CMSC 434 - Spring 2006
Prof Guimbretiere

Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction


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HW & Project

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Week Date Topic Reading
(All books are available through electronic reserve services)

Q Set

HW & Project
Week 1 Jan. 26 Introduction    
Week 2 Jan. 31 Design of Everyday Things

Ch 1. The Psychopathology of everyday things,
Book: "Psychology of Everyday Things", by Donald Norman.

The perfect brainstorm (handout),
Book: "The Art of Innovation", by Tom Kelley

Examples from the class text: p. 20 (Affordance), 128 (Mapping), 130 (Mental model)

Set 1

Feb. 2

Design

The designer's stance (handout)
Book: "Bringing Design to Software", by Terry Winograd

Universal Tools: Recruiting and Interviewing (only pages 117-127)
Book: "Observing The User Experience", by Mike Kuniavsky

Examples from the class text: p. 62 (Development Cycle), 118 (Iteration), 158 (Prototyping)

Set 2

Declare project

Week 3 Feb. 7

Design: Defining goal and personas

Understanding users: Qualitative Research
Modeling Users: Personas and Goals
Book: "About Face 2.0", by Alan Cooper and Robert Reimann

Examples from the class text: p. 24 (Archetypes), 106 (Hierarchy of Needs), 186 (Storytelling)

Set 3
Feb. 9

Design: Prototyping

Making a Paper Prototype
Book: "Paper Prototyping", by Carolyn Snyder
Set 4

HW1 Due
Storyboarding

Week 4 Feb. 14

Design: Evaluation

Designing the Palm Pilot
Book: "Information Appliances and Beyond", by Eric Bergman (Ed.)

Examples from the class text: p. 12 (80/20 Rule), 86 (Flexibility-Usability Tradeoff), 174 (Scaling Fallacy)

Set 5
Feb. 16 Historical perspective The Xerox Star: An Influential User Interface Design
Book: "Human-Computer Interface Design", by Lawrence H. Miller, Jeff Johnson.
Optional: The Xerox Star system (handout)

Examples from the class text: p. 110 (Iconic Representation)

Set 6 HW2 Due
Goals and Personas
 
Week 5 Feb. 21 The Human Information Processor I The Human Information Processor
Book: "The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction", by Card, Moran and Newell

Examples from the class text: p. 82 (Fitt's Law), 108 (Highlight), 114 (Interference Effect), 146 (Orientation Sensitivity), 148 (Performance Load), 150 (Performance vs. Preference)

Set 7
Feb. 23 Group presentation   Project step 1: User Goals
Week 6 Feb. 28 The Human Information Processor II

Skill Acquisition
Book: "Learning and Memory", by J. Anderson

Examples from the class text: p. 30 (Chunking), 102 (Hick's Law), 164 (Recognition over Recall)

Set 8
Mar. 2 High-level Theories  Information Processing and Skilled Behavior
Book: "HCI Models, Theories, AND Frameworks : Toward A Multidisciplinary Science", By J. Carroll. Chapter 4.

Examples from the class text: p. 60 (Depth of Processing), 76 (Feedback Loop)

Set 9

HW3 Due
Prototyping tool

Mar. 3 Flash Tutorial I Location: EGR 3140
Session 1: 1.00 - 1.55pm
Session 2: 2.00 - 2.55pm
A 30-day trial of Flash is available.
Files.zip
Week 7 Mar. 7 Conceptual Models Cognitive engineering; Direct Manipulation Interfaces
Book: "User Centered System Design", by Donald Norman and Stephan Draper

Examples from the class text: p. 36 (Cognitive Dissonance), 86 (Flexibility-Usability Tradeoff), 128 (Mapping), 130 (Mental Model), 110 (Iconic Representation), 164 (Recognition over Recall)

Set 10
Mar. 9 Usability Heuristics I Evaluating the design without users
Book: "Task-Centered User Interface Design"

Examples from the class text: p. 100 (Gutenberg Diagram), 142 (Ockham's Razor), 134 (Mnemonic Device), continue in next lecture

Set 11

HW4 Due
Human Information Processor

Mar. 10 Flash Tutorial II Location: EGR 3140
Session 1: 1.00 - 1.55pm
Session 2: 2.00 - 2.55pm
A 30-day trial of Flash is available.

movie.xml example

Flash Examples.zip

Week 8 Mar. 14 Usability Heuristics II

Continue from previous lecture (Usability Heuristic I).

Example from class text: 154 (Progressive Disclosure), 164 (Recognition Over Recall), 46 (Consistency), 202 (Visibility), 44 (Confirmation), 88 (Forgiveness), 66 (Error)

Mar. 16 Group presentation   Project step 2:
Prototyping
Week 9 Mar. 20

Spring Break

Mar. 22
Week 10 Mar. 28 Computer technology There's more to interaction than meets the eye,
Book: "User Centered System Design", by Donald Norman and Stephan Draper
Set 12

HW5 Due
Higher Level Models

Mar. 30 Graphics design

Organization and visual structure,
Book: "Design Visual Interfaces",
by Kevin Mullet and Darrell Sano

Examples from the class text: p. 22 (Alignment), 34 (Closure), 64 (Entry Point), 80 (Figure-Ground Relationship), 94 (Garbage In - Garbage Out), 98 (Good Continuation), 104 (Hierarchy), 124 (Legibility), 160 (Proximity), 184 (Similarity), 190 (Symmetry), 200 (Uniform Connectedness)

Set 13
Mar. 3 Flash Refresher Location: EGR 3140
For any help with Flash: 1.00 - 3.55pm
A 30-day trial of Flash is available.

Video.zip

Music.zip

Week 11 Apr. 4 Review Session Reviews

HW6 Due
Design Heuristics

Apr. 6 Midterm

The midterm is closed-book.

 
Week 12 Apr. 11 Group presentation   Project step 3:
Implementation
Apr. 13 Visual Presentation (Colored Version) Escaping Flatland,
Book: "Envisioning Information", by Edward Tufte.
Set 14
Week 13 Apr. 18 Evaluation Setting the Stage for Discovery,
Book: "Science And Its Ways Of Knowing", by John Hatton and Paul Plouffe

IRB: The role of visual feedback in graphical user interfaces
Set 15
Apr. 20 Qualitative Evaluation

Introduction to Usability Test Facilitation
Book: "Paper Prototyping", by Carolyn Snyder

Usability Tests
Book: "Observing The User Experience", by Mike Kuniavsky

Set 16
Week 14 Apr. 25 Qualitative Evaluation    
Apr. 27 Quantitative Evaluation Quantitative analysis of scrolling techniques 
by Ken Hincley, Edward Cutrell, Steve Bathiche and Tim Muss, Published in SIGCHI 2002.
Note: In order to print this paper, you have to be connected through a UMD machine.
Set 17

HW7 - due May 4

Week 15 May. 2 Looking forward The computer for the 21st century (handout) Set 18
May. 4 Group presentation   

Project step 4: Evaluation (Presentation)

HW7: An alarm clock

Week 16 May. 9 Technology life cycle Growing Up: Moving from Technology-Centered to Human-Centered Products
Book: "The invisible computer", by Donald Norman
Set 19 HW8 - Cancelled
May. 11 Project fair and reviews Handout Project step 4 (Final version)
Week 17 May. 17 Final (10:30am to 12:30pm)