Chair's column

This is an exciting time for HCI. It is appearing everywhere. More and more industries are realizing the user interfaces are the key point of product differentiation. Disasters in controlling complex systems indicate that HCI is not an easy matter. The general public is becoming aware of HCI as a serious concern not only in product choice but more seriously in effecting, and indeed defining, the workplace and the home. HCI on the cover and in a lead article of Business Week was a subject that everyone is now beginning to understand as important in the everyday world.