CS 420 / CS 620 Human-Computer Interaction

1. CS 420 / CS 620Human-Computer Interaction Fall 2008 Course Syllabus August 25, 2008

2. Outline • The instructor • The students • The course • The texts • Initial web pointers • Grading schemes • Policies • Tentative schedule

3. The Instructor. • Sergiu Dascalu • Room SEM-236 • Telephone 784-4613 • E-mail dascalus@cse.unr.edu • Web-sitewww.cse.unr.edu/~dascalus • Office hours: • T 3:00 – 4:00 (general) • W 5:30 – 6:30 (grad students)

4. .The Instructor • Sergiu Dascalu • PhD, Dalhousie U., Halifax, NS, Canada, 2001 • Teaching and research at UNR, 2002-present (software engineering, HCI) • Teaching and research at Dalhousie University, 1993-2001 (software engineering focus) • Teaching and research at University Politehnica Bucharest, Romania, 1984-1995 (real-time systems focus) • Consultant for software development companies in Canada and Romania

5. The Students Registered: 11graduate students + 19 undergrad students Prerequisite: CS 302

6. The Course • Classroom: SEM-347 MW 4:00 - 5:15 pm • Catalog description: Usability goals, design principles, design processes, prototyping, interface metaphors, interaction styles, interaction devices, software tools, evaluation paradigms and techniques, user manuals, collaborative work, information visualization. Prerequisite: CS 302 Data Structures.

7. The Texts. • Required textbook: Steven Heim, The Resonant Interface: HCI Foundations for Interaction Design, Addison-Wesley, 2007; ISBN 0-321-37596-4 Recommended textbook: David Benyon, Phil Turner, Susan Turner, Designing Interactive Systems: People, Activities, Contexts, and Technologies, Addison-Wesley, 2005. ISBN: 0-321-11629-1

8. .The Texts • Lecture notes: • Presentations by the instructor • Notes you take in the classroom • Additional texts (grad students only; see examples on slides 18-20) • Material (papers, tutorials, etc.) that will be indicated later by the instructor

9. Initial WWW Pointers • Required textbook’s website (Heim, 2007) http://aw.com/heim • Recommended textbook’s website (Benyon et al, 2005): http://www.booksites.net/benyon/ • Gary Perlman’s HCI bibliography: http://hcibib.org/

10. Grading Scheme.. • Grading scheme for CS 420 students: • Assignments (3) 15% • Presentations (1) 7% • Midterm tests (2) 32% • Project (3) 40% • Class participation 6% • TOTAL 100%

11. .Grading Scheme. • Grading scheme for CS 620 students NOTE: More details on differences between course requirements and opportunities CS620 vs. CS420 are available in the syllabus handout of August 25, 2007. • Assignments (2) 8% • Essay (1) 7% • Presentations (2) 10% • Midterm tests (2) 30% • Project & Paper (4) 40% • Class participation 5% • TOTAL 100%

12. ..Grading Scheme • Passing conditions (all must be met): • 50% overall & • 50% in tests & • 50% in project [and paper] & • 50% in assignments, presentations, and class participation • For grade A: at least 90% overall, at least 90% in class participation, and at least 60% in test; significant lack of class participation will significantly affect the overall grade for the course • Note that there are no make-up tests or homework in this course

13. Grading Scale • Numerical-letter grade correspondence • A 90 -100 [maximum 100] • A- 87 - 89 • B+ 83 - 86 • B 78 - 82 • B- 75 - 77 • C+ 71 - 74 • C 66 - 70 • C- 63 - 65 • D+ 60 - 62 • D 55 - 59 • D- 50 - 54 • F < 50

14. Policies… • Late submission policy: • Maximum 2 late days per assignment/project deliverable • Each late day penalized with 10% • No subdivision of late days • No late days for presentations and test • Example: a 90/100 worth assignment gets 81/100 if one day late (90*0.9 = 81) or 72/100 if two days late (90*0.8 = 72)

15. .Policies.. • Legal notices on the world-wide web: Read and comply with accompanying legal notices of downloadable material • Specify references used • Do not plagiarize (see next slide)

16. ..Policies. • Plagiarism and cheating: Will not be tolerated. Please read the policies of University of Nevada, Reno regarding academic dishonesty: www.unr.edu/stsv/acdispol.html

17. …Policies • Disability Statement: If you have a disability for which you will need to request accommodations, please contact me or someone at the Disability Resource Center (Thompson Student Services - 107), as soon as possible.

18. Additional Texts.. • Each graduate student will deliver an essay and presentation based on additional reading texts such as: 1 Don A. Norman, The Design Of Everyday Things 2 Don A. Norman, Emotional Design 3 Steven Krug, Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability 4 Carolyn Snyder, Paper Prototyping: The Fast and Easy Way to Refine User Interfaces 5 Mike Kuniavsky, Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User Research

19. .Additional Texts. 6 B.J. Fogg, Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think We Do 7 Jef Raskin, The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems 8 Ellen Isaacs and Alan Walendowski, Designing from Both Sides of the Screen: How Designers and Engineers Can Collaborate to Build Cooperative Technology 9 Jeff Johnson, GUI Bloopers: Don’ts and Do’s for Software Developers and Web Designers 10 Karen Donahue, Built for Use: Driving Profitability Through the User Experience

20. ..Additional Texts 11 Joel Spolsky, User-Interface Design for Programmers 12 Ben Shneiderman, Leonardo’s Laptop 13 Jay David Bolter and Diane Gromala, Windows and Mirrors : Interaction Design, Digital Art, and the Myth of Transparency 14 Nathan Shedroff, Experience Design 1 15 Eric Begnan (editor), Information Appliances and Beyond 16 Malcolm McCullough, Digital Ground: Architecture, Pervasive Computing, and Environmental Knowing

21. Tentative Schedule.

22. .Tentative Schedule

23. Next Classes • WED Aug 27: Usability study by Juan Quiroz, PhD candidate • WED Sep 03: Students’ introduction (be prepared to talk about 1 minute about yourself) & HCI videos.