From Timesharing to the Sixth Generation: The Development of Human-Computer Interaction, Part I

Abstract The human-computer interface is increasingly the major determinant of the success or failure of computer systems. It is time that we provided foundations of engineering human-computer interaction (HCI) as explicit and well-founded as those for hardware and software engineering. Computing technology has progressed through a repeated pattern of breakthroughs in one technology, leading to its playing a key role in initiating a new generation. The basic technologies of electronics, virtual machines, and software have gone through cycles of breakthrough, replication, empiricism, theory, automation and maturity. HCI entered its period of theoretical consolidation at the beginning of the fifth generation in 1980. The lists of pragmatic dialog rules for HCI in the fourth generation have served their purpose, and effort should now be directed to the underlying foundations. The recently announced sixth-generation computer system (SGCS) development program is targeted on these foundations and the formulation of knowledge science. This paper surveys the development of HCI and related topics in artificial intelligence; their history, foundations, and relations to other computing disciplines. The companion paper surveys topics relating to future developments in HCI.

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