018.) Also, most crowdsourcing is performed with contest. The contest often does not include a large majority of the community. Reality it merely involves participances that have access to social media. This means that those with access to social media are from better economic, and educational backgrounds. In-person contest such as community events allow participants to get involved that do not have internet access. Also, the carefully suggested methods to alleviate these concerns.)

The fine print of crowdsourcing is the employee paid fairly. Are there any violated HIPA laws? Are any corporate franchises being violated? Are there moral obligations to investigate the outsourcing company’s treatment of their employees Have there been any violation of privacy? (Williamson, & Williamson, 2016).

Accuracy.

Is the information from the crowd reliable? There are many difficulties investigating the results of a survey., or poll. The collector may be bias, or the participation may be form a particular group of people and not a diverse group.

Regulations.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted some regulations of crowdfunding. Some of the regulations are: