autumn 2008
CS147: Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction Design
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 1:15pm - 2:05pm, Hewlett 201
Students will learn the fundamental concepts of human-computer interaction and user-centered design thinking. Students will work in teams of 3 on an interaction design project that is supported by lectures, readings, and discussions.
Studio: Submit homework, view others' work, sign up for section, and see your grades at this link. Use your SUNet Username / Password to log in.
The theme for this year's interaction design project is “mobile”; within that theme, students have a choice of three project briefs to start from:
Food |
Remembering |
Place |
syllabus & readings
Each lecture has a reading associated with it. Please skim the readings before lectures, and use them as a study guide when preparing for the exam in Week 8. The readings should also be helpful as reference materials for the main project, and beyond this class.
Search inside lecture slides:
Tuesday | Thursday | Assignment | |
| Part 1: Methods | |||
Week 1 | |||
Readings | Donald Norman Design of Everyday Things Ch. 1 + 2 (pdf) | ||
Week 2 | September 30 Discovery | October 2 Mobile | |
Readings | Beyer and Holtzblatt, Contextual Design, pgs. 36-60 (pdf) | Scott Jensen The Simplicity Shift (pdf) | |
Week 3 | October 7 Prototyping How-To | October 9 Design Reviews | Groups formed after this studio |
Reading | Snyder, Paper Prototyping, Ch. 4 (pdf) | Nielsen Ten Heuristics for Evaluation | |
| Part 2: Principles | |||
Week 4 | October 14 Direct Manipulation/Mental Models | October 16 Representations | |
Readings | Hutchins/Hollan/Norman — 1986 "Direct Manipulation" (pdf) | Norman, Things that Make us Smart “Power of Representation” (pdf) | |
Tutorials | Flash Lite Tutorial #1 6:00p-8:00p, Location TBD | ||
Week 5 | October 21 Input + Fitts Law | October 23 HII | |
Readings | Jef Raskin: Humane Interface | UIE Fundamentals: Designing for the Scent of Information (pdf) | |
Tutorials | Video Prototyping Tutorial 6:00p-8:00p, Location TBD | ||
Week 6 | October 28 Graphic Design | October 30 Information Design | |
Readings | Read: Universal Principles of Design subset + Mullet & Sano packet including: perceptual layers, reduction summary, clarity, visual distinctions, grouping hierarchy, alignment | Read: 2 Tufte chapters: Visual Design of Quantitative Information Ch. 8, Beautiful Evidence Ch. Corruptions | |
Tutorials | Flash Lite Tutorial #2 6:00p-8:00p, Location TBD | ||
| Part 3: Designing and Conducting Experiments | |||
Week 7 | November 4 How to Design Experiments | November 6 How to Analyze Study Data | No studio or assignment due; studio leaders available for midterm & project assistance |
Readings | How to Do Experiments (Martin) Ch 2 | The Cartoon Guide to Statistics, Chapters 9 and 10 (pg 157-210) | |
Tutorials | Flash Lite Tutorial #3 6:00p-8:00p, Location TBD | ||
Week 8 | November 11 How to learn + iterate from studies | November 13 Exam | No studio or assignment due; studio leaders available for project assistance |
Readings | Kohavi "Controlled Web Experiments" | ||
| Part 4: Tools & the Future | |||
Week 9 | November 18 Tools (End-user and Pro) | November 20 Social Software / CSCW | |
Readings | "Past, Present and Future of User Interface Tools" (pdf) | CSCW: Grudin Social: Clay Shirky "Here Comes Everybody" (Chapters TBD) | |
| Thanksgiving break | |||
Week 10 | December 2 What it all means / Ubiquitous Computing / The future | December 4 No class | |
Readings | Norman: Invisible Computer Ch. 3-5 Ubicomp: Weiser | ||
Finals Week | Group Project Presentations - December 8th - 7pm - 10pm - Hewlett 201 (presentations), followed by Gates Lobby (posters) | Individual Team Assessment - TBD |
studio times
Thursday
- 2:15 - 3:05 #1
Gates 392 (Neema M) - 2:15 - 3:05 #2
Gates 260 (Mike K) - 2:15 - 3:05 #3
Gates 498 (Ranjitha K) - 3:15 - 4:05 #1
Gates 260 (Mike K) - 3:15 - 4:05 #2
Gates 498 (Ranjitha K) - 5:15 - 6:05 #1
Gates 392 (Steve M) - 5:15 - 6:05 #2
Gates 498 (Amal D)
Friday
- 10:00 - 10:50 #1
Gates 392 (Amal D) - 10:00 - 10:50 #2
Gates 498 (Neil P) - 11:00 - 11:50
Gates 498 (Neil P)
requirements & grading
Prerequisites: CS106B or equivalent programming experience is a corequisite for this course. This corequisite is not enforced, but is in place because we would like students to have some fluency in building interactive systems. The only assignments that will require programming will be those that are part of the group project. As such, students with less programming experience should consider partnering with students who are stronger in this area. While all students are expected to contribute equally to the project, some students may do more of the programming work, and others more of the user testing work. In short, if you feel you can contribute your share of a group project, then you have sufficient background to take this course.
Additionally, we presume that all students will have access to a digital camera for use in assignments.
Attendance and participation at weekly studios is mandatory.
Grading: Each assignment is graded out of a set amount of points (these can be seen on each assignment's page). These points add up to 800. Additionally, the examination (Week 8) is graded out of 150 points, and class/studio participation is graded out of 50 points, for a total of 1000 points in the course.
Experimental Participation (Pass/Incomplete): Students are required to participate as subjects in HCI research experiments for 4-units of credit (roughly 4 hours) during the quarter. Students who do not complete this requirement will be given an incomplete. More information will be available by the end of the week.
Credit/No credit: Students registered for the class will receive a letter grade—the "credit/no credit" option is not available.
late work & absence policy
Attendance of all studios is mandatory. If you have to miss a studio, you must let your studio leader know in advance, and receive an acknowledgment from the studio leader. You are allowed one excused absence (i.e. reported and acknowledged) for the quarter without penalty; thereafter you will receive zero credit for the missed studio.
No late assignments will be accepted, but you may submit them early.
The participation grade will consider both lecture and studio participation.
regrade policy
We are willing to consider regrades on assignments, but reserve the right to regrade the entire assignment when a regrade is requested. To make a regrade request, please see one of the course staff at her or his office hours.
thanks
To Nokia for providing N95 handsets and technical support, Adobe for support and for software, and Dean Eckles in providing Flash Lite tutorials.