Web Science and Human-Computer Interaction: When disciplines collide

Web Science and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) are interdisciplinary arenas concerned with the intersection of people and technology. After introducing the two disciplines we discuss overlaps and notable differences between them, covering subject matter, scope and methodology. Given the longer history of HCI, we identify and discuss some potential lessons that the Web Science community may be able to take from this field. These concern: the division between interpretivist and positivist approaches; methods and methodology; evaluation; and design focus and methods. In summary, this paper clarifies the relationship between the communities, signposting complementary aspects and ways in which they might collaborate in future.