Erratum to: Ethics and aesthetics of technologies

Excerpt

In Human–Computer Interaction research, several disciplines have come to give their contribution to the field, each with different emphases, traditions and views points. Daniel Fallman elaborates “early parts of cognitive psychology showed interest in the new field and stressed the application of models and theories of cognitive processes when designing the meeting between human and interface” (Fallman 2007). Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) is concerned with the design, implementation and evaluation of interactive computer-based systems, as well as with the multi-disciplinary study of various issues affecting this interaction. The aim of HCI is “to ensure the safety, utility, effectiveness, efficiency, accessibility and usability of such systems. In recent years, HCI has attracted considerable attention by the academic and research communities, as well as by the Information Society Technologies industry” (Stephanidis and Savidis 2001). The on-going paradigm shift towards a knowledge-intensive Information Society has brought about radical changes in the way people work and interact with each other and with information. Computer-mediated human activities undergo fundamental changes and new ones appear continuously, as new, intelligent, distributed, and highly interactive technological environments emerge, making available concurrent access to heterogeneous information sources and interpersonal communication. The progressive fusion of existing and emerging technologies is transforming the computer from a specialist’s device into an information appliance. “This dynamic evolution is characterized by several dimensions of diversity that are intrinsic to the Information Society.” These become evident when considering the broad range of user characteristics, the changing nature of human activities, the variety of contexts of use, the increasing availability and diversification of information, knowledge sources and services, the proliferation of diverse technological platforms, etc. …