2.4 TOWARDS A NEW HCI VOCABULARY
In one sense, the vocabulary normally used within a subject defines its scope. If we look at the ACM CHI conferences, for example, we find that in the proceedings of the first meeting, in 1981, the word “creative” turns up once and the word “productive” turns up 95 times. In 2011, by contrast, “creative” occurs in 141 contributions, whereas “productive” is only used in 41. So we see a shift in interest in the community, as discussed previously, illustrated simply by the vocabulary used.
In a quick scan of the paper titles from 1981/82, I notice words such as:
• command
• programming
• explanation
• documentation
• friendliness
• lexicon
• performance
• effectiveness
• productive
• learning
• stress
• search
• thesaurus
• icon
• menu
• scrolling
In 2011, in a similar scan, I see:
• sharing
• persuasive
• creative
• reflection
• emotion
• engaging
• experience
• expressive
• aesthetics
• touch
• feel
• gesture
• sensing
• multitasking
• multimodal
• pointing
By 2017, I can add:
• harmony
• moods
• awareness
• presence
• empowered
• mindfulness
• empathy
One might say that there is a move from routine work and productive concerns to human and creative ones. The frequency of the use of the words “productive” and “creative” themselves in the CHI conferences changed from the 95 (productive) to 1 (creative) in 1981 to, typically, parity by 2016.
These may only be word lists, however, behind them we can see the research agenda in HCI. The research questions that are being addressed are framed using these words. Of course, my scan of the literature was hardly rigorous, but the drift is clear. Today, we live in a world much more concerned with human creativity, with emotion, experience, and feelings, than we did in 1981. Artists are at the center of the development of new creative paths. That is why the argument of this book, this lecture, is that it is increasingly valuable for the HCI world to look at and to learn from the world of art. As I live in both of those worlds, and can demonstrate the value of HCI to art, I think that I am in a good position to assert that the benefits are reciprocal. I will elaborate on this in Chapter 3.
1 http://chi2011.org/program/program.html
2 https://chi2016.acm.org/wp/art-exhibition/
CHAPTER 3
Learning from Interactive Art
3.1 A LITTLE ART HISTORY
We may often think in terms of emotion and feeling when we look at, or listen to, art. In the theatre we may see a production that exudes magic. But the works we see and hear are, of course, made by careful and informed hard work, certainly not by magic. The image of a mad genius pouring out their anguish or joy has little to do with the reality of making art. Vincent van Gough may have had problems, but he was a highly learned man who was very deliberate about the way he constructed his paintings.3 In what follows, I will look at art practice, how artists work, rather than at the artworks that they produce.
Just as in any other walk of life, the artist must conduct at least personal research. For example, an artist might need to work out which kind of paint will provide the best colour range. In fact, art practice can be seen as akin to research in that each artwork is a kind of experiment from which the artist learns, and that influences what is done next. Many artists share this attitude whether they use the word “research” or not. In his classic book The Story of Art, Gombrich even headed his chapter on the first half of the 20th century with the title “Experimental Art” (Gombrich, 1972). The art historian Stephen Bann explained this view of art practice:
“my own definition of the experimental painter is that he is committed to a particular path of controlled activity, of which the works which he produces remain as evidence. In other words, the direction in which the artist moves is at least as important as the individual statements which record the track that he has taken.” (Bann, 1970)
From the early years of the 20th century, explicit and public reference to research became an important part of some artist’s lives.
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