The Human–Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

is an academic research center specializing in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). Founded in 1983 by

Ben Shneiderman Ben Shneiderman (born August 21, 1947) is an American computer scientist, a Distinguished University Professor in the University of Maryland Department of Computer Science, which is part of the University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathe ...

, it is one of the oldest HCI labs of its kind. The HCIL conducts research on the design, implementation, and evaluation of

computer interface In computing, an interface is a shared boundary across which two or more separate components of a computer system exchange information. The exchange can be between software, computer hardware, peripheral devices, humans, and combinations of the ...

technologies. Additional research focuses on the development of user interfaces and design methods. Primary activities of the HCIL include collaborative research, publication and the sponsorship of open houses, workshops and annual symposiums. Being

interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

in nature, HCIL collaborates on a broader basis with several academic departments and schools, with faculty and students from

Information Studies Information science (also known as information studies) is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval, movement, dissemination, and protection of information. ...

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

, and

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

. Currently, the lab is jointly supported by the College of Information Studies (iSchool) and the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS). Research affiliated with the HCIL has led to several digital design principles based on Shneiderman's theory of

direct manipulation In computer science, human–computer interaction, and interaction design, direct manipulation is an approach to interfaces which involves continuous representation of objects of interest together with rapid, reversible, and incremental actions ...

. Early research contributions on

hypertext Hypertext is E-text, text displayed on a computer display or other electronic devices with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access. Hypertext documents are interconnected by hyperlinks, which are typi ...

, particularly

hyperlink In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference to data that the user can follow or be guided by clicking or tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text wit ...

ing, are popular UI design elements still widely used today. In 1989, the lab developed high-precision

touchscreen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...

applications for small keyboards that are now widely used on

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

Information visualization Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random, ...

research on dynamic queries in the early 1990s led to the commercial

Spotfire TIBCO Spotfire is an artificial intelligence (AI)-based analytics platform. Before being acquired by TIBCO in 2007, Spotfire was a business intelligence company based in Somerville, Massachusetts. History Spotfire was founded by Christopher Ahlb ...

product and

treemapping In information visualization and computing, treemapping is a method for displaying hierarchical data using nested figures, usually rectangles. Treemaps display hierarchical ( tree-structured) data as a set of nested rectangles. Each branch of ...

strategies. Notable developments in HCI within the 21st century include interfaces for

digital libraries A digital library, also called an online library, an internet library, a digital repository, or a digital collection is an online database of digital objects that can include text, still images, audio, video, digital documents, or other digital me ...

, multimedia resources for learning communities, and

zooming user interface In computing, a zooming user interface or zoomable user interface (ZUI, pronounced zoo-ee) is a graphical environment where users can change the scale of the viewed area in order to see more detail or less, and browse through different document ...

s (ZUIs). Later contributions include technology design methodologies for children,

mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

and

pen-based computing Pen computing refers to any computer user-interface using a pen or stylus and tablet, over input devices such as a keyboard or a mouse. Pen computing is also used to refer to the usage of mobile devices such as tablet computers, PDAs and GPS recei ...

, network analysis and visualization using

NodeXL NodeXL is a network analysis and visualization software package for Microsoft Excel 2007/2010/2013/2016. The package is similar to other network visualization tools such as Pajek, UCINet, and Gephi. It is widely applied in ring, mapping of ver ...

, and event analytics for electronic patient histories. Developments and research projects for each year are showcased at the lab's annual HCIL Symposium. , the lab is directed by

Jessica Vitak Jessica Vitak is an American information scientist who is an associate professor at the University of Maryland. She is faculty in the University of Maryland College of Information Studies (iSchool) and Communication Department. She serves as Dir ...

. Its previous directors are

(1983-2000),

Ben Bederson Benjamin Bederson is a Computer Science professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, a member of the University of Maryland Human-Computer Interaction Lab, and a co-founder of Zumobi. His father is Benjamin Bederson, Sr., a Professor ...

(2000-2006),

Allison Druin Allison Druin is an American computer scientist who studies human–computer interaction, and digital libraries, particularly focusing on children's use of educational technology. She is a professor emerita at the University of Maryland, College P ...

(2006–2011),

Jen Golbeck Jennifer Golbeck is a computer scientist. She currently is a professor at the College of Information Studies,

(2011-2015), Mona Leigh Guha (interim director 2015), June Ahn (2015-2016),

Niklas Elmqvist Niklas Elmqvist is a Swedish-American computer scientist. He is currently a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Aarhus University, and a Villium Investigator. He is the Director of the Center for Anytime Anywhere Analytics at Aarh ...

(2016-2021) and

Catherine Plaisant Catherine Plaisant is a French/American Research Scientist Emerita at the University of Maryland, College Park and assistant director of research of the University of Maryland Human–Computer Interaction Lab. Education Catherine Plaisant comp ...

(acting director 1996).

Contributions

Direct manipulation

's theory of

led to innovations in digital interface design, many developed under the HCIL. Direct manipulation interactions, in contrast to other interaction styles, require that

objects Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an ...

of interest are represented as distinguishable objects in the UI and are manipulated in a direct fashion. In other words, direct manipulation tools provide a user with a visually-intuitive method to manipulate that object. Direct manipulation is characterized by four main principles: continuous representation of the object of interest; physical actions instead of complex syntax; rapid, incremental, and reversible operations whose impact on the object of interest is immediately visible; and layered or spiral approach to learning that permits usage with minimal knowledge. A famous example is the

File Explorer File Explorer, previously known as Windows Explorer, is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface for accessing the file ...

, which is used to manage applications in the

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Operating System An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

. In contrast to the

command line A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invoking executables and pro ...

interaction style, applications are abstractly represented as "files", while groups of files are collected in "folders". File abstractions, for instance, can be dragged and dropped into folders to manage and organize programs in an intuitive and visual manner.

Touchscreens

From 1988 to 1991, the HCIL worked on a series of projects regarding the use of

s. These projects explored direct manipulation designs to improve the accuracy, precision, and usability of touchscreen technologies. At the time, touchscreen technology was imprecise and was generally "limited to targets larger than the average finger". Originally, corresponding actions from the touch of a finger were performed immediately on the screen (known as the "first touch" or "land on" strategy"), which would frequently lead to wrong target selections and calibration issues. The "lift-off" strategy was developed as an alternative technique for selection; this technique provides feedback for selection when a user's finger is on the screen, and select that target when the finger is lifted. After implementing a cursor slightly above a user's finger during selection, this effectively allowed a user's finger to replace a computer mouse. The "lift-off" strategy is still used in many touchscreen devices today, including the

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

iPhone. In 1988, HCIL partnered with companies Elographic and Microtouch to build a high-precision touchscreen by integrating stabilizing techniques with the "lift-off" strategy into their touchscreen drivers. From then on, high-precision technology in touchscreens was possible. Using a combination of

hyperTIES The Interactive Encyclopedia System, or TIES, was a hypertext system developed in the University of Maryland Human-Computer Interaction Lab by Ben Shneiderman in 1983. The earliest versions of TIES ran in DOS text mode, using the cursor arrow key ...

and high-precision touchscreen technology, it's believed that the HCIL developed the world's first touchscreen museum kiosk. A large-scale test of touchscreens was conducted that spring for the Caesarea (King Herod's Dream) Exhibit, a Smithsonian exhibit on archaeology. Development with touchscreens continued the following year with development of the

Online Public Access Catalog The online public access catalog (OPAC), now frequently synonymous with '' library catalog'', is an online database of materials held by a library or group of libraries. Online catalogs have largely replaced the analog card catalogs previously ...

for the Library of Congress. Using direct manipulation interfaces through touchscreens, HCIL worked on two projects from 1988 to 1989: development of a home automation system in collaboration with American Voice and Robotics, and experimentation with toggles (buttons, sliders, etc.) on touchscreens. These projects introduced novel examples of how touchscreens can be used: selecting zones on maps, button type toggles, sliding toggles, and manipulation of calendar and time interfaces. In 2015, HCIL's "sliding" direct manipulation tool was cited as prior art in '' Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronic Co., Ltd,'' which contested the patents of the "slide-to-unlock"

lock screen A lock screen is a computer user interface element used by various operating systems. They regulate immediate access to a device by requiring the user to perform a certain action in order to receive access, such as entering a password, using a cert ...

feature on Apple devices.

Information visualization

HCIL developed three early applications of dynamic queries from 1991 to 1993. These applications include a chemical table of elements, a real estate HomeFinder, and a cancer atlas. These queries incorporate direct manipulation through dynamic sliders with a range of dates and a dynamically updating map. Chris Ahlberg, a major contributor on HomeFinder, left the lab and created

several years later in 1996.

Events and outreach

HCIL collaborates with other departments, centers and labs on campus. It hosts academic and industrial visitors, and works closely with project sponsors. The HCIL has hosted its annual symposium every year since the lab's inception. The symposium showcases developments, publications, and research projects for that year. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, HCIL's 37th and 38th Annual Symposium were hosted virtually.

Notable current and former members

, founding director (1983-2000), ACM CHI Academy member,

ACM Fellow ACM or A.C.M. may refer to: Aviation * AGM-129 ACM, 1990–2012 USAF cruise missile * Air chief marshal * Air combat manoeuvring or dogfighting * Air cycle machine * Arica Airport (Colombia) (IATA: ACM), in Arica, Amazonas, Colombia Computing ...

, member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

, six honorary doctorates * Kent Norman, founding member, Directory of the Laboratory for Automation Psychology *

Jenny Preece Jenny Preece is an American academic who is the Dean Emerita (2005–2015) of the College of Information Studies, a Professor at the University of Maryland, and a member of the University of Maryland Human-Computer Interaction Lab. She rese ...

, lab member, ACM CHI Academy member, former Dean of the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland, 2005-2015 *

, lab member and former director, ACM CHI Academy member, known for foundational work in zoomable interfaces *

, lab member and former director, ACM CHI Academy member, ACM CHI Social Impact Award winner, known for foundational work in

participatory design Participatory design (originally co-operative design, now often co-design) is an approach to design attempting to actively involve all stakeholders (e.g. employees, partners, customers, citizens, end users) in the design process to help ensure t ...

with children and designing interactive technology for and with children, former lab director *

, associate director, ACM CHI Academy member, IEEE Visualization Career Award winner, research scientist emerita *

Jen Golbeck Jennifer Golbeck is a computer scientist. She currently is a professor at the College of Information Studies,

, lab member, former lab director *

, former lab director (2016 to 2021) *

Don Hopkins Don Hopkins is an artist and programmer specializing in human computer interaction and computer graphics. He is an alumnus of the University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland and a former member of the University of Maryland Huma ...

, former student and

pie menu In user interface design, a pie menu or radial menu is a circular context menu where selection depends on direction. It is a graphical control element. A pie menu is made of several "pie slices" around an inactive center and works best with stylus ...

creator *

Gary Marchionini Gary Marchionini is an American information scientist and educator at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1998-present). Work Gary Marchionini is a leader in defining theory of human information interaction and exploratory search ...

, former lab member (now at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, since 1998) *

Jean-Daniel Fekete Jean-Daniel Fekete is a French computer scientist. Education Fekete received his PhD from the Paris-Saclay University in 1996.) He obtained his Habilitation in 2005, entitled "Nouvelle génération d'Interfaces Homme-Machine pour mieux agir ...

, former lab visiting scientist, now at INRIA *

Andrew Sears Andrew Sears is an American computer scientist. He is a professor and dean of the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) at The Pennsylvania State University. His research explores issues related to human-computer interaction inclu ...

, former PhD Student *

Karen Holtzblatt Karen Holtzblatt is an American computer scientist known for her contributions in human–computer interaction, and particularly in contextual design. She founded InContext Design in 1992, and is its CEO. Holtzblatt was elected to the CHI Academy ...

CHI Academy The CHI Academy is a group of researchers honored by SIGCHI, the Special Interest Group in Computer–Human Interaction of the Association for Computing Machinery. Each year, 5–8 new members are elected for having made a significant, cumulative co ...

member and

ACM SIGCHI The Special Interest Group on Computer–Human Interaction (SIGCHI) is one of the Association for Computing Machinery's special interest groups which is focused on human–computer interactions (HCI). It hosts the flagship annual international H ...

Lifetime Award for Practice *

Leah Findlater Leah K. Findlater is a Canadian-American computer scientist specializing in human-computer interaction, mobile computing, and computer accessibility. She is an associate professor of computer science at the University of Washington. Education Fin ...

, former faculty member *

, current lab director (2021-present)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:University of Maryland Human - Computer Interaction Lab Human-Computer Interaction Lab University and college laboratories in the United States Computer science research organizations Human–computer interaction