Chapter 1

Today I read the first chapter of Interaction Design: Beyond Human Computer Interaction. Not only was it a nice review of concepts that I had learned this past spring in Cognitive Science 102C (Cognitive Engineering/Design), but more importantly it was a reflection and clarification of the work that I have recently been practicing in my internship as a human factors engineer.

Earlier today I was trying to describe the possible cognitive science roles in the design and engineering process to my friend Victoria-- I was able to describe the design and engineering aspects of it, but found it more difficult to clearly explain the more interdisciplinary fields (i.e. human factors, human-computer interaction, etc.). Even though it is my focus of study, it seems that I understand each of the concepts independently but needed to be refreshed on the broader scope of interaction design.

Sometimes when you are trying to piece together a puzzle, you need to look at each piece closely to observe the shape and size, but if you look at only one piece for too long then you can forget that the puzzle piece will only makes sense when placed in the bigger picture. In that sense, this chapter has helped me to step away from specific aspects of the design process and see how it fits into the bigger picture of our everyday living... which is what had intrigued me to pursue my educational career in cognitive science in the first place.

In general, I'm glad that this chapter clarified certain words that are too often misused and easily confused with eachother, such as user-centered and usability testing. I found this chapter to be a relatively easy and enjoyable reading and I have high hopes for this class.