controversy and provocation Alan Dix

the invitation … “wondering if you would start off Friday morning's session by being controversial - as we know only you can ;-)” “Sure, but I'll not be deliberately provocative of course”

.. so I won’t mention student fees and the two tier HE system A’ level grades as social apartheid abolishing homework and extending the school day …or even unlimited re-sits for UG and PG degrees

controversy debate between disciplines controversy: disputation, (prolonged) debate, esp. conducted in writing [L. controversus (CONTRA-, vertere, vers- turn)]

changing expertise in the past … psychologists computer scientists who doHCI etc. now … psychology HCI people who usecomputing etc.

the danger loss of roots intellectual decoupage professional practice passed off as academic is the best HCI education no HCI education?

vocational & academic tension is growth … but stretched or natural

joined up thinking? theory and practice together? … but mature disciplines … … separate theory and professional practice

theory vs. practice opposed? theory is the language of generalisation guidelines and methods last a while … but theory keeps you going longer

theory is the viagra of professional life

just-in-time theory

mini-case studies wot I do … during teaching when technology doesn’t work … –analyse why –use it as extended examples plus other real examples

Excel modes wouldn’t close why? theory: –hidden mode –closure

does it work? weakness –knowing it is ‘teaching’ time strengths –‘real’ example –introduces theory when relevant

ecological validity examples – one issue at a time – a good ‘solution’ – from theory to practice

ecological validity examples – one issue at a time – a good ‘solution’ – from theory to practice mini-case study – lots of relevant issues – no easy solution – tradeoffs – from practice to theory

passing on knowledge case studies, examples, patterns – good for use in practice – but how to generalise – textbooks full of theory! just-in-time theory – appropriate theory when needed

just-in-time theory appropriate theory – given when needed contextualised theory – apply theory in actual context – including trade-offs situated theory – make new theory if necessary e.g. toilet rolls example of T-model

what we teach breadth depth

what students learn? breadth depth

T model breadth depth grounding extension

why T ? texture more engaging! grounding more rigorous mastery more motivating

provoking theory in HCI provocative: tending to cause provocation (of curiosity, anger, lust, etc.). [L. PRO(vocare call)]

importance of HCI late 20th and 21st century... technology meets people so where is our own theory and methods? some … MHP, Norman, Inf. Foraging Theory … … but enough? do we need it anyway?

a little story … BIG ACM sponsored conference ‘good’ empirical paper looking at collaborative support for a task X three pieces of software: –A – domain specific software, synchronous –B – generic software, synchronous –C – generic software, asynchronous A BC async sync domain spec. generic

experiment reasonable nos. subjects in each condition quality measures significant results p<0.05 –domain spec. > generic –asynchronous > synchronous so really want asynchronous domain specific A BC async sync domain spec. generic domain spec. genericasyncsync

what’s wrong with that? interaction effects –gap is interesting to study –not necessarily good to implement more important … if you blinked at the wrong moment … NOT independent variables –three different pieces of software –like experiment on 3 people! –say system B was just bad domain spec. generic async sync A BC async sync domain spec. generic ? B < AB < C

can we fix it? borrowed psych method –… but method embodies assumptions –single simple cause, controlled environment HCI needs ecologically valid exp. –multiple causes, open situations what to do? –understand assumptions and modify both and … –quantitative – what is true end to end – phenomena –qualitative and anecdotal – why – mechanism

a call ( vocare) HCI – a defining discipline of Century 21 we must develop and teach knowledge that will last