AVI/Psych 358/IE 340: Human Factors Section AL1 (MWF 9:00 – 9:50) Fall 2008

2 About me (1) Thomas George Kannampallil –(Temporary Address) Human Factors Division, Room 104, 1 Airport Road, Savoy, IL – (temporary): –Call/Text: –Post on Facebook group (details to be announced soon)

3 About me (2) Went to grad school at Penn State –Research interests in HCI, cognitive modeling and statistical methods Now I am a Post-Doc/Research Associate in the Human Factors Division.

4 Announcements No lab sessions tomorrow Introductions (TA’s)

5 Course Facilitators Graduate Teaching Assistants: –Chris DeSalvo (1 Airport Road, Savoy, IL) –Laura D’Andrea (2414 Beckman) TA Office Hours (Laura) –Tuesday 1:00 - 2: Beckman (or by appointment via )

6 Instructor Office Hours Beckman Café (1 st floor, Beckman Institute) –Wednesday, 10:00-11:30 am or by appointment via correspondence: Subject line must include “Psych 358” If you text me, include your name! (otherwise I wont respond)

7 About the course Introduction to Human Factors –How humans work with technology In this course, you will: –Learn how to identify good and bad designs –Learn human-centered techniques and methodologies –Learn to design interactive systems

8 Book Vicente, K The Human Factor: Revolutionizing the Way People Live with Technology. Routledge. Where to get it: –Bookstore –Amazon ($ ) What will we do with the book –Regular readings from the book –Discuss examples

9 What will we actually do in this class? Study human-centered techniques and methodologies Apply these principles to real-world problems –e.g., What interface aspects make Facebook successful? –What is makes myspace less attractive than Facebook (at least among college students)? Re-contextualize human-computer interaction knowledge to other domains –e.g., Wii vs. Playstation, iPhone vs. other cell phones, Facebook vs. other social networking sites

10 Course approach Work with real-world problems Class in highly interactive (student participation is expected!) Group work Labs (in sync with class)

11 Graded Work Homework15% Quiz20% Class Participation10% Group Project20% Labs20% Final Exam15%

12 General instructions for graded work Submitted in hard copy at the beginning of the class Late submissions will be penalized (see details in the syllabus) ed submissions will not be graded Grading issues –Meet the TA first to solve it, if you are not satisfied see me

13 Homework/Quiz/Project 4 homeworks, based on lectures and in- class activities (mostly group) 6 quizzes (lowest score can be dropped) –Multiple choice, short answer questions –In-class Group project –Design oriented Labs –Will be in sync with class work –Will be discussed during your lab session

14 Class Participation 10% of the total grade split between –Attendance –In-class activities –Discussion (online and offline)

15 Teams Formed by the instructor –To ensure inter-disciplinary teams –To ensure balance in skills and knowledge –And most importantly, in the real-world you DON’T get to pick your team Team conflicts –Try to resolve within your group (if not, I can act as a moderator Make sure you fill out the survey (to be handed out later)

16 Admin Academic integrity Students with disabilities

17 Course Communication All general class announcements will be through your official Facebook: Psych 358 group [We will discuss this in detail on Weds] –Closed group (invite only group) –Class announcements will simultaneously posted on group wall –Will have periodic discussion –Will be linked to course blog where I will try to keep track of what we are doing in class –Any other suggestions?

18 Course Communication Check the Psych 358 blog Updates on what is happening in class –Week preview –What we actually do in class

19 Course Communication All general class announcements will be through your official Facebook: Psych 358 group –Closed group (invite only group) –Class announcements will simultaneously posted on group wall –Will have periodic discussion –Will be linked to course blog where I will try to keep track of what we are doing in class –Any other suggestions?

20 Careers in Human Factors Human Factors (HF) professionals are in great demand –ACM job list –HF job list What skills are they looking for –Ability to recognize design problems –Ability (and knowledge) to conduct user evaluations –Suggesting design solutions –Designing (building) these solutions –Work in teams consisting of different professionals (software engineers, designers, psychologists etc.)

21 What are we doing in this class towards your career? We will work in inter-disciplinary teams We will work on everyday real problems (e.g., why is my cell phone so difficult to use?) We will learn to think critically on design problems by applying HCI knowledge We will do lots of discussion, writing and presentation Everyone is a designer: keep your eyes open for things you come across in your everyday life

22 Design examples (what not to design) The impossible teapot (Source: Norman, D (2002): Emotional Design Fitting the monitor cable Almost inevitably spills!

23 Design examples (what not to design) Really difficult to dial numbers (impossible to do Call Me numbers) What would you do to open this door!

24 Some good designs(?)