HCI discussion

Content:  I am so thankful for the variety of intefaces available today.  I am not from a CS background and could not imagine trying to interact with a computer solely by code, sometimes I can't even interact with them using the interfaces.  It was interesting to see all of the thought that goes into creating these interfaces, I had presumed that it was mostly aestetics and not so much usability.  I never thought about how safety or morale would be taken into consideration when designing interfaces. 
An example of  HCI that it most prevelant to me at the moment is in the car.  I recently bought a new car, and while shopping around I saw many.   My new car has got a really cool remote, this remote has some pros.  With a push of a button up to 100 feet away, I can open or close the side doors, I can activate or deactivate my alarm, I can open the back window, I can open the hatch-back door, or I can turn on or off dome lights.  All of this is convenient, especially when I have my hands full.  However the remote is bigger then a normal keychain, so it doesn't fit into my pocket and it does have a lot of buttons on it so finding the right button can take a moment, but I am sure as I get used to it I will memorize their locations.  The biggest con is that the remote is very expensive, which will only be bad if I break it. 

Posted by Laura Wojtulewicz