11s2 COMP3511/9511 Human Computer InteractionIntroduction
Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is an introductory course that provides many insights into the design processes surrounding the development of systems for use by people. To design for people you must understand what people are capable of in terms of perception and their cognitive ability. In order to develop systems for people, people are needed as part of the design processes. It seems pretty obvious, but is surprising how this is so often forgotten. How many times have you used real users in your assignment work? All of these processes need to fit back into a engineering development life cycle.
Lecture Time Slot: Monday 6-9pm, Weeks 1-7, 8-10, 12-13
Where: Venue: Webster Theatre B, G15
Tutorial / Laboratory: 2 hours per week in CHIL Mac Lab (G11-K17), Weeks 2-7, 8-13
Lecturer in Charge: Nadine Marcus
Class Actitivities
In 2010 we are improving the engagement in the lecture time slot. We have some new initiatives to try and make things more interesting. We acknowledge the late time slot and unfortunately can't change that. The only thing we can do is change what we do during that time. But part of that change has to be supported by what you do as students in preparing for lecture class and taking part in the activities. You have to come prepared to show the work due for that week and be able to discuss the issues in class.
Computing is definitely changing especially in the innovations in mobility and interactivity. These concepts have the potential to change the way we work and play. Our assignments will ask you to incorporate some of these concepts into your design solutions.
Designing assignments is a balance between practical design work and being able to critique the design outcomes and methodology.
Tutorials form an important part of learning and assessment. Some assignment activities conducted in a supervised and collaborative manner in tutorial time slots. You will also work through practical exercises that help you develop your skills in the user centred design process. Tutorials are also an opportunity to gain feedback from your tutor.
There will both individual and group assignments. The group assignment is one major design that spans the entire course requiring several iterations of a prototype. Group size is typically 3 people. Individual assignments are a mixture of essays and design critiques. We ask you to think critically about the design of the user experience.
There are different assignments and tasks for postgraduates. Postgraduate and undergraduate tutorials are separated, allowing us an opportunity to tailor the learning needs appropriate for the class audience.
Essential Equipment
An unruled A4 design diary is a mandatory piece of equipment for the course. It will contain design sketches and conceptualisation for all your work in this course. This will contain exercises that will be given in lectures and followed up in tutorials. You will also use the design diary for your assignment concept work and it will show evidence of your work and when it was completed. Each page must be dated. Design diary will be assessed.
Text Books and Readings
There are many good books on HCI you will be able to find these books for sale in the UNSW bookshop and the library has copies of these books. There will be a reader containing additional course readings.
Also see the library MyCourse site for COMP3511 or COMP9511 for library copies and additional on-line readings.
Prescribed Text - COMP3511/9511
H. Sharp, Y. Rogers, and J. Preece, Interaction design : beyond human-computer interaction, 2nd ed. Chichester, England ; Hoboken, N.J.: J. Wiley, 2007.
Prescribed Text - for COMP9511 (required for Assignment)
A. Cooper, The inmates are running the asylum, Indianapolis: Sams, 2004.
Highly Recommended
D. A. Norman, The design of everyday things, 1st Basic paperback. ed. New York: Basic Books, 2002. (other publishers and editions are available).
C. Snyder, Paper prototyping : the fast and easy way to design and refine user interfaces. San Francisco, Calif.: Morgan Kaufmann, 2003.
Highly Recommended - COMP4511 (follow on course) Text
A. Cooper, R. Reimann, and D. Cronin, About face 3 : the essentials of interaction design, 3rd. ed. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Pub., 2007.