Introduction
We are increasingly surrounded by digital technology. Personal computers, smartphones, social media, intelligent personal assistants, chatbots, smart speakers, and social robots are key technologies of the digital revolution that shape our everyday lives in myriad ways. Understanding how humans interact with such technologies and what impact design has becomes ever more important. This course intends to equip students with the concepts, tools and methods to analyze and understand human interaction with digital technologies.
The course considers how technology mediates communication practices, acting as a medium for human-to-human interaction (thus interfacing with the Human-Human Interaction course), as well as how people engage with digital technology as an actor in itself through human-machine communication. In the course, students will learn about psychology and communication research in user interaction with information technologies. Students also get familiarized with interaction design and how persuasive information technologies are created. Finally, ethical and sustainability-related questions will be discussed in the course, touching on aspects such as bias, fairness, trust, transparency and environmental sustainability.