HCI stands for Human-Computer Interaction. This collaboration is how computers study people so that they can produce the most relevant information to each person. HCI ties into digital rhetoric because when we tell our computer what we like, we are influencing it to show us what we like. HCI is a constant flow of receiving information and giving out information. The more we click around on our computer the more we come across things we like. We can also get rid of things we don’t like. We are teaching our computers who we are and what we are interested in. For example, If you are scrolling on Tiktok and you like a video of someone at the gym. Your next ad will be a gym membership. Our algorithm curates itself to what it knows we like. This successfully keeps us coming back to our digital lives.
HCI also creates a melting pot of information. Because so many different people have access to post on the internet we are able to discover things we like. Different information is posted from all over the world and from every walk of life. Eyman says, “In one way or another, most of these digital humanities activities involve collections of cultural heritage materials. Which are one of the primary objects of study for researchers across all humanities disciplines.” I didn’t always think about the fact that cultural heritage plays a huge role in digital spaces. Of course, we think about how the internet derives from somewhere and something. Yet I didn’t always recognize the fact that we are what makes up the internet.
What we have to say and offer is what allows the computer to be so smart. Humans hold the power. Without humans teaching computers information they would not know how to keep us coming back.
Leave a Reply