HCI Seminar 500

Day 1 Notes

8/31/06

Syllabus and links to class notes available at:

 http://ils.unc.edu/~march/courses/500_f06/syllabus.html

1. Course Overview

1.1 Introductions (main interests)

1.2. Discuss syllabus and course overview

Discussion:  Term Project ideas

                BLS UI comparison (bls.gov, RB with clusters, Endeca)

Personal Health Record

Relation Browser Redesign

Video annotations with ISEE

Biometrics set up and pilot testing

2. Introduction to course and high concepts

The roots of HCI as a field (slide)

The SILS perspective

Computing as augmentation of the intellect

Interface as manifestation of the embodied mind

Information retrieval and information experience as HCI applications--HCIR

Iterative, User-centered design

Problem context, user needs assessment, prototypes, usability tests, iteration

3. Resources Tour:

Interaction Design Lab www.ils.unc.edu/idl

HCI Bibliography : http://www.hcibib.org/

UMD HCIL http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/

Kreitzberg’s LUCID framework: http://www.cognetics.com/lucid/index.html

Nielsen’s Alertbox: www.useit.com/alertbox

4. What is interaction?

Brief discussion:  Entity constraints (human(s)? state change(s)? cycle(s)?)

5. Design

Design of objects

Light switch discussion

            Task

            Users

            Affordances

            Setting (Aesthetics)

Apple iPod

Design of interaction

Grocery purchase discussion

            Task (exchange)

            Users (Participants)

            Affordances (protocols)

            Setting

Consider WWW search session

How much does it cost to introduce a new government form?

6. Readings/viewings for next meeting:

A vision of augmentation of the intellect: Read Engelbart http://www.bootstrap.org/augment/AUGMENT/133182-0.html

Interfaces for IR: Hearst (book chapter) http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/%7Ehearst/irbook/10/chap10.html

Experience: Jain (ACM DL) Experiential computing.  CACM, 46(7), 48-55   (ACM DL)

Optional readings:

Optional: an important side effect: Read Meister

Optional: the roots of HCI: Shackel

Optional: Requirements for search: Shneiderman et al. http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january97/retrieval/01shneiderman.html  (DLIB)

HCI evolution: read Marchionini & Komlodi http://ils.unc.edu/~march/arist.pdf

Optional readings/viewings (only if you need to brush up or want to focus on design process):

                Curtis, B., Krasner, H., & Iscoe, N. (1988).  A field study of the software design process for large systems.  CACM, 31(11), 1268-1287.  (online in ACM DL).  Case study for many different large projects and importance of cognitive, social, and organizational processes.

                Brooks, F. (1982). (reprinted from original 1975 edition).  The mythical man-month: Essays on software engineering.  Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.  The classic work on how people matter

                Mayhew, D. (1999). The usability engineering lifecycle: A practitioner’s handbook for user interface design. San Francisco, Morgan-Kaufmann.  Practical examples of iterative design.

Shneiderman, B. & Plaisant. C (2004 4^rd Ed.).  Designing the user interface.  Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.  The three pillars of interface development: guidelines documents and process; user interface software tools; expert reviews and usability testing.

7. One-minute paper 

What was the big point you learned in class today?

What is the main, unanswered question you leave class with today?