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Human-Computer
Interaction |
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Term |
January-April 2008, Starting January 11th |
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Lectures |
Fridays, 1:30am to 4:30pm; Rm. MC-320 |
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Instructor |
Dr. Kamran Sedig, sedig@uwo.ca, Rm. MC 360, 661-2111
Ext. 86612 |
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Office Hours |
Tuesdays, 10am to 11:30am |
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Teaching Assistants |
Hai-Ning Liang, hliang@uwo.ca |
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About
this Course and HCI |
This course provides an overview of a number of
areas in human-computer interaction (HCI). Broadly speaking, HCI 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. HCI
addresses any interaction with computers by humans, as developers or as
users, as individuals or as groups. On completion of the course, students are
expected to have theoretical knowledge of and practical experience in the
fundamental aspects of designing, implementing and evaluating interactive
systems that are useful and usable. Design of usable technology draws
extensively on knowledge of informatics, cognition, communication, and
computation. It is expected that students will become familiar with some of
the literature in HCI and develop sufficient background in HCI issues to take
more advanced courses or begin research projects at the master's or doctoral
levels in the topics covered in this course. In recent years, interest in HCI has grown
enormously in both industry and academia. The Association for Computing
Machinery (ACM) recently reported that its special interest group in HCI is
the fastest growing of all its interest groups, and has recommended the
development of new HCI programs in universities to combat a shortage of
professionals with the skills and training to advance the design of more
usable technologies. There are now complete graduate programs in HCI being
offered at other universities and majors in HCI offered at the master's level
in Information and Computer Science programs across North America and |
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Instructional
Objectives |
·
To
identify and describe HCI concepts/terminology/issues used in the design and
evaluation of interactive computing systems ·
To
relate cognitive engineering concepts and principles to the design and
evaluation of interactive computing systems ·
To
design human-centered software, consciously incorporating and applying the
HCI principles to the design process ·
To
evaluate the effectiveness of a piece of software in the light of the
usability principles discussed in the course ·
To
think deeply about users' needs and distinguish the differences between system-centered
design and human-centered design |
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Structure |
This course will be both lecture- and project-based.
Students will work in teams of ~5 people on a term-long course project. The
project will give students practical experience in several HCI issues. Each
team will conceive, design, prototype, and evaluate an interactive software
system. Theoretical assigned readings as well as class lectures will provide
students with the foundation to work on their projects. However, the
project, although an important component of the course, is not the
whole course. The project provides an opportunity to see how theoretical
concepts have practical applications. In addition to the practical component
of the course, students are expected to study and understand the theoretical
principles and concepts. Initially, students will form teams to
work on their projects. Then they will select a project in consultation with
the instructor. Each team must write a short report describing its proposed
project and giving the names of the team members. Each team will then develop
its design concept further; design and prototype; perform a usability
evaluation; write a report; and make a class presentation. |
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Textbook |
There is a textbook for the course. Beynon, D.,
Turner, P., & Turner, S. (2005): Designing
Interactive Systems. Addison-Wesley. |
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It is imperative
that you keep up with the assigned readings, below. A good understanding of the readings is essential if
you want to do well on your projects and the course. Unlike some other
courses, this course is not about memorizing information. You need to
comprehend the readings and be able to apply them intelligently to your
designs. To help students keep up with the reading material, students are
required to submit a one-page summary of the assigned readings every
week, starting from the second week (18th of January). This
summary should highlight and present the main issues or concepts
discussed in the readings. Those who do not submit their summaries will
receive a zero for that week. Of the submitted summaries, the TA will select
20% of them randomly to read, evaluate and mark. All other submitted
summaries will receive a full mark automatically. These summaries will not
be returned to you. The main purpose of these readings is to help you
keep up with the course and also help you be organized for the midterm and
final exams. Assignments should be emailed to the TA before 5 PM of
the day they are due. The assigned readings are as follows:
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Project |
In teams of ~5 people (depending on the number of
registered students), you will design and prototype a small-scale
application. The project will have 4 deliverables plus a final class
presentation: 1) proposal, 2) design (storyboard and script), 3) implemented
prototype, and 4) final report. (NOTE: For each deliverable, you will submit
a hard copy as well as an electronic copy as MS Word and/or PowerPoint files.) In the proposal, you will identify who your team
members are, the topic of your project, the scope of your project, and a
brief background about your team members (e.g., what other courses you have
taken, knowledge of tools, etc.). It will be a maximum of 2 pages long. In the next phase of your project, you have to design
your system. You will submit a 2-page written report, along with a detailed
storyboard and script (can be up to 50 pages). You will tell me what type
of system you want to create and why, how you are going to structure your
system, what type of metaphor you will use, etc. This will be based on
material covered in the course. It will be a maximum of 2 pages long. Once
you have decided what your design is like, you will develop your storyboards
and scripts. These will be detailed drawings and descriptions of how your
system will function—all the buttons, icons, transitions, etc. Storyboards
and scripts will be explained during the course. Your storyboard will be
essential for the next phase and will make it easier for you to translate your
design into an implemented system. The prototype will be a fully-functional
implementation of your design as an interactive system. Your prototype
will be based on your design and the feedback you have received. You will
submit a CD containing your prototype. You can use any tool or
programming language you like to implement your prototype, as long as the
executable runs on a Windows system. Make sure you DO NOT spend time learning
a new language or a tool to implement your design. Use a tool that you know
well so that you can concentrate on design rather than implementation issues. The final report will be between 11 and 12
pages long. It will consist of the following sections: an introduction to
your system, a description of the design, justifications (based on material
studied in the course) on why you designed your system the way you did (i.e.,
your design decisions), your final heuristic evaluation of the system, and
your thoughtful recommendations for how the system can be improved in the
light of your final evaluation. At the end of the term, once your prototype is
complete, you will make a presentation of your system. This
presentation will be 30 to 45 minutes long, depending on the number of teams. For the benefit of the rest of
your classmates, you will describe the evolution of your design: your
motivation for choosing the project, your design, your prototype, etc. This
presentation is formal. You need to rehearse and time yourself. You
can either do this collectively as a team or ask one member of the team to do
it. You will give me a copy of this presentation in electronic form. Teams: Teams will be semi-randomly drawn from
the set of the registered students. The class will be divided into a number
of groups. There will be no movement of students from one team to another. If
a student drops the course, that student’s team will still continue to exist.
However, the other members should talk to me to readjust the scope of their
project. Written reports: (IMPORTANT) Each written report should include a cover sheet:
team number, title of report (i.e., Proposal, Design, Final Report), title of
your project, course number, date, and alphabetical list of names
(Last, First) of all students in the team. The number of pages specified for
each component does not include the cover sheet. Written reports should be
single-spaced, and in font “Times New Roman”, size 12. Pages should be
numbered. Note: Members or representatives of each team should feel
free to meet with me or the TA regularly to report on the progress of
their projects. Best project: Once all projects are complete, students will vote
for the best project. |
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Lecture Notes |
Lecture notes will consist of PowerPoint notes and
material written on the board. PowerPoint notes will be emailed to the class
list. If you encounter and problems, send an email to the
TA asking for help. |
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Important
Dates (Tentative) |
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Evaluation (Grading) Scheme |
There will be no makeup Midterm Exam, except for
students requesting a Special Midterm Exam for religious reasons. These
students must have notified the course instructor and filed documentation
with their Dean's office at least 2 weeks prior to the Midterm Exam. If you miss the Midterm Exam for any
other reason, and present valid documentation to the Dean's office, your
Final Exam mark will be reweighted to include the weight of the Midterm Exam.
You must notify the course instructor within a week of the missed Midterm
Exam, and documentation must be received by your Dean's office within 2 weeks
of the missed exam. Breakdown of project marks (adds up to 45%):
Your mark for each component of the
project will be one of the following:
Late delivery: 1 day:
-10%; 2 days: -20%; 3 days: -30%; 4 days: -40%; 5 days: -50%; 6 days:
-60%; 7 days: -70%; 7+ days: -100% At the end of the course (at the Final Exam) you
will evaluate your team-mates or peers in terms of how cooperative they were,
how much effort they put into the project, whether they attended your
meetings, etc. Each student should get at least 60% on this component
of the project to pass the course. Please note that: Students who
fail on their peer evaluation will automatically get a mark of 0% on their
project, unless based on the circumstances the instructor judges otherwise. |
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Scholastic Offences |
Students are expected to conduct
themselves academically in a manner that upholds the integrity and reputation
of our academic programs. Cheating on assignments, exams, essays and term
papers is considered to be a serious violation of ethical conduct, and will
not be tolerated. Cheating on exams or tests includes (but
is not limited to): · using unauthorised aids · communicating in any way with another
student during the exam · copying answers of another student · altering an exam after it is marked. Academic dishonesty in assignments
includes (but is not limited to): · copying of another student's assignment · allowing another student to copy · using material from an external source
(text, instructor, course website) where a student's own work is
expected · altering of assignment results. Essays and Term Papers: The University has zero tolerance for plagiarism.
The University Senate defines plagiarism as follows: "Students must
write their essays and assignments in their own words. Whenever students take an idea, or a
passage of text from another author, they must acknowledge their debt both by
using quotation marks where appropriate and by proper referencing such as
footnotes or citation. Plagiarism is a
major academic offence (see Scholastic Offence Policy in the Western Academic
Calendar)." Penalties may include a mark of 0 on
the assignment and an additional deduction of 100% of the value of the
assignment, an F in the course or required withdrawal from the university. |
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The Student & Pre-requisites |
Students enrolled in this course will probably be
last-year undergraduate or first-year graduate students in Computer Science.
They are expected to have a solid knowledge of computer science such as
programming, data structures and algorithms, and tools. Having taken courses
in psychology of thinking can be helpful for this course. Unless you
have either the requisites for this course or written special permission from
your Dean to enroll in it, you will be removed from this course and it will
be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will
receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a
course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites. This is a time-consuming
course. You should be willing to devote a great deal of time to it. You
are expected to: study the assigned readings (book chapters as well as
lecture notes); attend the classes; participate in class discussions; learn
how to be an effective team member; contribute to your team to design and
prototype your project; be able to write well; make oral presentations in the
class; judge and evaluate the work of your fellow classmates. |
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Email Policy |
All course-related emails should come from a UWO
account. If you do send me an email, you may receive an answer within 5
days, depending on the volume of emails I have received during that week.
However, I always try my best to reply to your emails as soon as I can. NOTE: Any email you send should
have “CS474: <subject>” in the subject line. Otherwise, due to the
volume of junk emails I receive, it may get lost in my emails and I may not
see or read it. |
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Email Contact |
We will occasionally need to send email messages to the whole class,
or to students individually. Email will be sent to your However, you should note
that email at ITS (your UWO account) and other email providers such as
hotmail.com or yahoo.com may have quotas or limits on the amount of space
they can use. If you let your email accumulate there, your mailbox may fill
up and you may lose important email from your instructors. Losing email
that you have forwarded to an alternative email address is not an excuse for
not knowing about the information that was sent. |
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Computing Facilities |
Each student will be given an account on the Computer Science
Department senior undergraduate computing facility, Note:
After-hours access to certain Computer Science lab rooms is by student card.
If a student card is lost, a replacement card will no longer open these
lab rooms, and the student must bring the new card to a member of the Systems
Group in Middlesex College Room 346. |
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Misc. |
·
Student
presentations and written reports should reflect what the students have
learned in the class and from the readings, rather than personal feelings and
thoughts. ·
Reports
that are written or presented poorly will be penalized or rejected. ·
Team
members are responsible to ensure that they will all work and cooperate
together. If there are any problems, they should be reported to the
instructor or the TAs before it is too late during the course. ·
Team
members may assume different responsibilities to make sure that the goals of
their project are accomplished. For instance, some members of the team may do
most of the implementation while others design the usability tests and still
others write the reports and prepare for the presentations. |
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