fall 2012 prof. searleman jets@clarkson

Fall 2012

Prof. Searleman

jets@clarkson.edu

Course objectives

Administrivia

Introduction to Interaction Design

Motivating Examples

Good & Bad Designs

This course is an introduction to the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

Students will learn how to design, evaluate and implement interactive systems from the user’s perspective

course webpage:

http://www.clarkson.edu/~jets/cs459

contact info: office: SC375 & Applied CS Labs:VR (SC364) phone: 268-2377

email: jets@clarkson.edu

Designing the User Interface, 5th Edition, by Shneiderman & Plaisant, Addison Wesley, 2010,

ISBN-10 0-321-53735-1

ISBN-13 9780321537355

(referred to as DTUI

throughout the course)

Companion website to DTUI

Interaction Design: beyond human-computer interaction, 2nd edition, Preece, Rogers & Sharp, Addison-Wesley, 2005, ISBN 0-321-19786-0 (called the ID2 book)

User Interface Design and Evaluation, by Stone, Jarrett, Woodroffe & Minocha, Morgan Kaufmann, 2005, ISBN 0-12-088436-4

About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design, Cooper, Reimann & Cronin, Wiley, 2007,

ISBN 0470084111

also see the “on-line resources” on the course webpage

CS459 CS559 Assignments* 20% 15%

Presentation(s) 20% 25%

Project* 40% 40%

Midterm Exams 15% 15%

Class participation 5% 5%

Attendance: Participation in class discussions are an

essential part of this course, so attendance is required

and you must be prepared for class (i.e. have done the

reading in advance).

*We will be using Clarkson’s Usability Lab (in CEC)

Each student in CS459 and CS559 will deliver a presentation based on an area of human-computer interaction (a list of suggested topics and references will be posted on the course webpage).

In addition to this, each student in CS559 will also present a research-level paper to the class. All students will write a reaction paper to it (details to follow later).

The presentation evaluation sheet is online

The goal of the course project is to give you experience with designing and evaluating an interactive product.

The focus of the project is on the interaction design and evaluation, so the actual application can be a simple (but working) prototype

This can be integrated with another software project you are working on (for example, for CS350), as approved by both instructors.

Late submission policy: Maximum 2 late days per assignment/project

deliverable

Each late day penalized with 10%

No late days for presentations and test

Legal notices on the world-wide web: Read and comply with accompanying legal notices of downloadable material

Specify all references used

Plagiarism and cheating: will not be tolerated

Why study Human-Computer Interaction?

Crashed near Cali, Colombia in 1995

Official cause: “pilot error”

Real cause: poor design

Boeing 757 cockpit

Pilots manually navigate only during takeoff, landing, inclement weather, emergencies.

Navigate by traveling between beacons

Flight management system

Most common way to navigate to next beacon

Enter first letter of beacon

To navigate to “Rozo” beacon

Pilots enter “R” on flight management system

Plane navigates towards “Romeo” beacon

Flight management system does not provide feedback on chosen beacon

Plane headed in the wrong direction, eventually crashing on a mountain

Speed brakes not disengaged when trying to accelerate

http://sunnyday.mit.edu/accidents/calirep.html

Lessons

Expert users make mistakes

Feedback

Consistency

System state needs to match state expected

by users

Software used to trade in Tokyo Stock Exchange

Trader for Mizuho tried to sell

1 share of J-Com for 610,000 yen

Instead he sold

610,000 shares of J-Com for 1 yen each

Software warned him, but he ignored warning

Attempted to undo, but it was not possible

Confidence in Tokyo Stock Exchange damaged

Shares in NTT, rival of software maker, jumped 11%

$331,000,000 loss from trade for Mizuho

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4512962.stm

Lessons

Busy people in a hurry more likely to make

mistakes

Users rarely read warning messages because

they rarely matter

Good designs expect mistakes to happen

Provide “undo” capabilities

Poll by UK charity found a third of men and a quarter of women drink to cope with stress

Almost one third said IT problems were a major cause of stress

Top cause of stress cited, followed by finances and commuting

Not as severe in effect as other issues (e.g. death, divorce), but much more common

Lessons

Widespread use of technology means stressful interactions can have negative impact on society

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4602872.stm

Technology available 10 years before WWW appeared

Graphical user interfaces

Modems

Internet

Hypertext

Interface made difference

Not geared towards experts

Tim Berners-Lee worked at CERN

Web browser

Simplicity

Consistency

Easy to recuperate from errors

Easy to learn and remember

Simple interface to access very powerful technology

Helps you notice and remediate typos

3G Mobile Phones

iTV

iPod

SMS Smart Fridge

Auto Mobile

Cooking Arrangement

Ubiquitous Computing Pervasive Systems Tangible Interfaces Ambient Intelligence Context-aware Systems Augmented Reality

Increasing influence of these technologies on our day-to-day lives has fuelled a shift to user-centric design

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is: “concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use and with the study of major phenomena surrounding them” (ACM SIGCHI)

Interaction Design (ID) is: Designing interactive products to support people in their everyday and working lives. (Sharp, Rogers and Preece 2007)

We will concentrate on the design of computer technologies

“The old computing is about what computers can do; the new computing is about what people can do” - Ben Shneiderman

Classic Software engineering

How to build functional, efficient, robust software on time given specifications

Usually not concerned with how users will interact with software

GUI design (Graphical User Interfaces)

Implies that you put something between people and code

Code developed independently from interface

Process does not start with users’ goals in mind

Academic disciplines contributing to ID: Psychology

Social Sciences

Computing Sciences

Engineering

Ergonomics

Informatics

Design practices contributing to ID: Graphic design

Product design

Artist-design

Industrial design

Film industry

Interdisciplinary fields that ‘do’ interaction design: HCI Human Factors Cognitive Engineering Cognitive Ergonomics Computer Supported Co-operative Work Information Systems

Many people from different backgrounds involved

Different perspectives and ways of seeing and talking about things

Benefits more ideas and designs

generated

Disadvantages difficult to communicate and

progress forward the designs being create

Increasing number of ID consultancies, examples of well known ones include: Nielsen Norman Group: “help companies enter the

age of the consumer, designing human-centered products and services”

Cooper: ”From research and product to goal-related design”

Swim: “provides a wide range of design services, in each case targeted to address the product development needs at hand”

IDEO: “creates products, services and environments for companies pioneering new ways to provide value to their customers”

interaction designers - people involved in the design of all the interactive aspects of a product

usability engineers - people who focus on evaluating products, using usability methods and principles

web designers - people who develop and create the visual design of websites, such as layouts

information architects - people who come up with ideas of how to plan and structure interactive products

user experience designers (UX) - people who do all the above but who may also carry out field studies to inform the design of products

Activity#1 (to prepare for class on Wednesday):

1. Find out more about at least 4 of the terms on Slide 29, and describe them in your own words

2. Take a critical look at Peoplesoft from an HCI point of view and list three good points and three bad points.

Type your answers and pass in a printout on Wednesday’s class.