ITIS 3130 Human Computer Interaction

1. ITIS 3130Human Computer Interaction Dr. Heather Richter Lipford Heather.Lipford@uncc.edu

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

3. Course Information • Books • Interaction Design by Preece, Rogers, and Sharp, Wiley 2007. (ID) • The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald Norman, 2002. (DOET) • Web • http://www.sis.uncc.edu/~richter/classes/2008/3130/index.htm • Overview • Grading and Policies • Syllabus and Lectures • Assignments • Wiki: http://hci.sis.uncc.edu:8080/itis3130-spring08/

4. Grading • 10% Participation • 10% Assignments • 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 • 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 • 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 • 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: • Email 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 • Email: mjplemmo@uncc.edu • 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… ? WIMP (Windows) User Productivity Command Line Batch ? 1980s - Present 1960s – 1970s 1940s – 1950s 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 • email, 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!) Source:http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/vt100.html

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 - 1981 • 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

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 1.1-1.5, and chapter 9