Summary

This topic has introduced you to the discipline of Human–Computer Interaction, and also to the organisation and structure of the module. If HCI is the root research discipline, the goals of HCI are concerned with the design of interactive systems. The HCI design perspective goes under various alternative names such as 'human factors' or 'usability engineering' or 'human-centered design'. The general approach to design which derives from an HCI perspective is referred to as 'User-centered Design' (UCD), and the majority of this module is concerned in one way or another with techniques associated with this.