Human-Computer Interaction IS 4300 David Sprague
Overview (for today) Introductions Overview of the Course Logistics Overview of HCI Some basic concepts Overview of Team Projects
Disclaimer 1. Touchy feely 2. Texts, Assignments, & web site 3. N00b
What is HCI? <see whiteboard for terrible drawing>
Why is HCI important? Who wants to wear Google Glass? Self-driving cars? Siri? Has anyone accidentally posted / sent sensitive information to the wrong person?...and there are FAR worse cases.
Who am I? HCI research background "Casual" InfoVis focus Developer Canadian (really nothing to do with the course)
Introductions 1. Name 2. Your background 3. Worst user interface you have ever used & why
Course Overview http://www.ccs.neu.edu/course/is4300sp15/ (the site is not up to date yet. To be done this week)
Overview of Course HCI Practice HCI Programming A little theory & research...make that a bunch if I can squeeze it in Prerequisites: Official: CS 3500 Object-Oriented Design Java basics (proficient in 3 weeks)
Texts Required: Benyon, Designing Interactive Systems, 3rd ed Optional: Nielsen, Usability Engineering ($11 digital) Rosson & Carroll, Usability Engineering: Scenario-Based Development of Human-Computer Interaction
Weekly Requirements Read ~50 pages Individual homework assignment Project assignment Paper Critique Describe and discuss readings in class
Typical Class 1. Submit assignments / paper critique / homework 2. Review assignments. Presentation and discussion by randomly selected students 3. Lecture on HCI topic 4. In class exercise 5. Discussion of next week s assignments.
Contact Info David WVH330, is4300s15@ccs.neu.edu Office hours: Tuesday 10-11, Wednesdays Noon -1 pm Thursday 3-4 or by appt. TA None, so marking could be delayed.
Grading 1. 2. 3. 4. Paper Critiques (5%) Class participation (10%) Individual homework (25% divided equally) Team project (35% with 15% for T1-T8, 20% for T9) 5. Final Exam (25%)
Paper Critiques Useful to critically read primary sources Critiques typically have: Brief paper summary (max 1 paragraph) What you liked and research contribution What you disliked Conclusion Don't be too hard on yourself...
Homework Done individually but you can discuss with others Due at the start of class. Late homework is penalized 50%/day. If you get stuck, get help Corollary: to get help, start working early
Semester Project Guidelines Must have a substantial UI component UI must be interactive Creative, original, non-obvious is better Keep it simple-ish Ideas: research papers & past CHI, UIST, IUI, CSCW Each team must have 1-3 members Ideally complementary skills
Semester Project Schedule P1 Find a Project (2.5 weeks) P2 Requirements Analysis (1 week) P3 Conceptual Design (1 week) P4 Design Sketches (1.5 weeks) P5 Paper Prototyping (1.5 weeks) P6 Computer Prototyping (2 weeks) P7 Heuristic Evaluation & Prototype Revision #1 (1.5 wks) P8 User Testing & Prototype Revision #2 (2 weeks) P9 - Final Presentation and Report
Previous Semester Projects Advanced Directives for Geriatrics D&D Character Editor NU Course Finder NU Course Scheduler MBTA Alerts / Schedules Vocal Warm Up App Virtual Yoga Instructor
Overview of HCI What is HCI? Motivation for HCI Some basic concepts
What is HCI? (ACM SIGCHI Curricula for HCI) Human-computer interaction is a discipline concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use and with the study of major phenomena surrounding them.
Where does HCI originate?
...and it's old https://www.youtube.com/playlist? list=pl76dbc8d6718b8fd3 Parts 1, 2 & 5
IBM Simon Phone, fax, email, address book, calendar, note pad Touch display Even an Easter Egg!
HCI Categories
What do People do with HCI? Interaction designers (IxD) Design of all the interactive aspects of a product User Interface Designers Web designers Mobile app designers Usability engineers - Focus on evaluating products, using usability methods and principles Information architects (IA) plan and structure interactive products and systems
What do people do with HCI? (cont) User experience designers (UX) Concerned with all aspects of user experience, including hardware, manual, help, and how the user feels. User Interface Engineer Front-end Engineer Research etc.
Usability is Important (from Nielsen Usability Engineering) Redesign of rotary dial telephone speeded up Users dialing behavior by 0.15 sec/digit, saving $1M in reduced demand on central switches. Redesign insurance forms to reduce customer errors: cost Aus$100,000; savings Aus$500,000/year. Redesign of Boeing 757 flight deck interface to reduce flight crew from 3 to 2
Usability is Important UI strongly affects perception of software Usable software sells better Ease of use ratings What tablet do you buy your parents? For many shrink wrapped products a single call to customer support can wipe out profits
HCI is Important (Therac-25 Accidents) Therac-25 performed both radiation treatment and Xrays
Therac 25
Computational Fluid Dynamics
Why do work in HCI? Interdisciplinary work Interact with people, learn about them and their work Help people Most under-appreciated system constraint It s "cool"
HCI is Interesting
HCI is Interesting
Building good UIs is hard Many iterations Much user interaction Many kinds of expertise 50% of the total lifecycle effort in modern software Survey of 74 projects, Myers & Rosson, CHI 92
Sometimes the details are the issue https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=rybeuyetxqo
Some Basic Principles
HCI Development Cycle
To Do Next Class Read HCI development process (Benyon Ch 1 & 3) Critical Analysis of UIs (Benyon 10.2) Set up individual course web page (I1 1 week) Assignment 1: Post 3 project ideas Start getting up to speed on Java basics. Project P1 (thinking about projects 2.5 weeks) Review CHI Proceedings for inspiration.
Assignment 1 (no % grade) Due next class Pick 3 different project ideas that you would be interested in working on Make a rough sketch of a user interface (a scanned or photographed sketch on paper is best) Write a 1 paragraph proposal for each, further fleshing out the idea. Post your write-ups and sketches on a web page in your order of preference These will be used to help form project teams For ideas, review recent years' CHI proceedings.