ABSTRACT

The most significant term, human–computer interaction, is very broadly to cover major threads of research in four disciplines: Human Factors/Ergonomics, Information Systems, Computer Science, and Library and Information Science. This chapter explains how several key disciplinary labels are used. Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) has a narrower focus, associated mainly with Computer Science, the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group, and the latter’s annual CHI conference. The chapter utilizes human factors and ergonomics interchangeably and refers to the discipline as HF&E—the Human Factors Society became the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society in 1992. Information Systems refers to the management discipline that has also been labeled Data Processing and Management Information Systems. The chapter provides common parlance in referring to organizational information systems specialists as IT professionals or IT pros. In the late nineteenth century, technologies and practices for compressing, distributing, and organizing information bloomed.