Human-Computer Interaction
Scott Klemmer, Associate Professor
Helping you build human-centered design skills, so that you have the principles and methods to create excellent interfaces with any technology.
Design Briefs
There are three design briefs for you to pick from. Your project for this course should address ONE of these concepts. Use a design brief to help you find an interesting idea for your course project!
Change
Project Brief
Change is hard. Sometimes we lack information. Other times, our routines and habits are really persistant, even if we wish they weren't. Can technology help people and communities change their behavior to meet their goals? New electronic devices (computers, phones, tablets…) can help by providing information. By reminding us. And by connecting us with others. Want to keep a commitment to run more? Go with a friend. Change might mean exercising more, eating healthier, helping make a more sustainable planet, or participating in local government. Or it might be becoming a better chess player, carving out time to read, or remembering to see the world from a new perspective.
Your Mission
Use the power of new technology to create an application or service that facilitates personal or social behavior change.
Design Inspiration
- Can technology provide a window onto the environmental and labor practices behind products? Or steer people toward decisions that align with their values?
- How might technology help people make sustainable decisions? Like buying local food, using less energy, avoiding cars, and reusing rather than buying new?
- What's the most effective way to join people together to help a cause?
- How do people kick undesired habits and build desired ones? Could your mobile phone, tablet or computer incentivize healthy eating, exercise, doctor visits, a good night's sleep?
- Can we help communities help coordinate better? Like plan a block party, advertise tag sales, or carpool for commuting and errands?
- How might technology improve the experience of volunteering? (via social networks?)
Glance
Project Brief
We are surrounded by information. Some might even call it overload. How might technology show us the essential pieces at a glance, so we can quickly navigate through the noise to get to what we really want? We compulsively check email, Twitter, Facebook, and the news — just in case there's something there. Right now we are doing the filtering and finding ourselves, why not let our devices do it for us? How can a screen summarize information and present just the most relevant parts (especially if it is tiny)? How can these devices use social and physical context to more effectively have the key information ready at a glance? Today the home screen of many devices is a grid of icons, or a static picture. That's not very creative. You can do way better!
Your Mission
Find people and design a personal dashboard tailored to their needs.
Design Inspiration
- What should a dashboard display? Email, calendar, news, time, weather, reminders? Which ones? All of them? Or maybe a screen that just has a short note from a loved one. Which is better? It all depends on who you're designing for.
- What might a context-aware dashboard look like? Could time, location, or who is nearby help a device create a more effective glance?
- What might a 10x10 pixel screen show? The mood of a friend? The state of the stock market? How much it snowed in Tahoe? Whether the coffee in this shop is fair trade?
- What are the differences between the display of a wall in a room and a mobile screen? Benefits, drawbacks?
- How might we use ambient alerts to convey information?
- What would the dashboard of Albert Einstein look like? Or Lady Gaga? President Obama?
- How might we “grab that moment”, catch the last five seconds said, or visually capture that which no one else saw?
- How might we send a message with one gesture?
- What might appropriate alerts look like? What if you were only interrupted when you should be, or only some interruptions got through, or the interruption interaction was context-aware?
Time
Project Brief
The way people represent time changes how they think about it. Wall calendars remind us of years, seasons, and the dentist appointment 6 months in the future. They codify weeks by wrapping every seven days, and it's easy to find the weekends -- they are on the edges. Clocks help us coordinate with others. Historically, many countries' citizens adopted pocket watches and clocks along with the railroad. Before the railroad, there was no need for precise time. Daily schedules help us plan. They can encourage us to "fill" our days, or talk about being "free". When we punch the clock, or bill hours, we turn time into money. These representations are human inventions. Most digital time representations — clocks, daily and monthly calendars, … — simply translate paper and gears into pixels and beeps. With the computation and sensing capabilities of mobile devices, can we find a more personal and joyful way to interact with time?
Your Mission
Redesign the way we experience or interact with time.
Design Inspiration
- The American Institute of Health estimates that 75-90% of all visits to primary care physicians are stress related. Could an interactive time representation help us be effective and relaxed?
- What if our mobiles were aware of our daily rhythm and helped us reschedule our activities to optimize for our well-being? How could we redesign the alarm clock? Do alarms need to be obnoxious? Maybe an alarm clock could wake us with the smell of delicious breakfast, or coffee? Or maybe its sensing could pay attention to our circadean rhythms, and wake us at an appropriate time? Could a time representation help us get a good night's sleep?
- How might a design use multiple modalities — visual, auditory, vibration, … — selectively or in concert to create more effective reminders?
- How might we help people feel happy and energetic — when they wake up and throughout the day? What if instead of a clock calendar we had an energy calendar? So that instead of scheduling for 2 in the afternoon, one schedules for “when I'm feeling energetic”, “when it's nice outside”, or “when it's quiet”.
- How might we leverage technology to feel more in touch with our temporal rhythms?
- How might we create a new representation of time?
- How can we create better social representations of time?
Here are a few cool examples:
- QLOCKTWO by Biegert & Funk
- Sleep Cycle
Syllabus and calendar
Week 1
Lecture 1: Introduction
- 1.1 Human-Computer Interaction
- 1.2 The Power of Prototyping
- 1.3 Evaluating Designs
- 1.4 The Birth of HCI
Week 2
Lecture 2: Needfinding
- 2.1 Participant Observation
- 2.2 Interviewing
- 2.3 Additional Needfinding
Assignment 1: Needfinding
Due Sunday, 10/7/2012, 10:00 pm PDT
Quiz 1
Opens Wednesday, 10/3
Due Wednesday, 10/10/2012, 10:00 pm PDT
Week 3
Lecture 3: Rapid Prototyping
- 3.1 Paper Prototyping and Mockups
- 3.2 Wizard of Oz
- 3.3 Video Prototyping
- 3.4 Creating and Comparing Alternatives
Assignment 2: Rapid prototyping
Due Sunday, 10/14/2012, 10:00 pm PDT
Quiz 2
Opens Wednesday, 10/10
Due Wednesday, 10/17/2012, 10:00 pm PDT
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