Systems, interactions and macrotheory

Barnard, P., May, J., Duke, D. and Duce, D. (2000) Systems, interactions and macrotheory. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 7 (2). pp. 222-262. ISSN 1073-0516

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Abstract

A significant proportion of early HCI research was guided by one very clear vision: that the existing theory base in psychology and cognitive science could be developed to yield engineering tools for use in the interdisciplinary context of HCI design. While interface technologies and heuristic methods for behavioral evaluation have rapidly advanced in both capability and breadth of application, progress toward deeper theory has been modest, and some now believe it to be unnecessary. A case is presented for developing new forms of theory, based around generic “systems of interactors.” An overlapping, layered structure of macro- and microtheories could then serve an explanatory role, and could also bind together contributions from the different disciplines. Novel routes to formalizing and applying such theories provide a host of interesting and tractable problems for future basic research in HCI.

Item Type:	Article
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	Copyright © 2000 ACM. This is an author produced electronic version of an article accepted for publication in ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction
Keywords:	Cognitive Models, Computing System Models, Models of Interaction
Academic Units:	The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield)
Depositing User:	Repository Officer
Date Deposited:	06 Jun 2005
Last Modified:	08 Feb 2013 16:47
Published Version:	http://www.acm.org/pubs/tochi/
Status:	Published
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1145/353485.353490
URI:	http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/306

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