autumn 2008

CS147: Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction Design

frequently asked questions

1. Guidelines on using Wizard of Oz in the final project

The reason we implement things is to learn about how to better design the interaction, not to do busy work. By making your project more realistic, you will uncover design issues that may not be apparent with Wizard of Oz alone. Your final project will be evaluated on the design of the interactions, and you are certain to produce a better interaction if it is more realistic.

Good heuristics to decide what to implement:

1. If you can implement it, do it
2. You should be focusing on the interaction design. If implementing it will take an inordinate amount of time, you should Wizard of Oz it in the most realistic way
3. If it would be impossible for anyone to implement it, your design is wrong

To make this more concrete, consider the following two examples:

You are building a navigation application for pedestrians. This application will leverage GPS information to support wayfinding. In this instance it would be highly recommended that you implement GPS functionality for real, since it is central to the application.

You are building a social photo sharing application. Amongst a host of other features, you’d like this application to geotag photos if a GPS location is available. In this case, it may be appropriate to Wizard of Oz the GPS functionality, since it is not central to the application.

While implementing GPS functionality would take the same amount of effort in both cases, there is a much larger potential payoff for implementing it in the first case because it impacts a much larger portion of the interaction design.

2. How should I pick my teammates?

A: Your first two assignments will be done individually as you gravitate towards a certain topic.  Then you'll be asked to form groups of 3 in your studio to take a deeper dive into that topic and to build a working prototype.  Your goal is to form a team whose members are passionate about the same topic, work well together, and whose skills are complementary.  Your team will need somebody who is particularly talented and excited about implementing the design ideas (DEVELOPMENT LEAD), running the studies (EVALUATION LEAD), and eliciting and design for true needs of users (DESIGN LEAD).  All of you should participate in all the tasks but each of these areas needs an "owner."  If you are thinking about choosing teammates based on friendship alone, consider the following:

• Advantages: you'll like be comfortable enough to be honest and upfront about what you are interested in and can accomplish.  You might be amenable to a more flexible schedule (e.g. working at odd hours in odd places) and may be able to offset any tension with jokes.  Having fun while working on your research often yields better work.
• Disadvantages: you may focus more on fun than productivity, then be stuck with all-nighters to get the work done and a less-interesting product.  This may put strain on your friendship and you may lose a friend.  You may overlook the fact that your skills overlap too much - which can be a problem, for example, if you don't have anybody to implement your ideas or to speak with potential users.

3. What is the platform for the course?

While you're free to implement your interface however you like, we strongly recommend using Flash, along with the provided Nokia N95 handsets. The reason for this is that the teaching staff can provide technical advice and assistance with that platform. If you use another platform, you are still fully responsible for completing a functional interface, and you're "off-piste": we won't be able to help if you get lost.