Human centered computing

Research paper for MS (CS701)

1. Computing of Human Centered approach
Khalid Raza

Virtual University of Pakistan


Abstract
Computer has change the life man. Traditionally
computer was a dream for a man, but now a reality.
And moreover the computing is shifting from the
early typical computations to a new frontiers of
human evolutions in which computer is to be
supposed the ability of responding to human
feelings and behaviors and this is the new origin of
computing called Human Centered
Computing(HCC). In this review paper it supposed
to define the basic terminology of HCC, its
characteristics and to discuss how to use this new
phenomenon for the benefit of human. It is tried to
discuss characteristics of HCC and possible use of
it for future computing.
Keywords
Human centered computing , Algorithms, Future
computing.
I. Introduction
Human Centered computing is a shift of ordinary
computing to a perfectly amazing paradigm which
is based upon human behaviors, responses and
values. In past no such consideration was there for
human values of behaviors in computing. HCC is
the set of methodology which focusses the Human-
Computer interaction in depth. HCC is taken from
various dimensions and its various frontiers are
discussed. We have to study various applications of
HCC and its possible uses for future computations.
The man starts interaction with machine using
multimedia sensors and devices but this was a one
way traffic and was not enough for true relationship
of man and computer. So something more was
needed to develop some new methodology and
hence the birth of HCC phenomenon. The main aim
is to discuss why and how HCC was developed,
and what may the future use of it for more desired
results. We tried to highlight some of the uses of
Human-centered computer by showing the latest
research in this field. Our main objective is not only
to define and explain various domains of HCC but
also to encourage the new comers in this field to
use their capabilities for exploring the new frontiers
in this fields.
We shall try to show some of the challenges may be
faced by the researcher of this field, because this is
quietly a new field of computer science and very
different from the classical computation. The reader
will enjoy this paper for the basic concepts of HCC
and will find a gateway for their work in this new
born field of computer science.

II: Scope of HCC
HCC is the integration of social and cognitive
sources of Human with computer. It stresses upon
the user centered approach. This system not only
focusses the satisfaction and ease of the user but
also it considers the social, cultural and
environmental boundaries in which the user interact
with the system. In traditional computing these
domains were ignored or not covered.
HCC is not just an interactive interface or design
but it is about knowledge , people, technology and
everything that ties them together .HCC includes
how the technology is actually used and in what
context it is used. Both HCC scope and its
possibilities are wide, but here we discuss its salient
features and some possible application with
examples currently used by various experts. To
understand the scope of HCC is to examine new
and existing strategies. As we know that the idea of
human centered computing is premature in the
practical fields of computing, it has a charm an
attracting the top class researcher and scientists to
this challenging fields which has the capability to

2. play role in the future of man. As HCC is perfectly
a new domain but a number of researchers have
started work on thus field in the past years, like the
work on HCC at Georgia Tech [15]

III: Definitions of HCC
In 1997 in US National Science Foundation
workshop on HCC [2], the HCC was defined by
various researchers as follows:
 HCC is any system which enhance and
enrich the human performance in various
fields.
 HCC is any system that plays a kind of
role in mediation human interaction.
 HCC is the practical step toward the user-
friendly interface designing.
 HCC is the adaptation of computer for
human interaction.

Design of HCC


IV: Main features and qualities.
According to Foley et al. [6] HCC is a science
of designing human friendly system and
computational artifacts. It considers the collection
of information through different types of sensors
and presenting and communicating through
combination of media as output. It is a set of
actions according to social and cultural context in
which they are deployed. It acts in diversity manner
for various individuals. The scope of HCC is so
wider but it’s one of the prominent field called
Human Centered Multimedia (HCM). We can
discuss the human centered computing in
multimedia as media production, annotation,
retrieval of information, sharing, analysis of
information etc. [1]
V: Role of HCC
HCC is playing important role in various fields
like user-centered design , cognitive psychology,
sociology, anthropology and other social sciences
in which human has direct interaction with
computation. HCC is actually useful when adopted
for specific problem and act as multi stage-problem
solving system which produces an interface for
human-computer interaction and computer is to be
supposed to understand the social and behavioral
needs and requirements of the human. HCC is also
supposed to be able to test the validity of all
assumptions which are made in making the system.
To visualize the scope of Human centered
computing it is needed to discuss some main area of
it, which will help the reader to grip the idea of
scope of HCC.




VI: Areas of Human-centered Computing
In the past the term computing and multimedia
were two separate domains .Then Multimedia
computing came into being but still there were

3. frontiers between these two types of computing as
simple coming was considered a hard and rigid
domain but now the difference between the
computing and is starting vanishing and going to be
integrating in a single set. We can identify the HCC
activities as production of media, organization,
annotation, retrieval, sharing communication and
analysis. [16]
Out of these area the three areas are particularly
encircling the scope of HCC i.e. production,
analysis, and interaction. However we can describe
HCC in a number of ways but the above three areas
clearly shows its importance and area of working
and also they are effective in a sense as they are
interdependent domains.

VII: Comparison of HCC with traditional
computing
The traditional computation, a human provides a
formalized problem description to capture and
receives a solution to interpret while HCC the
computer raised a question for large number of
people to solve a problem, then collects, interprets
and integrates their solution. In HCC the human is
not needed to be in front of a computer performing
a computer when dealing with a computer.
Human-centered computing researchers explore
systems that interact with people using various and
possibly multiple ways such as innovative
computer graphics, and haptic, audio, and brain-
machine interfaces. Experts of social-computational
systems try to find new knowledge about the
properties that systems of people and computers
together possess, and to develop theoretical and
practical know how of the purposeful design of
systems to facilitate socially intelligent computing
for the man of present and future.

VIII: Applications of HCC
As HCC is a new born phenomenon, hence not
so popular yet but it does not mean that there is no
use of it. Many researchers have shown valuable
work. We are showing these application which are
taken from various sources to encourage more
research in this new emerging branch of computer
science.


A: HCC in gaming
From the Maryland University of Baltimore USA,
a doctoral student Phil Feldman applied the idea of
HCC in an amazing way for the gaming. He made a
device which is attached to the computer and an
application is run in the computer which simulates
the motion of a bionic hand fingers and when
pressure is applied on the device according to the
intensity of pressure the fingers move and a music
is played. According to Phil Feldman, this idea can
be used for the future gaming in which a human
player will play games on computer in virtual
reality and will feel the various situation of the
games in real time and computer interacts with
Human feelings and actions. For example in a war
game we can shoot an enemy and can go near to
him , can feel his pulse and to confirm he is alive or
not. Hence HCC enables human to play roles in real
time environment in games or in movies and even
can reach there where it is not possible in the real
world. [3]


B: HCC and mobile computing (HCM
approach):
The classical computing is now not an exciting
practice. HCC has changed the thinking of a man
toward computation. We can take the example of
HCM (Human centered multimedia).Although
HCM is still in infancy but a rapid research is
underway on this field. The main aim of HCM is
the use of multimedia from Human needs and role
perspective in an interactive and fully controlled
way. As there is a rapid drop in costs of hardware
that led to an availability of mobile computing
devices for everyone, but on the other hand many
issues and challenges are raised. One of the Min
challenges is that while devices such as PDAs and
mobile phones have become tiny and more
powerful, there has been little development in
effective interfaces to access the increased
computational and media resources available in
these devices. Cellphones, as well as other such
devices, have a very important area of opportunity
for research in HCC because natural interaction
with such devices can be very important and
effective in overcoming the limitations of current
interfaces as the current interfaces are running on
the principles of traditional computing.

4. C: HCC for disable users
HCC in the form of HCM can be effectively used
for user with any disability [4] .For example it is
suggested to make a “Smart Wheel chair” fitted
with multi sensors system, which will helps a
person to interact with the word according to
his/her needs. Another example is the digital
pictures system controlled by eye blinking and eye
movement. [5] Different authors have suggested
approaches for other smart systems which integrate
different types of sensors and which will make the
life of disable people easy. Some of the useful
research in this regards the research of Brewster,
Lumsden, Bell, Hall, and Tasker, 2003 etc. that
could also be beneficial for disable people

D: HCC and Virtual Reality
Virtual environment and reality has been a very
active research area at the of computer graphics,
computer vision, and human-computer interaction.
One of the
major difficulties of VR systems is the combining
various component, and is challenge for
researchers to explore the effective use of
interaction analysis techniques to enhance the user
experience for communicating with computers in
the most convenient and effective way. This new
approach of computing is very attractive in VR
environments because users and machines are
Represented by virtual characters of VR system. [9]
Today the virtual reality (VR) system is getting
popularity in the field of gaming and cell phone
technologies that a person can feel him/her
existence in and game or video virtually. This is a
good example of use of HCC in multimedia
computing. In VR the human directly interact with
machine and can feel the virtual world and can play
the role of different characters virtually [7]. In this
regards many movies are also made to boost the
idea of VR. For example in the MATRIX series
movies the virtual reality is shown in which the
man can interact directly with virtual world.
Although these movies are based upon fiction but
these can give an idea of the use of HCM in
computing and in the real world.
E: HCC for human gestures and face
recognition
DR. Maja Panic of Imperial college of London on
Human gesture and face recognition. She has done
extensive research on computer vision, machine
learning and gestures recognition. She developed
codes for various facial expressions like happy, sad,
bore, exited etc. She defined about 44 action units
called AU01, AU02 etc. and the computer has to
recognize the picture from the code and to decide
the mood of the person.
Her most interesting work regarding HCC is
nonverbal behavior and its application to computer
human interface. She works on machine analysis of
facial behavior which is a great use of HCC in
realistic way. [8]
F: HCC in Art and multimedia

The use of HCC in art is an amazing idea ever seen
in computing. This allow the audience participation
through vision techniques. [10]
Ada is an example of special space robot which is
described by Wassermann, Eng, Verschure, and
Manzolli. Ada responds to various inputs from
vistors and interact with them using the HCC
paradigm. [11]
Another project is a special camera used which
points toward user and recording his/her mouth
gestures and generates MIDI sounds from it.
In this way a musician can play other musical
instruments by giving motion to his/her mouth [12]
Similarly in another application of HCC for art and
multimedia is making music with the help of the
motion of hands and legs etc. [13]
HCC concepts are used to digitalized and augment
the art exhibitions in which the visitors can feel the
virtual reality of the paintings. [14]

G: Integration of HCC into a Real Worlds
Human-centered computing is actually based upon
the phenomenon the integrating of computer with
the real human world in which the computer can
catch the human feelings and responds accordingly.

5. IX. Analysis
The best way to get best results from HCC system
is the processing the inputs and outputs in a natural
way, they must be proactive i.e. understanding
cultural and social contexts and must respond
accordingly. A human centered approach to
computing needs to consider how human
understand and interpret multimedia at cognitive
and effective levels.
In this paper we tried to define and explain human
centered computing and its characteristics. We
highlighted various dimensions of HCC and
explored its some applications. This paper may be
helpful for the beginners in this fields and we tried
to spur the experts on high efforts to use their
knowledge in this new emerging field.


X. Conclusion and suggestions for further
work:
Computer has become the essential part of
human life. Interaction of man and computer is not
a new phenomenon now but it is the need of the day
to correlate the human with computer in such a way
to automate the processes of computer according to
the social needs, intensions and desires of a man. In
order to adopt and explore such relationship we
have to highlight a new emerging field of
computation that is Human-centered computing and
the use the sophisticated algorithms to achieve the
desired relationship between Human and Computer.
Human-centered computing shortly called HCC is
actually a set methods that is applicable to any
domain where human and computer do interaction.
In this paper we focus the basic idea of HCC and its
application and possible uses. This paper may
provide a foundation for higher research.
XI. Recommendations:
We can chalk-out an agenda for the future in order
to adopt HCC in its best ways
 Modern algorithms should be adopted for
best results
 Research will be focused on integration of
multiple sensors.
 Computer technology will be adopted to
social, economic and cultural context.
 It is needed to conduct research to identify
the critical parameters involved in the
design and evaluation of technology to
meet user needs.
 It is recommended to develop research
programs for tasks, social behavior of
human, and the relationships of these
behaviors for computation.
 Government may encourage and fund the
HCC based projects, in order to provide a
platform to the new comers in this field.

Keeping in view all these points it is
recommended that more work may be done on this
field and the idea of HCC may be transform into
practical and useful applications for the current and
future generation.

XII. Acknowledgment
I am thankful to the virtual university faculty
members and teaching staff who provide me a
guideline for writing this paper.

References:
[1] A. Jaimes, “Human-Centered Multimedia:
Culture, Deployment, and Access”, IEEE
Multimedia Magazine, 13(1):12 – 19, 2006

[2] J. Flanagan, T. Huang, P. Jones, S. Kasif (eds.),
“Human centered
Systems: Information, Interactivity, and
Intelligence,”
Report, NSF, 1997.
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8fP75-
HHXE Date of retrieval (11/01/2017 7:20 p.m.)

[4] Kuno Y, Shimada N, Shirai Y (2003) Look
where you’re going: A robotic wheelchair based on
the integration of human and environmental
observations.
IEEE Robotics and Automation 10(1):26–34

[5] P. Roth and T. Pun, “Design and evaluation of a

6. multimodal system for the non-visual exploration
of digital pictures,” INTERACT
2003
[6] J. Foley, et al., HCC Educational Digital
Library, http://hcc.cc.gatech.edu


[7] A. Nijholt and D. Heylen, “Multimodal
communication in
inhabited virtual environments,” Int. J. of Speech
Technology
5:343–354, 2002
[8]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09fgAKEBnB
Date of retrieval (11/01/2017 7:37 p.m.)
[9] Nijholt and Heylen, 2002

[10] Maynes-Aminzade, Pausch, and Seitz,
2002).
[11] Wassermann, Eng, Verschure, and Manzolli,
2003

[12] Lyons, Haehnel, and Tetsutani, 2003
[13] Paradiso and Sparacino, 1997

[14] (Paradiso and Sparacino, 1997)

[15] (HCCPhD, 2008) , the extensive work of HCC
consortium at the University of California,
Berkeley (HCC, 2008), and the Institute of Human
and Machine Cognition, Florida (IHMC, 2008)
[16] (Jaimes A (2006) Human-centered multimedia:
Culture, deployment, and access.
IEEE Multimedia 13(1):12–19)