INFORMATION PROCESSING

Humans as a Component

In order for HCI to be successful humans are essential. Within HCI the human or in other terms us, are the end users. We will want the device or HCI to perform all of the complex and sophisticated tasks which are too complicated for us to understand and grasp a concept of. Prior to a company who develop HCI products they will take into consideration the amount of data that the human brain is able to process and cope with, and how they will want information to be presented to them. They will also rely heavily on the user as it will all depend on what they want and what they are looking for. After the company will come up with an idea for the HCI, if this has already been used, then they will use this as a basis and try and develop it further to make it better.

Human Information Processing (HIP)

Human Information Processing is another part of HCI. This is basically how we humans process the information that we are able to see. Firstly we process the information that is in front of us and then our brain gathers this information and then it separates it in order for us to understand it and make sense of it. Various things can be done by this such as being able to store and access this information. An example that can be used for this is a computer the reason for this is because first the brain obtains the information, likewise with the computer the data is fed into the system like the role of hardware, then the software will use this information to save it somewhere. In relation to humans this information will be saved in the Long Term Memory or Short Term Memory of our brains.

Goals, Operators, Methods & Selection (GOMS)

Goals, Operators, Methods & Selection or abbreviated is GOMS. This is a strategy that is used by users and creators in order to grasp the concept and understand, visualise and carry out tasks that require the use of HCI.

Goals is simply what the user wants the system to do for them. An example that can be used is On a smartphone where a owner/user is searching for a contact and is able to find them.

Operators are the tasks that are done the by the  system to perform a request that is given by the user. Again using the example above this will be to click on the contacts icon and then typing in the contacts name to get their details.

In simple terms the methods are basically a set of instructions that are followed to complete a task or a pattern that is followed accordingly to do a job. For instance with the contact list again the user may be asked to enter a name for the contact that they want to find, to make this easier and convenient for them a search bar or tool will be available for this.

Selections or selections rules are basically the options or methods that we choose in order to complete a task. This all comes down to the user and their preference we are able to select the interface that we find most applicable, and the one that we are suited to. In relation to the example that I have provided it can be the various methods that can be used to find the information of the contact like their mobile phone number etc...