Current State of HCI Practice in the Estonian Software Development Industry

The information society is expected to use information technologies extensively. This expectation often results to pressure on the software industry to develop rapidly, software systems to provide e-services to the society. Unfortunately, many unusable systems are developed and deployed to the society in the process. In Estonia, more than 90 % of the inhabitants use IT for various activities, and most government and business services are delivered through the Internet. Further, the field of human-computer interaction (HCI) is still very young, and Tallinn University, remains the only institution in the Baltic zone, running a programme (masters) in HCI. This study presents the preliminary results of a recently conducted online survey on the extent of uptake of HCI practices. The outcomes of the study show that awareness and knowledge of HCI are still very low in the Estonian software industry.