Preface - Creativity and HCI: From experience to design in education

There was a time when we knew what to teach in our HCI courses... For the early stages, we had user-centred design, perhaps ethnography or participatory design. As we looked in more detail there were interface guidelines and platform toolkits. Then, to evaluate we had heuristics (only five users needed, good for student groups), cognitive walkthroughs and formal experiments. Above all, we all knew our ISO mantra efficiency and effectiveness... and what was that third one? Of course some students still found it hard to 'think user', and it was such a pain trying to mark all that project-based coursework... But we knew what we were doing, and we knew what we were designing for... Computer systems stayed safely behind glass screens and about their only physical influence was when they spat out a floppy disk 'But for several years now feral computers have escaped office desks, and found their way into bedrooms and television sets, mobile phones and smart cards' They even talk to us in our cars and turn on the tap in the bathroom. Users have now even discovered that third part of the ISO mantra, but having done so are never satisfied and expect to enjoy using these things and even have fun! Even the safe world behind the glass screen has gone wild, with Web2.0, and community content... Would the person who user-tested that JavaScript rollover, please stand up?