From doing to being: bringing emotion into interaction
Gilbert Cockton · Interacting with Computers · 2002
“Cogito, ergo sum”—“ I think, therefore I am” declared the seventeenth century philosopher René Descartes. Descartes’ experience of his thinking confirmed his existence, but almost four centuries on we are today more inclined to the position that “I feel, therefore I am”. In the first Star Trek series, Dr Spock thought feelings were only a detriment to thinking, and as such found it hard to understand human behaviour. Why then has the study of Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) hardly evolved beyond a Dr Spock view of the universe, when feeling is so obviously central to our humanity? If Descartes had been an early pioneer in HCI, he may well have changed his dictum to “I think, therefore this user interface is too hard”. While the real Descartes took thought as the proof of his existence, in most early HCI today it has been seen as potential evidence for usability problems! Interaction nirvana for many usability purists is attained by the transparency of effortless interaction, where problem solving and the attendant thought must be pared down to the absolute minimum (whatever that is). In this puritanical school of usability, we only interact to work and yet perversely we should not work to interact. If instrumental HCI had a Descartes style dictum, it would have to be “I interact, therefore I do”. Why else would anyone interact with a computer, except as part of an honest day's work?