Seven HCI Grand Challenges

TLDR

The article frames HCI grand challenges within a humane, social‑values perspective, drawing on a collective effort of 32 experts from the HCII Conference series to identify emerging issues in intelligent interactive technologies. The article seeks to investigate the grand challenges posed by rapid technological evolution and expanding societal needs that HCI must address. The authors identified seven grand challenges—Human‑Technology Symbiosis, Human‑Environment Interactions, Ethics, Privacy and Security, Well‑being, Health and Eudaimonia, Accessibility and Universal Access, Learning and Creativity, and Social Organization and Democracy—by gathering expert opinions, debating them in a 2018 conference meeting, and analyzing each challenge’s definition, research issues, state of the art, and emerging requirements. The study culminated in a consolidated set of seven grand challenges for HCI.

Abstract

This article aims to investigate the Grand Challenges which arise in the current and emerging landscape of rapid technological evolution towards more intelligent interactive technologies, coupled with increased and widened societal needs, as well as individual and collective expectations that HCI, as a discipline, is called upon to address. A perspective oriented to humane and social values is adopted, formulating the challenges in terms of the impact of emerging intelligent interactive technologies on human life both at the individual and societal levels. Seven Grand Challenges are identified and presented in this article: Human-Technology Symbiosis; Human-Environment Interactions; Ethics, Privacy and Security; Well-being, Health and Eudaimonia; Accessibility and Universal Access; Learning and Creativity; and Social Organization and Democracy. Although not exhaustive, they summarize the views and research priorities of an international interdisciplinary group of experts, reflecting different scientific perspectives, methodological approaches and application domains. Each identified Grand Challenge is analyzed in terms of: concept and problem definition; main research issues involved and state of the art; and associated emerging requirements.BACKGROUNDThis article presents the results of the collective effort of a group of 32 experts involved in the community of the Human Computer Interaction International (HCII) Conference series. The group's collaboration started in early 2018 with the collection of opinions from all group members, each asked to independently list and describe five HCI grand challenges. During a one-day meeting held on the 20th July 2018 in the context of the HCI International 2018 Conference in Las Vegas, USA, the identified topics were debated and challenges were formulated in terms of the impact of emerging intelligent interactive technologies on human life both at the individual and societal levels. Further analysis and consolidation led to a set of seven Grand Challenges presented herein. This activity was organized and supported by the HCII Conference series.