Oral history interview with Susan Dray

Abstract

This interview is part of a series on Human Computer Interaction (HCI) conducted by the Charles Babbage Institute for ACM SIGCHI (Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group for Computer Human Interaction). HCI Pioneer and one of the founders of SIGCHI recounts her education, early career, and the founding of SIGCHI as an idea/plan in Gaithersburg 1982. She details her work in human factors on government projects and on analyzing secretaries and office processes in using newly acquired IBM computers at Honeywell’s headquarters (the development and writing of DELTA), as well as launching the first industrial users/design lab outside of the IT industry at American Express Financial Services. She also discusses leaving American Express to found Dray and Associates, one of the first HCI consultancies. Among the core topics discussed are the evolution of SIGCHI and the CHI Conference, gender and the HCI field, the relative place of practitioners and academics in HCI, and her method and roles in studying users and advising companies/organizations. She also discusses UXPA (a heavily practitioner organization focused on user experience and design), and her role in mentoring many young students and professionals (especially women) in HCI.