CISB213 Human Computer Interaction Introduction and Overview

LecturerRohaini RamliLevel 4 BW4 C16Meeting by appointmentEmail is preferred rohaini@uniten.edu.my

Subject : StructureCISB213 Human Computer Interaction3 credits, 3 hours a weekMaterials To be advised next weekAssessmentTest 1 10%Test 2 10%Group Project 30%Final Exam 50%

Subject : Learning OutcomesAt the end of this semester, the student should be able to:Identify the basic concept of HCIDescribe the evolution of HCIDiscuss the design issuesAssess and implement the interaction design processesUse different models of interaction design principles/rulesApply the usability evaluation techniques effectively

Course Plan

WeekTopicsWeek 3-4Introduction to Human-Computer InteractionThe HumanThe ComputerThe InteractionWeek 5Interaction Design BasicsIntroduction Design ProcessUser FocusWeek 6HCI in the Software Process IntroductionThe Software Life CycleUsability EngineeringIterative Design and PrototypingDesign Rationale

Course Plan

WeekTopicsWeek 7Design Rules IntroductionPrinciples to Support UsabilityStandards & GuidelinesGolden Rules & HeuristicsWeek 8Evaluation Techniques What is Evaluation?Goals of EvaluationEvaluation MethodsChoosing an Evaluation MethodWeek 9Universal Design IntroductionUniversal design PrinciplesMulti-modal InteractionDesigning for Diversity

Course Plan

WeekTopicsWeek 9User SupportIntroductionUser Support RequirementApproaches to User SupportDesigning User Support SystemsWeek 10Cognitive ModelsIntroductionGoal and Task HierarchiesLinguistic ModelsPhysical and Device ModelsWeek 11Communication and Collaboration Models IntroductionFace-to-face CommunicationText-based Communication

Course Plan

WeekTopicsWeek 12Meeting the Changing Needs of IT Development and UseGroupwareUbiquitous computing Augmented realities

Assessment Plan

ReferenceHumanComputer Interaction, 3rd Edition, by Alan Dix, Janet Finlay, Gregory D. Abowd, Russell Beale, Prentice Hall, 2004

http://www.usabilityfirst.com

Designing the User Interface-Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, Fifth Edition, by Ben Shneiderman and Catherine Plaisant, Pearson Addison Wesley, 2010

http://metalab.uniten.edu.my/~rohaini

*Why Bother?

*Why Systems Fail?Inadequate requirements13%Lack of user participation12%Inadequate resources11%Unrealistic expectations10%Lack of support at senior level9%Changing specification8%Lack of planning8%

*The Perfect User (every designer s wish)

*Common Issues in User Interface DesignSoftware developers are forced to do it allOften based on intuition and experience than on theory-based models Tendency to let the art of interface design beats its usabilityInconsistent features that do not fit into a good user interface design criteria

*Why Study HCI?Business view :to employ people more productively and effectively - people costs now far outweigh hardware and software costspeople now expect easy to use systems - generally they are not tolerant of poorly designed systems - if a product is hard to use, they will seek other products

*Why Study HCI?

Human Factors view : Humans have limitations. Errors are costly in terms of- loss of time & money- loss of lives in critical systems- loss of morale

*What is HCIShort for human-computer Interaction.A discipline concerned with the study, design, construction and implementation of human-centric interactive computer systems.

*The goal of HCI

The goals of HCI are to develop or improve the safety, utility and effectiveness of systems that include computers, often through improving usability.

*What is usability?Usability can simply be thought of as the practical implementation of good HCI, but, more formally :

Usability means easy to learn, effective to use and providing an enjoyable experience

*UI Development process :User ProfilingUsability goalsTask analysis & understanding the processPrototyping Evaluation Programming How to design and build usable UIs?

*Important!!!users should be involved throughout the development of the project (How?)specific usability and user experience goals need to be identified, clearly documented and agreed at the beginning of the project

*Understanding interactionUser centric design is the formula for usabilityThe key to User-centered Design is to understand InteractionWe need to understand :What Interaction isWhat are the elements involved

*Interaction ModelThe most influential model of interaction is Donald Normans (http://www.jnd.org/) :Execution-Evaluation cycleNorman divides interaction into :Execution User activities aimed at making the system do somethingEvaluation Evaluating whether the system did actually do what the user wanted

*Understanding InteractionExecution If User cannot make system do what they wante.g. cannot understand how to do it, unclear icons, unclear indication etc.Will result in the Gulf of Executioni.e. difference between the users formulation of the action and the actions allowed by the system

*Understanding interactionEvaluation If user cannot see what happened to systeme.g. if system has done what they want but no feedback is given to the users etc.Will result in the Gulf of Evaluationi.e. difference between the representation of the system state/result and the expectations of the userGood Design aims to reduce these gulfs

Your first taskWork individuallyTake a picture of one badly designed object you can find here at UNITENPrepare a PowerPoint slide to explain why do you think the object is badly designedTo be presented in the next class.

*Q & A

What is the conclusion that can be derived from the statistics?Now we are going to look at one common issue in user interface design.

An ideal setup of software engineering would require user interface experts to handle the interface development,however in real life, not all software development projects can afford specialist for each and every development task, hence it is very likely that the programmer will be pushed to do both codings and user interface designing.

Without the talents and proper training, the interface design will be based on intuition rather than the theory.Which will result in the tendency to let the artistic features of user interface beats its usability. This is usually where the inconsistent features that do not fit into a good user interface design criteria come from.

Short for human-computer Interaction, a discipline concerned with the study, design, construction and implementation of human-centric interactive computer systems.