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Stanford University Winter Quarter 2004/2005

Instructors: Scott Klemmer & Bill Verplank
TA: Wendy Ju
Tuesdays & Thursdays 3:15-5:05
Wallenberg 120/124

Happy graduates of CS247a. [click for full-res pic]

Class news:

22APR05 Here are some annotated photographs from the course, writing by Michael Bernstein.

28FEB05 FINAL PRESENTATIONS on March 8th will begin at 3:15pm in Room 105 in Building 320 (Geo corner). The subsequent exhibition of "THE GATES" will be in the 2nd floor of the Center for Design Research, and will run until 6:00pm. We'll have refreshments.

22FEB05 List of local design resources to help you with P4 prototyping.

7FEB05 Download the Motes software in preparation for tonight's tutorial (install and setup will be covered in tutorial)

1FEB05 New Phidgets page including new install instructions.

26JAN05 Updated Phidgets Software now online.

25JAN05 Example flash code and map to CDR for tonight's tutorial. (Slides linked on schedule.)

20JAN05 Software installs

* Download and Install: Flash MX 2004 trial, Phidgets Software, & BigFix (to prevent viruses)
* Install instructions: Microsoft Visual Studio .NET


14JAN05 Additional info for P2: Urban computing

Hope you're getting excited about tonight's big night out! Please remember to wear a helmet and pads. This is actually more important than the sketch book (and that means it's pretty darn important!).

We're meeting at the platform of the Palo Alto Caltrain station (on University). Here's the itinerary.

Here are some options for getting back to Palo Alto: SamTrans & Caltrain.
If you're not planning on skating, it maybe a good idea to go earlier to catch all the fun of people congregating from 8-9.

11JAN05 Additional info for P2: Urban computing

Human Computer Interaction Design is considered broadly in this course as “design for human use.” Computers pervade practically every area of our lives, from light switches and vending machines, to entertainment and education, and to medical instruments and missile defense systems. How do we make sure these products and systems can be used effectively? In this course, you will learn the essentials of a user-centered design methodology, while reaching for new paradigms for interaction.

Design is a skill best learned through actual experience and reflection on that experience. The studio is an environment where you can explore new design ideas and experiment with new ways of working, refine your design judgement, as well as share and compare your work with other students. You will learn basic design skills such as brainstorming, enactments, idea-sketching and quick mock-ups. You will also gain experience with interaction design tools such as personas and scenarios, models and metaphors, sketch prototypes and user testing. As a comprehensive record of your design thinking and a medium of reflection, you will create and maintain a detailed Idea Log throughout the quarter.

Observation and testing with real users are the best ways to understand the effectiveness and suitability of your design ideas. You will build your observation and testing skills by doing some of each in every project. There will be a few readings for the course, and we will often refer to the current literature in HCI.

Projects are the core of the course. P1 is a short assignment intended to start you looking around for design opportunities. P2 is a group project that explores the human-use issues in a future interactive system. P3 is a project to design and implement an interactive exposition. P4 is a group project to design and implement an augmentation experience while learning how testing with users influences design.

Creativity is valued in the course. We believe that you can learn to be more creative if you are rewarded for the fluency and flexibility of your ideation, exploration and concept development. Hence 35% of your course grade will be based on the quantity and diversity of ideas captured in your Idea Log. With each project you will also have opportunity to discover and define new problems.

Guests will contribute to the class throughout the quarter and on project presentation days. These visitors will bring a professional perspective to the topic at hand.

Lab – Competency with suitable prototyping tools is essential to interaction design practice. This quarter's labs will be based on Macromedia Flash MX 2004, University of Calgary's Phidgets, and Intel Motes. See schedule for lab dates.

Grades will be weighted as follows:P1: 5%, P2: 10%, P3: 20%, P4: 30%, Idea Log: 30%, Class Participation: 5%. We will also look to your idea log as a chronicle of your engagement with the challenges of the course.

Prerequisites - Though there are no course prerequisites for CS 247a, it is strongly encouraged that you either take CS 147 Introduction to HCI or ME101, Visual Thinking.


Please feel free to e-mail us at cs247a@cs if you have additional questions not answered here.