1. ITIS 3130 Human Computer Interaction
Dr. Heather Richter Lipford

2. Agenda Course Info & Syllabus Course Overview Introductions
HCI Overview
A brief history

3. Course Information Books Web
Interaction Design by Preece, Rogers, and Sharp, Wiley (ID)
The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald Norman, (DOET)
Web
Overview
Grading and Policies
Syllabus and Lectures
Assignments
Wiki:

4. Grading 10% Participation 10% Assignments 50% Project 15% Midterm
More next…
50% Project
More details to come…
15% Midterm
15% Final

5. Assignments Most done individually (a few at the end are not)
Post to the Swiki by class time on the due date
Graded based on a reasonable effort
Discuss in class on due date, bring print out so you can talk about it

6. Group project 4-5 people per group, graded as a group
3 parts: requirements, design, evaluation
Original interface design and evaluation
Each part due by class time on the due date
Project notebook on Swiki with each write up
Theme: The environment and sustainability

7. Course Aims Consciousness raising Design critic Learn Design Process
Make you aware of HCI issues
Design critic
Question bad HCI design - of existing or proposed
Learn Design Process
Software interfaces and beyond
Improve your HCI design & evaluation skills
Go forth and do good work!

8. Course Overview Requirements Gathering Design Evaluation
How do you know what to build?
Human abilities
Design
How do you build the best UI you can?
Evaluation
How do you make sure people can use it?
Also cognitive and contextual models, interface paradigms, design guidelines, web and visual design, and advanced topics

9. How to do well Time and effort Attention to detail Communication
Do the reading and prepare for class
Attend class and participate
Spend time on project
This is a writing-intensive class (unofficially)
Attention to detail
Communication
Tell me what you learned and why you made decisions

10. How to do well
DON’T:
Expect extra credit work to make up for a bad score
Expect that you can let other group members do all the work
Expect that you can learn the material without doing the reading and coming to class DO
Come talk to me or the TA if you have any questions or difficulties

11. Introductions – Dr. Heather Richter Lipford
Ph.D. in C.S. from Georgia Tech in May 2005
HCI, Ubiquitous Computing, and Software Engineering focus
Contact info:
preferred, put 3130 in title
Office: 305E Woodward
Office Hours:
Wednesday 5:30-6:30pm,
Thursday 11am-12pm
By appointment

12. TA- Mark Plemmons Undergraduate in SIS
Office hours: 10-11:30am Wednesdays
Office: 330A Woodward

13. Introductions – your turn
Name and major
A product/interface/device you love OR
A product/interface/device you hate

14. Introductions – On the Wiki
Name, year, major
Previous HCI/interface experience
Special skills relevant to the project
General availability for project meeting
Photo (optional)
At least one project idea
Due January 17

15. Now let’s get started
What is Human-Computer Interaction?

16. HCI
The interaction and interface between a human and a computer performing a task
Tasks might be work, play, learning, communicating, etc. etc.
Write a document, calculate monthly budget, learn about places to live in Charlotte, drive home…
…not just desktop computers!

17. Why do we care?
Computers (in one way or another) now affect every person in our society
Tonight - count how many in your home/apt/room
We are surrounded by unusable and ineffective systems!
Its not the user’s fault!!
Product success may depend on ease of use, not necessarily power
You will likely create an interface for someone at some point
Even if its just your personal web page

18. Goals of HCI Allow users to carry out tasks Safely Effectively
Efficiently
Enjoyably

19. Usability Combination of Ease of learning
High speed of user task performance
Low user error rate
Subjective user satisfaction
User retention over time

20. Design Evaluation Both subjective and objective metrics
Some things we can measure
Time to perform a task
Improvement of performance over time
Rate of errors by user
Retention over time
Subjective satisfaction

21. UI Design / Develop Process
User-Centered Design
Analyze user’s goals & tasks
Create design alternatives
Evaluate options
Implement prototype
Test
Refine
IMPLEMENT

22. Know Thy Users! Physical & cognitive abilities (& special needs)
Personality & culture
Knowledge & skills
Motivation
Two Fatal Mistakes:
Assume all users are alike
Assume all users are like the designer

23. Design is HARD!
“It is easy to make things hard. It is hard to make things easy.” – Al Chapanis, 1982
Its more difficult than you think
Real world constraints make this even harder

24. The past… ? User Productivity ? Time WIMP (Windows) Command Line Batch
1940s – 1950s
1960s – 1970s
1980s - Present
Time

25. Batch processing Computer had one task, performed sequentially
No “interaction” between operator and computer after starting the run
Punch cards, tapes for input
Serial operations

26. Paradigm: Networks & time-sharing (1960’s)
 Command line  teletype
increased accessibility
interactive systems, not jobs
text processing, editing
, shared file system
Need for HCI in the design of programming languages

27. The Ubiquitous Glass Teletype
24 x 80 characters
Up to 19,200 bps (Wow - was big stuff!)
Construction: Monitor + detachable keyboard
Display: x80 or 14x132 character cells, optional 24x132
Character matrix: x9 with descenders
Screen size: " diagonal (8" x 4.5" active display)
Character set: Complete US ASCII (128 codes)
Keys: keys in ANSI X typewriter layout
Auxiliary keypad: keys (digits, arrows, function keys)
Visual indicators: LEDs
Interface: RS-232/V.24, optional 20mA Current Loop
Flow control: Xon/Xoff
Communication Speeds: 75,110,150,300,600,1200,2400,4800,9600,19200 bps
Dimensions: "x18"14.25" (monitor), 3.5"x18"x8" (keyboard)
Minimum table depth: "
Weight: pounds
Source:

28. Paradigm: Personal Computer
Small, powerful machine dedicated to an individual
Importance of networks and time-sharing
Also:
Laser printer (1971, Gary Starkweather)
Ethernet (1973, Bob Metcalfe)

29. Paradigm: WIMP / GUI Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointers
Graphical User Interface
Multitasking – can do several things simultaneously
Has become the familiar GUI interface
Computer as a “dialogue partner”
Xerox Alto, Star; early Apples

30. Xerox Star
First commercial PC designed for “business professionals”
desktop metaphor, pointing, WYSIWYG, high degree of consistency and simplicity
First system based on usability engineering
Paper prototyping and analysis
Usability testing and iterative refinement
But it was a flop – too expensive, closed architecture, no spreadsheet

31. Apple Macintosh - 1984 “The computer for the rest of us”
Aggressive pricing - $2500
Not trailblazer, smart copier
Good interface guidelines
3rd party applications
High quality graphics and laser printer

32. Paradigm: WWW Hypertext around since the 1960’s… Two new components
URL
Browser
Tim Brenners-Lee did both
1991 first text-based browser
Marc Andreesen created Mosaic (first graphic browser, 1993)

33. New paradigms?

34. And the future?

35. Course ReCap To make you notice interfaces, good and bad
You’ll never look at doors the same way again
To help you realize no one gets an interface right on the first try
Yes, even the experts
Design is HARD
To teach you tools and techniques to help you iteratively improve your designs
Because you can eventually get it right

36. Next time Design process and project information
Read ID , and chapter 9