The evolution of user-centered focus in the human-computer interaction field

About 20 years have passed since the first conferences dedicated to human-computer interaction (HCI) were held. In that time many changes have occurred in how we think about making use of data gathered from users of technology to guide the process of designing and developing new hardware and software systems. Throughout this process there has been a productive dialog among academic and industry-based researchers and usability engineering practitioners. Academic research has provided insights into methods for understanding and modeling user behavior, and industry has provided a wide range of exciting technologies for consideration by researchers in HCI. This paper looks at the evolution of the field from the behavioral science perspective. We consider the evolution of the field within professional groups, such as the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI) and the International Federation for Information Processing Technical Committee (IFIP TC13), academic departments (primarily in computer science departments), and industry (primarily within IBM). In this paper we offer a view of this journey of 20 years, along with some visions and challenges of the future.