Initially, text consoles were used to provide access to programs running on mainframe computers.

This made it possible to structure interaction in the form of a dialogue, freeing the user from having to memorize commands, as required in command-based interfaces.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, rapid advances in computer displays made it possible to present much richer information to users.

The dialogue view of interaction evolved early in the history of computing.

These theories also have implications for how we design interaction.

These theories explain what happens in dialogue and how it shapes the relationship between the partners.

HCI researchers have developed a rich palette of theories to understand such dialogues.

In human–computer interaction (HCI), the communication partners are an interactive system and the user of such a system.

This view draws on what we know about human–human communication and, in particular, how conversations are structured; see Chapter 9 for a summary.

Interaction may be viewed as a dialogue, that is, a conversation that occurs between two partners in a context for some purpose.