Human–Computer Interaction

The field of human–computer interaction (HCI) has grown beyond the study of the usability of technologies to examining the user experience created by various features of those technologies. The interactivity afforded by modern computer-based technologies has served to transform human–computer interaction into human–computer communication. This has resulted in greater attribution of agency to machines and a tendency among users to treat them socially. Principles of interpersonal communication inform—and are informed by—the study of human interactions with computer-based technologies, providing implications for theory as well as design. This entry provides an interdisciplinary overview of HCI history, followed by a discussion of the factors underlying the shift from interaction to communication, highlighting the centrality of the concept of interactivity. It then describes the “computers are social actors” paradigm and documents the increasing tendency to attribute agency to machines, with a focus on empirical contributions related to interpersonal communication.