EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

Human-Computer Interaction, often called HCI, is a sociotechnological discipline whose goal is to bring the power of computer and communication systems to people in ways and forms that are both accessible and useful in our working, learning, communicating, and recreational lives.

Toward this end, technologies such as the graphical user interface, virtual environments, speech recognition, gesture and handwriting recognition, multimedia presentation, and cognitive models of human learning and understanding have been developed and applied as part of HCI research agendas.

HCI is sociotechnological because it concerns how people, both as individuals and as groups, use and are affected by computer and communication systems. As such, HCI draws on computer science, computer and communications engineering, graphic design, management, psychology, and sociology as it endeavors to make computer and communications systems ever more usable in carrying out tasks as diverse as learning a foreign language, analyzing the aerodynamics of a new airplane, planning surgery, playing a computer game, accessing information on the World Wide Web, or programming a VCR.

Excellence in HCI is important for several reasons:

• Quality of life. Important applications of computers in medicine are possible only if they are both useful to and easy to use by doctors, nurses, and aides; similarly, use of computers in education requires usability and usefulness for students and teachers. Computers can assist disabled individuals; at the same time, special techniques are needed to allow computers to be used by some who are disabled.
• National competitiveness. Information technology is one of the drivers for increased productivity. As more and more workers use computers in their jobs, training time and ease and speed of use become economically more and more important.
• Growth of the computer and communications industries. Powerful, interesting, and usable applications are the fuel for continuing growth of these industries. The current cycle of growth is the direct consequence of the graphical user interface developed by Xerox and commercialized by Apple and Microsoft, and of the lower computer costs made possible by the microprocessor. The resulting mass market supports commodity pricing for both hardware and software. Future growth cycles will in part be driven by current HCI research, which will lead to new and ever easier-to-use applications.
• National security. Computer-based command, control, communications, and intelligence systems are at the heart of our military infrastructure. Interfaces between operators and computers are found in cockpits, on the bridge, and in the field. To be effective, these systems must have high-quality human-computer interfaces.

STUDY OBJECTIVES AND PROCESS

The basic purposes of this JTEC study were to investigate Japanese HCI research and development and to compare current status and trends to similar work in the United States. In particular, the sponsors of the study (the National Science Foundation, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Office of Naval Research, and the Department of Commerce) were interested in the following specific areas:

• basic human-computer interaction research
• research, development, and applications in
  • computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW), information network services, and information infrastructure
  • consumer devices, games, and entertainment
  • technologies and tools for people with disabilities
  • nuclear power, robotic manufacturing and service, and transportation
• research infrastructure
• HCI education and human resources

The JTEC study panel visited 22 sites during its one-week visit to Japan May 22-26, 1995: 1 government center, 2 universities, 13 corporations, and 6 consortia (mostly sponsored by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry, MITI).

CONCLUSIONS

The following sections present highlights of the JTEC panel's conclusions drawn from its site visits. Table ES.1 compares HCI activities in Japan and the United States.

Research Infrastructure (Chapter 1)

• Most HCI research is done in corporate labs, with university research playing a decidedly secondary role. Government funding for HCI work is primarily from MITI to companies, which sometimes involves universities. Universities are looked to by industry as a source of trained staff much more than as a source of ideas or for research collaboration.
• While these observations are true for the government-supported universities (8 of the 10 top schools are in this category), the few top-quality private universities are much more involved with industry.

  Table ES.1
  Summary of Findings:
  Comparison of HCI in Japan and the United States
  
  

• Relatively fewer PhD degrees are awarded in Japan. Researchers are hired with MS degrees and are trained within the corporate lab environment.
• On average, corporate research tends to be more evolutionary than in the United States. There are exceptions, such as in CSCW and representations of human emotions.
• Industry funding of research in universities seems to be lower than in the United States.

HCI Education and Human Resources (Chapter 1)

• HCI as a discipline is not as well established at Japanese universities as at U.S. universities.
• Japanese companies generally appreciate the importance of HCI but are hampered by a lack of trained professionals.

Basic HCI Research (Chapter 2)

• Japan conducts considerably less basic research than do the United States and Europe.
• Corporate investment in R&D in Japan is strong:
  • 7 - 8% of sales is invested
  • the best corporate labs are very similar to U.S. labs.
  • Japanese and U.S. labs have a similar "feel"- ATR is like MCC, NTT is like Bell Labs or Bellcore, and Sony CS Lab is like Xerox PARC.
• Japan conducts little research on the cognitive science underpinnings of HCI.
• Japan's focus is on development activities rather than basic research.
• A large percentage of basic research that the JTEC panel saw involves fuzzy logic.
• The panel saw a considerable amount of work on speech recognition, although most seems to be the application of existing techniques to the Japanese language.
• In Japan there is more work on noncognitive aspects of interaction, such as emotive expression, than in the United States or Europe.
• The JTEC panel saw very limited empirical investigations of HCI systems.
• The majority of Japanese systems development efforts focus on video, graphics, and speech technologies.
• Some research is beginning to be influenced by work on situated cognition and participatory design.

CSCW, Information Network Services, and Information Infrastructure (Chapter 3)

• Japan is behind the United States in depth and breath of CSCW research. Current research focuses heavily on video telepathy applications, which many consider to be a low-payoff topic, at least in the realm of business communication.
• In the area of video telephony, there is innovative research in Japan on ways to represent shared work spaces.
• The most obvious gap in CSCW research involves empirical research on the ways that groups operate and on the impact of CSCW technology on group performance and process. No theory is being developed in Japan to help guide CSCW development. Data on experience with CSCW technology is not fed back to refine the technology itself.
• The United States is ahead of Japan in national information infrastructure research and commercial practice. The Internet and home computers are driving HCI development in both countries, but because of the differences in infrastructure, they are driving development more in the United States than in Japan.

Consumer Devices, Games, and Entertainment (Chapter 4)

• In general, Japanese and U.S. manufacturers have very similar attitudes towards the design and development of HCI for consumer products.
• The Japanese, being culturally very homogenous, have widely shared customs and norms that strongly influence their product designs. They believe that such is also the case for the U.S. market, but the more heterogeneous U.S. culture does not necessarily support shared design assumptions.
• In terms of the video game industry, as well as other fields, Japan is a culture based on manufacturing. It is no coincidence that the most successful game platforms in the United States are Japanese in origin, while the software that runs on them is primarily from the United States; however, if the personal computer becomes the platform of choice for game players, this may change.

Technologies and Tools for People with Disabilities (Chapter 5)

• More R&D projects are underway in Japan than in the United States to help people with disabilities use computers.
• Much of the work the JTEC panel saw was explicitly product-oriented and was quite good. Exciting innovations in relevant technologies lie "just around the corner" in Japan, whereas few product breakthroughs are imminent in the United States.
• HCI advances in Japan will eventually have a marked and positive impact on disabled users. Voice recognition and synthesis work will help those who are blind and will affect the quality of hearing aids as well.

Nuclear Power, Robotic Manufacturing and Service, and Transportation (Chapter 6)

• The Japanese nuclear power industry has embraced computers to a greater extent than has the United States, while maintaining a better safety and availability record, even though its original designs and procedures were licensed from the United States.
• The human factors research program in nuclear power is very similar to that in the United States.
• The Japanese have a love affair with robots, and their engineers delight in making steady improvements in mechanism design. Of late they are emphasizing robots that are gentle, interact easily with ordinary people (especially the elderly or handicapped), and can be commanded by speech or gesture.
• The rail industry in Japan is very healthy, and while not leading the way in computer usage, it is gradually adapting computers for train operations and driver training.
• The Japanese are actively exploiting fuzzy logic for many applications in both consumer and domestic products. The fact that fuzzy logic is more compatible with Japanese culture than with Western culture has led to more rapid appreciation and adoption of this technology in Japan.