As you may be starting to pick up, human-computer interaction (HCI) is intimately connected to people through the research data we gather on them. A computer is good at gathering data, and we design computer software in order to capitalize not only on this collection of data but also on how this data feeds back into the software solution. Data on its own will not help an HCI designer create great software. A computer cannot create a software interface solution on its own, at least not yet; it is only an outcome of the work we as HCI designers create. User research becomes critical in the software design process, and we as HCI designers need to learn how to capitalize on our research data gathering skills, which includes observations, interviews, surveys, focus groups, and so on. Gathering user research data is only part of the challenge; next...