Human-Computer Interaction and Digital Rhetoric

In Eymans “Defining and Locating Digital Rhetoric” he gives us a refresher on Digital Rhetoric and goes on to talk about Human-computer interaction, otherwise known as HCI.

Digital Rhetoric Refresh

We all know what digital rhetoric is all about by now. It is concerned with understanding how digital technologies function and how digital enviornments influence communication, knowledge, and how they persuade audiences. More specifically, it is the study of what often includes the ways in which users engage with technology, how technology helps and hinders communication, and how persuassive systems are within technology.

Human-Computer Interaction

HCI is broadly about understanding people and technology. In Human- Computer Interaction, Dix, Finlay, Abowd, and Beale (1993) claim that HCI “is, put simply, the study of people, computer technology, and the ways these in- fluence each other.” The concept of HCI significantly overlaps with digital rhetorics concern with how users interact with technology for communication.

HCI is sort of manipulative but not necessarily negative. HCI focuses on usability or how users interact with technology to ensure that the systems that the users are using are effective and efficient. This is all good stuff. I mean, we want technology to be effective and efficent, thats what it should be for but as I read further and learned that HCI is also concerned with making the systems satisfying to use, it sort of rubbed me the wrong way, especially after watching “The Social Dilemma” in class the other day. HCI wants to make the stuff you consume as addicting as possible so you keep coming back again and again. Digital rhetoric on the other hand, is more concerned with the communicative and rhetorical aspects of these interactions.

Shared Interests

Thomas Skeen points out some overlap between the fields of HCI and rhetoric when he talks about use empowerment. In HCI, there is an emphasis on creating systems that meet user needs and preferences while digital rhetoric considers the ways in which digital enviornments can be spaces that empower users in terms of communication, access to knowledge and stuff like social action.

Like I mentioned previously, HCI is not necessarily negative and I think HCI and dgital rhetoric together can create technolgies that are not only engaging but also responsible and ethically and communicatively empowering.