Jae Sang Yoo

The field of HCI lacks a proper discipline of interaction criticism.

In the past, Representationalism, the correspondence theory of truth used to be accepted as a pragmatic knowledge fit for HCI.

In the present, there are some more areas of HCI that cannot be fulfilled with those philosophical studies.

• Normative theories of usable interfaces

– Nielsen’s ten usability heuristics-double

correspondence

– Norman ”Ideally, the user’s model and the

design model are equivalent.”

• Professional evaluational practices

– GOMS’s predicting task completion times

• The critical mass of HCI has moved beyond

the goals and value of interaction design

before.

– Rise of aesthetics, affective interaction,

experience design, intimate and embodied

interaction.

->a new type of criticism in the perspective of

the arts and humanities.

Analytic philosophy

aesthetics

aligned with science

Carefully formulated

Rigorously evaluated

Aesthetic philosophers

Continental philosophy

Holistic, cultural,

political

Literary studies

Music, art history

New media studies

Critical theorists

HCI has much to learn from both.

1. Art and/or criticism educates our perception and/or directs acts of cognition.

2. Criticism and aesthetic response are inseparable.

3. Critical activity involves a back and forth movement between pointing out material particulars and relating them to interpreted wholes.

4. Art/criticism is enlightening.

5. Art/criticism is ethically uplifting.

By Bumgarten

• Perception is an cultivatable skill.

• We can improve cognition.(subject’s

sensitivity, one’s keenness, imagination…)

Arts and science both contribute to human

knowledge, because both inform and direct

human cognition in productive ways.

• The discursive form of expert aesthetic knowledge is inseparable from the personal and subjective activity of engaging with a work.

• This position of criticism as conjoined with everyday aesthetic experience is implied by the notion of criticism as a form of directing attention.

• Critical activities not only helps us understand the complexities of art but also understand the mysterious thoughts and feelings within us.

• Aesthetic beauty can be found only in the

union of material works and human life

worlds.

• The film, triumph of the will, has been

discussed even though the content is

inappropriate.

• We can improve knowledge not just by

developing better formal methods of data

collection and analysis. We can also improve

it by being more experienced and sensitive

embodied thinkers.

• Since criticism educates our perception and

cognition, we become habitually more

perceptive to the intersubjective responses

and values of others situated in ours and

other cultures.

• Enhances empathy, social solidarity and a

more just society.

Traditional criticism

1. Creator

2. Artifact

3. Consumer

4. Social context

Categories in HCI

1. Interaction

designer

2. Interface

3. User

4. Social context

http://gizmodo.com/5421983/lumino-project-

next-generation-lego-crossed-with-microsoft-

surface/all

• HCI has adopted a Hirsch-like position(while criticism may reveal different significances of a work in culture, interpretation should consist of a correspondecebetween our understanding and the author’s intention.)

• For the Lumino, the researchers clarified their intention how they could make tabletops a platform as interactive 3D place in their papers. However, in their conclusion, the needs for human is absent.

• Providing Lumino with DIY service -> authorial excess

The visual language of Lumino is futuristic.

Domino

Tangram-like patterns

Tactile pleasure

Demo-application of checkers

Rubber stamp

=unity in variety(future, technology, play)

• Every user has their own subjective intention and prejudices.

• Aesthetic judgment is not just whatever what I think is beautiful, but rather is what we think is beautiful.

• Implied reader– With this idea, we can

critique in artifact-centric and reader-centric approaches.

Users of Lumino

• Members of the HCI

community

• A Lumino end user

• Members of the DIY

community

Lumino

Historical context

Social groups(DIYers,

scientific community)

Made in the context of

masculinity

-> the science will

never be sit neutrally

outside of society.

• Description, explanation(scientific)

• Description, interpretation(humanistic)

• HCI community should view in criticism and

humanist theory.(how we experience,

perceive, understand, and feel about our

experiences with technology.)