Description of the video:
HCI brings the human and the computer together and really focuses on how they interact with each other. So what goes on between the human and the computer? Sometimes it's individuals, sometimes it's groups, and in lots of different contexts. In the past, for example, we very much focused on OK, how do I make this technology more usable? Now the field for the last few decades has expanded largely to include also aspects of what we call user experience. Aspects of how people perceived technologies, how they can benefit from technologies in their lives, in their careers and so on. From the human side, you need social sciences, economics, behavioral investigations, anthropology, sociology, and from the computer side, obviously have computer science and mathematics and all kinds of things that go into technology building. That can also be thinking through what kind of institutional structures or what kind of policies do we need relating to these technologies to make sure that they're socially beneficial. The reason HCI is important in understanding the real role and place of technology in our society, is that technology is not just objects and artifacts. Technology is much more than that. And HCI essentially, among other things, provides that broad perspective in terms of what it means to people, what, how it changes and shapes our ways of life. We are living in the golden age of HCI research right now. In HCI, we have faculty across our departments not just within informatics, but across in computer science as well as engineering, information and library science who are working on HCI problems. We have like an extensive number of like health HCI researchers. We have some of the best design researchers in the field. We have people understand the society impact. We had people do privacy and robotic and different ways that people interact with technology. By bringing in a whole bunch of people from different backgrounds, different areas, different countries, different perspectives to try to solve problems together. That's when we learn the most from each other. I think it's an overall theme, also, in HCI and in our department also is thinking about these more ignored populations or marginalized populations. If you have an interest in changing the lives of the left behind populations and making an impact that way, there's no better place to do it. I think in Indiana we have very unique opportunities. The research that we are conducting has a direct reach to this people in rural communities. And they can reach the max impact because they are the people who need this kind of solution the most. In a lot of research I do, I study different subcultures. How's it changing the traditions they're used to, right? Technology might be disrupting their way of life. If the model with which the systems are built comes from the Western world, that may not necessarily fit how they're used outside of the Western world. So that's why we need research that looks at all of these things. The research questions in a sense are endless because I think both human computer interaction and human robot interaction are fields that are trying to invent the future as they go along. The research at IU is going to be very progressive and pushing the boundaries of what HCI is about. The next big technology that's going to emerge requires studying people, understanding what their needs are, what challenges they face. And from that, you can extrapolate and build the next big thing that's going to solve that problem or address that need. We can do things now that we would've never been able to do five or ten years ago just based on the technological savvy of the population and the technological capabilities of that continue to drop in our lap every single day. When I think about the future it's not so much in terms of what machines can do, you know, if machines are going to be able to do this and that and the other, rather, how we should be able to take control about the future of technology and our societies. We can empower people to change their own lives. And by doing that, we're going to be changing society.