Applied Ergonomics 1989, 20.3,158-159

User-computer interface

The user's side of the computer interface Special Issue Editor - Graham Johnson

MRC/ESRC Social and Applied Psychology Unit, University of Sheffield, UK*

The way in which we learn about, use and design inter- faces between people and the computer systems they are faced with is an area which has, in recent years, been the subject of much research. This research field is usually known as Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and, without doubt, has had (and continues to have) an extraordinary effect on the shaping of applied ergonomics concerns in the 1980s.

This Special Issue, which appears in this and a sub- sequent issue, covers a range of contemporary topics in HCI, and aims to present a cross-section of on-going research. Whilst it is impossible here to provide a full view of the area, it is possible to select a number of current concerns for our attention; the Special Issue "The user's side of the computer interface" has done just that.

A n over view G. Johnson

MRC/ESRC Social and Applied Psychology Unit, University of Sheffield, UK*

This paper introduces the Special Issue "The user's side of the computer interface" dealing mainly with the topic of human-computer interaction (HCI); this is receiving increasing attention from those concerned with applying ergonomics to computer- based products and systems. This Special Issue, which is being published in two parts, presents a cross-section of current U K work in the area and includes several of the main issues that dominate the research and development of HCI.

Keywords: Computers, human performance, user interfaces

Background: The Ergonomics Society symposium This two-part special issue is devoted, in the main, to the

proceedings of an Ergonomics Society symposium which took 'The user's side of the computer interface' as its theme. The symposium was held under the auspices of the 1989 BPS (British Psychological Society) Annual Occupational Psychology Conference at Bowness.

Since 1986, the BPS Annual Occupational Psychology Conference and the Ergonomics Society Annual Conference have had a reciprocal relationship whereby each group organises a topical symposium within each other's annual conference. The general purpose of the exercise is to examine common ground between the two disciplinary

*Now at Nederlandse Philips Bedrijven BV, Applied Ergonomics Group, Corporate Industrial Design, PO Box 218, 5600 MD, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

areas, and to encourage close collaboration. The intention is that an awareness of contemporary issues in the increasingly important and expanding research areas of occupational psychology and occupational ergonomics is promoted by these annual symposia.

The user's side of the computer interface The symposium proceedings, together with two supple-

mentary papers on the topic of HCI, form the basis of this Special Issue. With respect to the symposium theme, the papers were invited to offer a brief perspective on contem- porary UK research in the area, drawing on both industrial and academic experiences.

The 'user interface', or 'human-computer interface', has received a massive amount of attention from the behavioural sciences in the 198Os, and has been the focus of much research and development effort. In recent years.

158 Applied Ergonomics September 1989 0003 6870/89/03 0158-02 $03.00 ©1989 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd