Human-computer interaction (HCI) has traditionally been the domain of engineering and psychology. In this track, we approach HCI from the perspective of design. That is, we focus on the ways that design and research cooperate to create openings and insights into emerging design domains; how research contributes to design processes and methods; and how design practices can themselves be a form of research.

In this track, you’ll seek to understand the opportunities and challenges of interactive systems in a way that equally addresses technological possibilities, human needs, and social and cultural contexts and trends. You’ll contribute to the development of design theory, methods, and practice as you conduct research in areas such as:

• Design and theory
• Computer-supported cooperative work
• Social computing
• Ethics, values, and critical computing
• Social impacts of AI/ML
• Usability and evaluation methods
• Augmented, virtual, and mixed reality
• Design pedagogy and learning systems
• Social and organizational views of technology use
• Health and wellness technologies
• Critical and sustainable computing
• Creativity and cognition

This track is designed to change the way you think. You’ll go beyond using technology to solve a problem, to creating and researching technology experiences that will be functional, intuitive, and even delightful for users. With this track, you’ll learn to think like a design researcher. You’ll refine your personal design philosophy and research skills through coursework that:

• Teaches you the key history, literature, and research approaches of HCI/d
• Introduces you to multiple disciplinary perspectives, research techniques, and design theory concepts
• Enables you to explore the socio-technical complexity of implementing technologies in different cultures and context.

Human-computer interaction design (HCI/d) research is geared toward supporting interventions or understandings that bring about better possible futures, as opposed to primarily describing the past or even the present. An HCI/d researcher might ask: What possible futures are open to us, and how might we pursue them? What is “design thinking” and what methods best support design activities? How might digital systems be developed in service of social justice and sustainability? How can design professions be more participatory and democratic? What makes user experiences aesthetic, and how can designers create them?

Human computer interaction design opens up possibilities, such as: massive scale collaborative systems; engagement in online communities of interest and practice; new forms of democratic participation in government; and integration of domestic and health technologies. However, these interactive systems can also contribute to serious social problems, such as concerns about privacy and surveillance, sustainability and addiction, and unequal access due to socioeconomic status, disability, and other social issues. HCI/d researchers seek to understand such opportunities and problems in a way that equally attends to their full socio-technical and critical complexity.

In this track, you’ll seek to understand these opportunities and problems in a way that equally addresses technological possibilities, human needs, and social and cultural context and trends—all in a way that’s oriented toward intervention through design. You’ll contribute to the development of design theory, methods, and practice as you conduct research in areas such as:

• Design theory and practice
• Computer-supported cooperative work
• Social computing
• Ethics, values, and critical computing
• Social impacts of AI/ML
• Usability and evaluation methods
• Design pedagogy and learning systems
• Social and organizational views of technology use
• Health and wellness technologies
• Critical and sustainable computing
• Creativity and cognition

Written and oral examinations will be structured by the student’s committee based on their research interests. A typical exam consists of an extensive annotated bibliography with accompanying critical essay that describes the student’s interpretation of the relevant literature and how they situate their own interests and work within it. The written portion of the exam is followed by an oral exam to defend the written submissions.

Inquiry methodology; cognitive science; anthropology; sociology; intelligent and interactive systems; computing, culture, and society.