Four Carnegie Mellon University undergraduates took on a special project this past summer to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII).

After reading hundreds of research papers and sifting through three decades of influential projects by HCII authors, a team of CMU Summer Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship students set the objective for their unique summer project. Their research project would be a meta one — a reflection on existing research presented in a new way.   

The human-computer interaction (HCI) field is known for being broad, but the student team curated HCII researchers' work into thoughtful categories and shared some highlights of each area in an approachable way. Under the guidance of Assistant Professor of the Practice Dan Saffer, the team then paired up to build three deliverables: a podcast, a set of collectible cards and a website. 

The podcast, HCI Ideas, launched at the end of August. Students Evelyn Lui and Samanvita Singhania host faculty guests from the HCII and chat with them about their unique paths, research interests and thoughts about the future of HCI. Episodes are about 30 minutes long and are available wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

The second deliverable, a set of collectible cards, highlights complex research topics in a tangible and compact way. Students Airla Fan and Jennie Wei designed the custom deck of cards that showcases more than 50 HCII research papers. Nested into eight color-coded folders, the two-sided cards are grouped by the research categories of new interactions, design research, education technology, robotics, artificial intelligence, social computing, accessibility and ethics, and safety and privacy.  One set of cards is on display in the CMU Coulter Welcome Center, located on the ground floor of the Tepper Building, and a digital version is available on the team's website.

Finally, the team created a website to celebrate some of the HCII's biggest ideas over the past three decades. Visit the site for more information about the HCII's history, the podcast and the collectible cards.