Course outline

Lecture Outline Foundations of HCI Introduction What is interaction design? Understanding and conceptualizing interaction Understanding users

Introduction How many interactive products are there in everyday use? Cell phone, computer, personal organizer, remote control, soft drink machine, coffee machine, ATM, ticket machine, library, information system, the web, photocopier, watch, printer, stereo, calculator, video game.

How usable are they? How many are actually easy, effortless, and enjoyable to use? One well-known interactive devices that cause numerous people immense grief are the photocopier that doesn't copy. Why is this and can anything be done about this?

Many products that require users to interact with them to carry out their tasks have not necessarily been designed with the users in mind. Effective from the engineer’s perspective but pays little attention to the users. Answer

Interaction design aims to; to redress this concern by bringing usability into the design process to develop interactive products that are easy, effective, and enjoyable to use- from the users' perspective.

Good and Poor design Scenario 1 Imagine the following scenario. You're staying at a hotel for a week while on a business trip. You discover you have left your cell (mobile) phone at home so you have to rely on the hotel's facilities. The hotel has a voic system for each room.

To find out if you have a message, you pick up the handset and listen to the tone. If it goes "beepbeepbeep" there is a message. To find out how to access the message you have to read a set of instructions next to the phone.

You read and follow the first step: "1. Touch 491". The system responds, "You have reached the Sunny Hotel voice message center. Please enter the room number for which you would like to leave a message."

You wait to hear how to listen to a recorded message. But there are no further instructions from the phone. You look down at the instruction sheet again and read: "2. Touch*, your room number, and #". You do so and the system replies, "You have reached the mailbox for room 106. To leave a message type in your password.“

You type in the room number again and the system replies, "Please enter room number again and then your password.“ You don't know what your password is etc you give up and call reception for help. Or go and get a new mobile phone

What is problematic with this voice- mail system ? It is infuriating. It is confusing. It is inefficient, requiring you to carry out a number of steps for basic tasks. It is difficult to use etc

Scenario 2 Now consider the following phone answering machine.

Scenario 2 Incoming messages are represented using physical marbles. The number of marbles that have moved into the pinballlike chute indicates the number of messages. Dropping one of these marbles into a slot in the machine causes the recorded message to play. Dropping the same marble into another slot on the phone dials the caller who left the message.

How does the "marble" answering machine differ from the voic system? It uses familiar physical objects that indicate visually at a glance how many messages have been left. It is pleasing and enjoyable to use.

It only requires one-step actions to perform core tasks. It is a simple but elegant design. It offers less functionality and allows anyone to listen to any of the messages.

What to design Designing usable interactive products thus requires considering; who is going to be using them where they are going to be used. understanding the kind of activities people are doing when interacting with the products.

A key question for interaction design is: how do you optimize the users' interactions with a system, environment or product, so that they match the users' activities that are being supported and extended?

Exercise How does making a phone call differ when using: a public phone box a cell phone? How have these devices been designed to take into account (a) the kind of users, (b) type of activity being supported, and (c) context of use?

Public phones are designed to be used by the general public. Many have speaker volume control to enable people who are blind and hard of hearing to use them. Cell phones are intended for all user groups, although they can be difficult to use for people who are blind or have limited manual dexterity. Most phone boxes are designed with a simple mode of interaction: insert card or money and key in the phone number. If engaged or unable to connect the money or card is returned when the receiver is replaced. There is also the option of allowing the caller to make a follow-on call by pressing a button rather than collecting the money and reinserting it again. This function enables the making of multiple calls to be more efficient.

What is interaction design? Interaction design can be defined as designing interactive products to support people in their everyday and working lives. It can also be defined as "the design of spaces for human communication and interaction."

Interaction design involves the collaboration of graphic designers, artists, animators, photographers, film experts, and product designers etc

The process of interaction design involves four basic activities: 1. Identifying needs and establishing requirements. 2. Developing alternative designs that meet those requirements. 3. Building interactive versions of the designs so that they can be communicated and assessed. 4. Evaluating what is being built throughout the process.

Three characteristics of the interaction design process: 1. Users should be involved through the development of the project. 2. Specific usability and user experience goals should be identified, clearly documented, and agreed upon at the beginning of the project. 3. Iteration through the four activities is inevitable.

The goals of interaction design Usability goals Usability is generally regarded as ensuring that interactive products are easy to learn, effective to use, and enjoyable from the user's perspective.

Usability is broken down into the following goals: effective to use (effectiveness) efficient to use (efficiency) safe to use (safety) have good utility (utility) easy to learn (learnability) easy to remember how to use (memorability)

User experience goals Interaction design also help to create systems that are: satisfying enjoyable fun entertaining helpful motivating pleasing supportive of creativity rewarding emotionally fulfilling

Understanding and conceptualizing interaction Imagine you have been asked to design an application to let people organize, store, and retrieve their in a fast, efficient and enjoyable way. What would you do? How would you start? Would you begin by sketching out how the interface might look, work out how the

Interaction designers would begin by; Asking users about their current experiences of saving , look at existing tools based on this, begin thinking about why, what, and how to design the application?. Answer

Understanding the problem space 1. Are there problems with an existing product? If so, what are they? Why do you think there are problems? 2. Why do you think your proposed ideas might be useful? 3. How will your proposed design support people in their activities?

Conceptual models Conceptual models is a description of the proposed system in terms of a set of integrated ideas and concepts about what it should do, behave and look like, that will be understandable by the users in the manner intended.

A) Conceptual models based on activities 1. Instructing (e.g. tell the time, print a file) 2. Conversing (i.e the system acts as a dialog partner) 3. Manipulating and navigating (moving, selecting, opening virtual objects) 4. Exploring and browsing (based on the idea of books, magazines, TV etc)

Exercise 1. What conceptual models are the following applications based on? (a) A 3D video game, say a car-racing game with a steering wheel and tactile, audio, and visual feedback (b) The Windows environment (c) A web browser 2. Which conceptual model or combination of models do you think is most suited to supporting the following user activities? (a) Downloading music off the web (b) Programming

Solution (a) A 3D video game is based on a direct manipulation/virtual environment conceptual model. (b) The Windows environment is based on a hybrid form of conceptual model. It combines a manipulating mode of interaction where users interact with menus, scrollbars, documents, and icons, an instructing mode of interaction where users can issue commands through selecting menu options and combining various function keys, and A conversational model of interaction where agents (e.g. Clippy) are used to guide users in their actions. (c) A web browser is also based on a hybrid form of conceptual model, allowing users to explore and browse information via hyperlinks and also to instruct the network what to search for and what results to present and save.

B) Conceptual models based on objects This is a conceptual model based on an object or artifact eg a tool, a book, or a vehicle. These tend to be more specific than conceptual models based on activities, focusing on the way a particular object is used in a particular context.

They are often based on an analogy with something in the physical world. An example of a highly successful conceptual model based on an object is the spreadsheet. The object this is based on is the ledger sheet.

C) Conceptual models based on Interface metaphors This is a conceptual model that has been developed to be similar in some way to aspects of a physical entity (or entities) but that also has its own behaviours and properties. E.g. the desktop (copying from the desktop), search engine.

UNDERSTANDING USERS What is cognition? Cognition is what goes on in our heads when we carry out our everyday activities. It involves cognitive processes, like thinking, remembering, learning, daydreaming, decision making, seeing, reading, writing and talking.

Cognition has also been described in terms of specific kinds of processes. These include: attention perception and recognition memory learning reading, speaking, and listening problem solving, planning, reasoning, decision making

Understanding cognition is important because it helps us to apply the knowledge about everyday psychology to interaction design. This is done by emulating the strategies and methods people commonly use in the physical world in the digital world.

GUIDELINES FOR EACH LECTURE and ASSIGNMENT Each class is divided into 2 parts, 1 hour for lecture and 1 hour for presentations. The presentation forms part of the CA. Minimum of three groups will present in each lecture and the rest slated for that week will present on the last day or in my office but will make their submissions on the day slated for presentation. No presentation, no grading. You are to form group of 4s (divide it amongst yourself so as to finish in little time available) and submit the names of your group members(including matric numbers) and the unique name of the group to me today so I can tell you when you are presenting. Presentation starts next class.