User Interfaces

Instructor

• Office: Steinmetz Hall 221
• Email: tartaroa@union.edu
• Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 2-4 or by appointment

General Information

• Meeting time: Mondays and Wednesdays 3:05-4:45
• Meeting place: PASTA Lab - NWSE 104
• Description: Introduction to the field of human-computer interaction (HCI) through the study of user interfaces. Theory and application of what makes an interface usable. Design principles, empirical studies, and statistical analyses will be employed in team-based projects. Students will make extensive use of usability laboratory equipment for recording and analyzing subjects in both laboratory and field-based studies. Prereq: CSc 150(140).
• Class format: Interactive lectures, discussion, in-class exercises, presentations.

Books

To give you a feel for some of the different perspectives in HCI, readings for the course come from various texts as well as research articles. All readings are available on Blackboard. There is one required text:

Please see the bibliography for further details on the readings.

Assignments & Grades

The majority of the assignments are building blocks of the quarter long project developing an application for a mobile device that has support for gps, accelerometer, wi-fi, graphical display and sound, in other words, the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. The focus of the project is the design process, rather than building a robust application, and emphasizes working with users at each stage of design. The assignments are designed to not only introduce you to different design techniques, but also develop skills you would use as an HCI practioner or researcher: collaboration (including division of labor), writing and presenting. After the first assignment, you will form project groups that you will work with for the remainder of the quarter. Deliverables for each assignment will include a proposal for division of labor (due by the next class meeting after receiving the assignment), group written report, group class presentation and an individual reflection. Your audience for the reports and presentations will be someone who knows about usability engineering but is not familiar with your particular project. Assignment descriptions, detailing requirements and deliverables, will be linked to each assignment below. Read each carefully, as they may include additional due dates for email approval of your plans for the assignment. I will also hand-out and discuss each assignment in class the day the previous assignment is due.

Division of Labor: For each group assignment, you must propose a plan for division of labor - who will do what on the assignment. You can come up with the plan as a group, and I will let you know if I see any problems. Division of labor proposal is due, via email, by the next class meeting after the assignment is handed out.

Individual Reflections: Your individual reflection should be a minimum of one page (single-spaced, two pages max) and detail, from your prespective, what each team member, including yourself, contributed to the assignment, what each team member did well, and what each team member could have done better and how. Also discuss what you did well as a group, and what you could have done better as a group and how. You reflection should also include how you would divide up an imaginary $500 bonus to your group and why. The individual reflection will be taken very seriously:

1. Working with anyone else on your reflection will be treated as academic dishonesty (a.k.a. cheating - see below). Do not dicuss what you wrote in your reflection before, during or even after writing it with anyone except me.
2. The late policy (below) will be applied to the individual reflection. Your grade on the assignment will be lowered by one full letter grade for each day it is late. This is reduction will apply to the individual, not the group as a whole.
3. You must hand in all individual reflections to pass the class.

Grading: Your individual grade on each group assignment will be comprised of 50% of your group's grade and 50% of an individual grade. It is my expectation that these grades will be the same. However, your individual grade can be different (lower or higher) if there is compelling evidence that it should be. Groups where one or more individuals' grades are different will be required to meet with me prior to the next class meeting after receiving your grades. If all team members are not available for 15 minutes at some point during my office hours, please email me with any and all times you would be available for 15 minutes.

The ability to work in a group is needed for almost any project you work on in life - be it professional or "for fun." People often assume that it is obvious how to work in a group, but group work techniques can be learned and developed. One of my goals is for you to leave this course understanding how to successfully work with a team on an HCI project. These policies are designed to help you work successfully as a group and for me to assess your team dynamics and help you if there are problems.

Handing in assignments: Your presentation will be at the beginning of class the day each assignment is due. A hard copy of your written report is also due at the beginning of class. Finally, an e-mail (to: tartaroa@union.edu) containing your written report, in Word or .rtf format, and your presentation, in Powerpoint or .pdf format, is due by 20 minutes prior to class (2:45pm). Your individual reflections can be e-mailed; no in-class hard copy is necessary.

Design Blog: In addition to the project, you will also keep a weekly design blog and read and comment on your classmates' design blogs. Please read the details in the assignment description. Blogs are due Mondays before class.

Late Assignments: Due to class scheduling, presentations must be given on the day they are due. Missing a presentation drops your grade for the assignment 1 full letter grade (eg. your max grade is a B). Written reports, individual reflections and division of labor proposals turned in late will drop your grade for the assignment one full letter grade per day. For example, reports handed in after 2:45 on the due date, but before 2:45 the next day have a max grade of B. Late blog posts are not accepted - if you post after 2:45 on Monday, that blog entry counts for the next week.

Attendance and Participation: Finally, class attendance and participation is a critical component of the course. Contribute to class discussions, ask and answer questions during lecture, and participate in design exercises.

Policies, etc.

Attendance

Class participation is a critical component of the course and attendance is mandatory. Please discuss any necessary absences (eg. athletics, religious holidays, emergency, illness) with me prior to the class meeting. You may be asked to make up for missed material.

Students with Disabilities

It is the policy of Union College to make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. I encourage students wtih disabilities to make an appointment to meet with me as soon as possible to discuss accommodations that might help facilitate your learning. You will need appropriate documentation from the Student Support Office. All discussions will remain confidential.

Academic Integrity

Scholastic dishonesty is misrepresenting someone else's work as your own, which is a form of stealing, and will not be tolerated. You are responsible for reading and understanding Union's policies regarding Academic Conduct in the student handbook (http://www.union.edu/StudentLife/Handbook/). If you need help understanding how and when to cite sources, please see me.

Schedule

Note: Subject to change. Be sure to check for updates at: http://cs.union.edu/csc280/

Note 2: If a reading is not linked below, it is available on Blackboard.

Bibliography

Beaudouin-Lafon, M. & Mackay, W. (2003). Prototyping Tools and Techniques. In J. A. Jacko & A. Sears (Ed.), The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook: Fundamentals, Evolving Technologies and Emerging Applications, pp. 1006-1031. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Bos, N., Olson, J., Gergle, D., Olson, G., & Wright, Z. (2002). Effects of Four Computer-Mediated Communications Channels on Trust Development. Paper presented at the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, Minneapolis, MN.

Cooper, A., Reimann, R. & Cronin D. (2007). About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Druin, A. (2002). The Role of Children in the Design of New Technology. Behaviour and Information Technology, 21(1) 1-25.

Feng, P. (2000). Rethinking Technology, Revitalizing Ethics: Overcoming Barriers to Ethical Design. Science and Engineering Ethics, 6(2), 207-220.

Foucault, B.E., Russell, R.S. & Bell, G. (2004). Techniques for Researching and Designing Global Products in an Unstable World: A Case Study. Paper presented at CHI2004, Vienna, Austria.

Friedman, B. & Kahn, P.H. (1997). Human Agency and Responsible Computing: Implications for Computer System Design. In B. Friedman (Ed.), Human Values and the Design of Computer Technology. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.

Friedman, B., Kahn, P.H. & Borning, A. (2002). Value Sensitive Design: Theory and Methods (UW CSE Technical Report). Seattle, WA: University of Washington.

Gaver, William W. (1991): Technology Affordances. In: Robertson, Scott P., Olson, Gary M. and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 91 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference, April 28 - June 5, 1991, New Orleans, Louisiana. pp. 79-84.

Hancock, J. T., Toma, C., & Ellison, N. (2007). The Truth about Lying in Online Dating Profiles. Paper presented at the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, San Jose, CA.

Lazar, J. (2007). Introduction to Universal Usability. In J. Lazar (Ed.), Universal Usability: Designing Computer Interfaces for Diverse User Populations (pp. 1-12). Chichester, West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Lidwell, W., Holden, K. & Butler, J. (2003). Universal Principles of Design: 100 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach through Design. Glouster, MA: Rockport Publications.

Marcus, A. (2003). Global and Intercultural User-Interface Design. In J. A. Jacko & A. Sears (Ed.), The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook: Fundamentals, Evolving Technologies and Emerging Applications, pp. 441-463. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Meyers, B.A. & Wobbrock, J.O. (2005). Text Input to Handheld Devices for People with Disabilities. Paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Las Vegas, NV.

Moggridge, B. (2007). Designing Interactions. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Muller, M.J. (2003). Participatory Design: The Third Space in HCI. In J. A. Jacko & A. Sears (Ed.), The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook: Fundamentals, Evolving Technologies and Emerging Applications, pp. 1051-1068. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Nielsen, J. (1993). Usability Engineering. Cambridge, MA: Academic Press, Inc.

Norman, D. A. (1988, 2002). The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books.

Sharkey, N., & Sharkey, A. (in press). The crying shame of robot nannies: an ethical appraisal. Interaction Studies.

Sharp, H., Rogers, Y. & Preece, J. (2007). Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction. Chichester, West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Tartaro, A. & Cassell, J. (2008). Playing with Virtual Peers: Bootstrapping Contingent Discourse in Children with Autism. Paper presented at the International Conference of the Learning Sciences, Utrecht, the Netherlands. ACM Press.