Draft, 3/31/2015

btw... and also...

INF 132: Project in HCI and Interfaces

Instructor: Alfred Kobsa

Teaching Assistant: Sunakshi Gupta (sunaksg)

Disclaimer: These are guidelines intended to help students plan their work in this course. However, the instructor does reserve the right to make changes if needed.

Important note: This class requires a high amount of coursework.

General Educational Aims:: Students will learn and practice the process of user interface design and/or evaluation. They will learn different methods for user interface evaluation and experimental design. In concrete projects, students will have to carefully chose between available methods and apply them to obtain empirically verified evaluation results. They will practice collaboration in teams, including the presentation of the project results in oral and written form.

Specific Objective:: At the conclusion of this course, students should be able to:
- realize the importance of user-centered design, and formative and summative evaluation
- choose between different methods for user interface evaluation
- select an appropriate experimental design
- carry out usability experiments
- have attained the ability to evaluate user interfaces of low and medium complexity
- have familiarity with some of the outstanding research problems in the field of Human-Computer Interaction

Prerequisite: INF 131

Class format:

Half of the class will be lecture-format, and the other half will consist of student demonstrations of the progress in their projects. Students will collaborate in teams of 4 to 5, depending on the total class enrollment and the project requirements.

Location/Times: MW 11:00am-12:20pm 128 Steinhaus Hall (Bldg 502)
Discussion (as needed): F 1:00-1:50pm ET 202

Readings:

Required

Catherine Courage and Kathy Baxter (2005): Understanding Your Users: A Practical Guide to User Requirements -- Methods, Tools, & Techniques. Morgan Kaufmann. ISBN 1-55860-935-0. Also online (free access from within the UCI domain), iBook, Kindle, Google
Carol M. Barnum (2010): Usability Testing Essentials. Morgan Kaufmann. ISBN 978-0123750921. Also iBook, Google, Kindle.

Optional

Jeffrey Rubin and Dana Chisnell (2008): Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests. 2nd edition. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0470185483.
Joseph S. Dumas and Janice C. Redish (1999): A Practical Guide To Usability Testing. Norwood, N.J. Ablex Publishing Corp. Revised edition 1999, Intellect Ltd.: ISBN 1841500208
Elizabeth Goodman, Mike Kuniavsky, Andrea Moed (2012): Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User Research. 2nd edition. Morgan Kaufmann, 978-0123848697.
Joseph S. Dumas and Beth A. Loring (2008): Moderating Usability Tests: Principles and Practices for Interacting. Morgan Kaufmann, ISBN 978-0123739339

The readings are also available from a course reserve in the Ayala Science Library and from the UCI bookstore.

Lecture part overview (and readings):

1. Overview of class and user studies
2. User needs analysis

2.1 Interviews (Courage & Baxter Ch.7)
2.2 Surveys (Courage & Baxter Ch. 8)
2.3 Focus groups (Courage & Baxter Ch. 12)
2.4 Wants & needs analysis (Courage & Baxter Ch. 9)
2.5 Group task analysis (Courage & Baxter Ch. 11)
2.6 Card sorting
2.7 Field studies

3. Usability evaluations (Barnum Ch. 3; maybe start at page 61)

3.1 Heuristik evaluation
3.2 Cognitive walkthrough
3.3 Usability experiments

3.1.1 Preparing a usability experiment (Barnum Ch. 5-6, Courage & Baxter Ch. 4)
3.3.2 Selecting, recruiting and informing users (Barnum Ch. 6, Courage & Baxter Ch. 3+5)
3.3.3 Running a user study (Barnum Ch. 7)
3.3.4 Analyzing and Presenting Results (Barnum Ch. 8+9, Courage & Baxter Ch. 14)

4. Establishing a User Orientation (optional: Interview with Kim Goodwin)

Projects: Sign up on EEE

Projects 1ab: Usability of a course management system for instructors (Customers: Kelsey Layos kelsey, Ray Vadnais rvadnais)
Projects 2ab: Usability of a course management system for students (Customers: Kelsey Layos kelsey, Ray Vadnais rvadnais)
Projects 3ab: Rap-on-trial: A website on rap music being used as incriminating evidence (Customer: Charis Kubrin ckubrin)
Project 4: Dashboard for visual analysis of data streams (Customers: Laleh Jalali lalehj, Siripen Pongpaichet spongpai)
Project 5: Capturing the context of photographs (Customer: Neil Jain nejain83@gmail)
Project 6: User Interface for a 3D visualization of cardiac flow (Customer: Ahmad Falahatpisheh afalahat)
Project 7: Redesigning the 3 satellite websites of the UCI Center for Citizen Peacebuilding (Customer: Paula Garb pgarb)

Grading:
          70% for project work (team score, unless vetoed)
           30% for final exam
           up to 10% bonus for active in-class participation
         up to 10% minus points for missing customer/group presentations and customer meetings

Efficient reading: see here
Cheating: see here
Students with Disabilities: see here

Add/drop: By Tuesday 3/31 midnight (send email to instructor to request code)
Course Evaluation:

Hours:
Alfred Kobsa: after class, or Monday Mon 1:00-2:00pm in 5092 Bren Hall (send email if you plan to come)
Sunakshi Gupta (sunaksg): Fridays 1:00-1:50pm, ET 202 (send email if you plan to come)

Syllabus (changes possible)

Click at calender entries to see details, such as readings and links to dropboxes and podcasts
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Discussion sessions are normally for meetings with the team, customer or TA

Legend:

B = Carol Barnum (2010)
C&B = Catherine Courage and Kathy Baxter (2005)
B Ch.7 = Chapter 7 of Carol Barnum (2010)

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