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Software Usability Course notes for CSI 5122 - University of Ottawa

Software Usability Course notes for CSI 5122 - University of Ottawa. Section 1: Course Outline and Required Work Timothy C. Lethbridge < tcl@site.uottawa.ca > http:// www.site.uottawa.ca /~ tcl /csi5122. Themes of the course. Main theme: Software Usability Engineering:

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Software Usability Course notes for CSI 5122 - University of Ottawa

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  1. Software UsabilityCourse notes for CSI 5122 - University of Ottawa Section 1: Course Outline and Required Work Timothy C. Lethbridge <tcl@site.uottawa.ca> http://www.site.uottawa.ca/~tcl/csi5122

  2. Themes of the course • Main theme: Software Usability Engineering: • How to develop software systems that are highly usable • Sub-theme: Adapting the software engineering process to produce more usable software • Sub-theme: Enhancing your skills at design and evaluation of usability • Secondary theme: How do do good research in software engineering, HCI, and Usability • Critical evaluation and writing papers in the usability domain • Subtheme: How to design a good experiment, analyse usability data and present the results Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  3. This is not a ‘pure HCI’ course • It is an ‘applied HCI’ course • ‘E’course in OCICS • There is also a separate A/S course available at Carleton, taught by Robert Biddle • We will focus on engineering practicalities • Less consideration of HCI theory Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  4. Background required • Just being a grad student in CS or SE should be enough • All grad students will have had some undergrad background in software engineering • No HCI course is assumed as background • So far this is not required in undergrad CS programs • Those who have an HCI course or other HCI background will have only a small advantage • Come to class, but 20% of the material may be review Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  5. Learning about each other: • Who am I • I have taught • CS since 1985 • SE since 1990 • Usability at the undergrad/grad level since 1993 • Main current research topics • Software engineering tools, including their usability • Software Engineering Education • Research projects with several companies over the years • Worked at Nortel for 2 years in the 1980’s Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  6. Who are you • Name? • University? • Program? (MSc, PhD, OCICS, OCIECE, Systems Science, etc.) • Year of grad study? • Why are you interested in this topic Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  7. Topics In The Course Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  8. Topics for the course 1 • Not necessarily covered exactly in this sequence • What is usability • How it compares with other qualities • Usability in the Software Engineering • SE methods to improve usability • The Users and Usability Maturity Model • Economics of usability • Justifying an investment in usability • Measuring usability • Setting realistic usability objectives Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  9. Topics for the course 2 • Design for usability • Task analysis • User centred design • Evaluation techniques • Heuristic Evaluation • Evaluating usability by analysis of videos of users • Conducting formal experiments to validate usability • Internationalization and localization • Access for the disabled • Usability of multi-touch interfaces Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  10. Pedagogical method • I will lecture about half the time • We will study user interfaces together and perform evaluations ‘live’ • You will read research papers and we will discuss them together • Everybody will study all the papers • One student will start the discussion by summarizing the paper • You will do projects, and present the results • Topics include, UI design, UI evaluation, experiment, research Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  11. Motivational example 1 • Microsoft Excel • Poor error message when it can’t find an item • http://tims-ideas.blogspot.com/2011/06/usability-blooper-microsoft-excel.html Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  12. Work Plan Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  13. Your work plan: Your grade will be tailored, based on a plan you will prepare • 20% Everybody writes a final exam unless you already have A+ (> 90%) from the other components • In which case multiply the other components by 10/8 • 80%: your choice of some combination of the following • If you do components worth> 80% then I scale the grade so it is out of 80% a) 5%: Leading discussion of a paper in class (can do 2) b) 25%: Research (literature review) paper (20 pages) c) 25%: Conducting a formal experiment with 5+ users, and writing up - 20 pages d) 15%: Evaluating a user interface and formally writing it up - 15 pages e) 10%: Presentation of results from b, c, and/or d in class - 30-45 minutes, including discussion f) 10% Creating a guest post for my blog (I will edit it and give you credit) or a post on your blog for public consumption (can be related to b, c, d) Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  14. Your work plan - 2 • We will learn how to do the tasks in your work plan What constitutes a good research paper How to run an experiment and analyse the results How to do evaluation and present the results How to do a presentation • The weights for each component can be varied (e.g. > 25% or < 25% for a larger or smaller experiment) I will give you the weights when you propose to me what you plan to do Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  15. Your work plan - 3 • I must approve each work item before you start • You can prepare a full or partial work plan at any time • Add to it as your ideas become more detailed • Send plans to me by email • For item a (papers) every student does one, but some of you may do 2 You must volunteer for the ones you want First-come-first-served • For each of b (research), c (experiment), and d (evaluation) Email me a detailed outline of the proposed work I will give you feedback before you start Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  16. Ideas for finding topics for research papers • Browse the literature • I will give you some techniques for this later in this slide deck • Pick a topic we have discussed in class. • The following are a few examples: • Metrics • Design techniques • Usability guidelines • Evaluation techniques • I reserve the right to deny a topic if other students have already picked it. Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  17. Research paper basic criteria • Must be written in the same style as if you are submitting a paper to a journal or top conference • E.g. SIGCHI, ICSE • We will be reading many papers in the course, so you can learn from the style of those papers • But I will also point out some bad things to avoid • You must have at least 10 peer-reviewed references (from good conferences or journals) • You must analyse what you have read • Just giving me lots of facts is no good • At all costs, avoid plagiarism Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  18. Evaluation project basic criteria • The system can be • open source • commercial • your thesis topic • something from a work environment (past or present) • It cannot be so confidential • students inthe class must be able to see it • http://www.site.uottawa.ca/~tcl/csi5122/projectIdeas/ Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  19. Deadlines • Give me your work plan by the third class (Jan 25th) or earlier • I will assign you deadlines evenly spread through the course • Once deadlines are set, you are held to them! • 5% marks lost per day for each item that is late Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  20. Interim feedback on draft materials • Optional: Send me a draft of your work 6 or more working days before it is due • I will skim it and give you some ideas for improvement • I will not have time to read it in detail at the draft stage, so I can’t guarantee that I find any or all faults • But I will give you some basic feesback • Also optional: Send me your presentation slides 3 working days before your presentation date. • Mandatory: Send me a 3 page summary the design of any experiment 4 working days before you start executing it Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  21. Presenting A Student-Led Discussion OF A PAPER Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  22. Papers for student-led discussions 1 • In a couple of weeks the list of papers for you all to read will be ready • Email me to choose up to five of them for which you wish to lead discussion • Students who volunteer to lead the first two discussions get a bonus • I will comment on how they led the discussion so others can learn • Download the papers by following the links • You will need to be on the campus intranet to access the papers • Read all the papers, not just those you will be presenting Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  23. Papers for student-led discussions 2 • When you discuss a paper you should orally tell the class: • The main point of the paper (1 minute) • The methodology the authors used (if appropriate 1-2 mins) • The results they obtained (if appropriate 1-3 mins) • The conclusions they drew (1-2 mins) • Any threats to validity of the conclusions that you see (1 min) • What you liked about the paper and/or agree with (1-2 mins) • What you didn't like about the paper and/or disagree with (1-2 mins) • Time limit: 10 minutes to quickly discuss the above • But 5 minutes would be OK if you can say enough interesting things Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  24. Papers for student-led discussions 3 • Do not ‘read’ pre-prepared material • Talk from point-form notes you have prepared • No powerpoint slides • But one drawing on the board would be OK, although not necessary • After you have spoken, I will ask one or two questions • And I may jump in with a comment in the middle if you are not following the structure discussed on the previous slide • I will then prompt the class to ask questions • Email me with your ‘bids’ for the top five papers you are interested in reviewing, and how many you want to do • If nobody volunteers for a particular paper, I may assign it. Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  25. Conducting literature Research Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  26. General Research Sources - 1 • Databases that the University of Ottawa Library maintains a subscription to • Must be using an on-campus computer • Or connected by the VPN or proxy server • See http://www.biblio.uottawa.ca for details on how to access the library’s digital resources • Scopus • http://www.scopus.com/scopus/search/form.url • Very good general meta-search for scientific information • Example searches to try • Use colour user interface • Cognitive walkthrough • Usability engineering Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  27. General Research Sources - 2 • IEEE Xplore • http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/dynhome.jsp • ACM Digital library and giude to literature • http://portal.acm.org/portal.cfm • Springerlink • Access to Springer journals and Lecture Notes in Computer Science • http://www.springerlink.com/home/main.mpx • Google Scholar • http://scholar.google.ca/ • Science Direct • http://www.sciencedirect.com/ • HCIBib • http://hcibib.org/ Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  28. Key Journals • ACM transactions on Computer-Human Interaction • www.acm.org/tochi/ • Human-Computer Interaction • http://hci-journal.com • International Journal of Human Computer Interaction • http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=journal&issn=1044-7318 • International Journal of Human Computer Studies • http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10715819 • Interacting With Computers • www.elsevier.com/locate/intcom Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  29. Other periodicals • ACM interactions • Magazine style • http://www.acm.org/interactions/ • ACM SIGCHI Bulletin • Columns, reports, etc. • http://bulletin.sigchi.org/ Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  30. Key conferences • Up to date list of some upcoming conferences • http://degraaff.org/hci/conference.html • CHI • http://www.chi2009.org/ • HCI International • http://www.hcii2009.org/ • Proceedings published by Springer • Interact • http://www.interact2009.com/ Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  31. Key websites for usability • The Nielsen- Norman Group: Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman • http://www.useit.com • Some stuff is free, other material is not • Don Norman’s Essays • http://www.jnd.org/dn.pubs.html • Usability First • http://www.usabilityfirst.com/ • World Usability Day • http://www.worldusabilityday.org/ • Usability Professionals Association • http://www.upassoc.org/ • Resource list • http://www.slostc.org/topics/usability/resources_list.html Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  32. A sample of books on usability • See here for a good list of books • http://www.hcibib.org/readings.html • Newer books have a white background in the listing • Some particularly noteworthy classic books • H. Sharp, Y. Rogers, & J. PreeceInteraction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 3rd edition, 2011 • Jeffrey Rubin and Dana Chisnell. Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests. 2nd Edition. New York: Wiley, 2008 • B. Shneiderman and C Plaisant. Designing User Interfaces: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, Fifth Edition, 2009 • Donald A. Norman. The Psychology of Everyday Things., 1990 • Randolph G. Bias & Deborah J. Mayhew (Eds.) Cost-Justifying Usability. Boston: Academic Press, Updated edition, 2005 • Jakob Nielsen. Usability Engineering, Academic Press, 1993 Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  33. Patent searches • US patents • http://patft.uspto.gov/ • Canadian patents • http://patents.ic.gc.ca/cipo/cpd/en/search/basic.html • Do a search on • User interface Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  34. Examples of topics for one of your work items in this course - 1 • A survey of usability metrics • Discuss papers where different metrics were used • Measuring individual differences • There is a large body of research literature on this • You could do a small experiment, or just report on some narrow topic from the literature • Making software usable for the disabled • Pick a type of disability and a class of application • You can combine literature research with your own evaluation • A comparison of software usability research and usability or ergonomics studies in other engineering disciplines Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  35. Work item topic ideas - 2 • International standards for usability • See http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/ijhc.2001.0483 • Also see http://www.usabilitynet.org/tools/r_international.htm • A study of how usability improvements have helped organizations financially. • Research on the effects on usability of various design issues • modality, choice of colours, menu design alternatives, etc. • Reliability and validity of usability testing • If you do two similar studies, will you get the same results? • What are the threats to validity? Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  36. Work item topic ideas - 3 • Rapid (discount) approaches to usability • Perhaps you could compare this to more expensive approaches • Ethics in usability testing • What different approaches are taken in different places • What issues arise • Effects of alternatives in experimental design • Focus on what aspect of experiments • Threats to validity • Blocking • Statistical analysis • Compare some experiments in the literature Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  37. Work item topic ideas - 4 • Usability studies of a certain class of applications • help systems • web search engines • word processors Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  38. No need to rush now– but don’t leave too late • We will cover much material in the course • So waiting for classes where I cover some material could help you • But get working on your first project within two weeks of the start of class • Or else you will have too much to do at the end Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  39. Threats to Validity Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  40. No research is perfect • You should always consider factors that could mean that certain research results are less applicable • Always discuss these • When doing a literature review • When leading a paper discussion in class • When writing your own experiment paper • When presenting results to class Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  41. Threats to validity - 1 • Conclusion validity • Factors leading you to incorrectly believe some conclusion • Seeing things that aren’t there due to bias • Working with only one group of participants • Participants learn from one step to the next • Many other bias sources • Certain statistical errors, like doing many T-tests • Factors leading you to not reach a conclusion you should reach • Not finding the needle in the haystack • Not enough data • Not enough participants • Too much noise in the data • Not asking the right questions • Not using the right statistics Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  42. Threats to validity - 2 • Internal validity - are the relationships causal • Could something other than what you think be causing the results you see • Construct validity - did we measure what we wanted to measure? • External validity - can we generalize the results? • Are the results just true in this specific situation • Good website on threats to validity • http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/introval.php Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  43. Writing a Good Research Paper Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  44. Writing a good research paper(for this course) - 1 • Step 1: Have something to say • Learn the relevant background • Search and read/skim the literature • Follow the citations to read • Papers that cite what you are reading • Papers that what you are reading cites • For studies you do yourself sketch out • Method you followed • Hypotheses • Research questions answered • Analysis of results • Threats to validity • Key conclusions Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  45. Writing a good research paper - 2 • Step 2: Develop a structure • E.g. • Abstract • Introduction (write at end) • Background • Method • Results and discussion • Conclusions and future work (write at end) • References Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  46. Writing a good research paper - 3 • Step 3: Fill in details • When you get stuck, work on a different section • Step 4: Review many times • Does it ‘tell a story’? • Are there details that could be left out? • Are important elements missing? • Is each sentence/paragraph well written? • Have you used citations/references well? • Ask somebody else to proofread Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  47. Write according to a publication format • Here are some possibilities • SIGCHI format • http://www.sigchi.org/chipubform/ • ICSE format • http://www.cs.uoregon.edu/events/icse2009/calls/format/ • ACM Journal formats • http://www.acm.org/publications/submission Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  48. Some references on writing good papers • http://people.csail.mit.edu/mernst/advice/write-technical-paper.html • http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~cs475/F97-S98/handbook/research-paper.html • http://www.sigplan.org/oopsla/oopsla96/how91.html • http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~jrs/sins.html Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  49. How I will evaluate research papers - 1 • 25% Writing quality • Clarity, conciseness, ease of reading • Document structure • Introductions, body, conclusions • If your first language is not English, you should consider getting somebody to proofread your report for you. • 10% Quality of visual material • Tables, lists, diagrams, figures, and appendices. • If you are presenting data, focus on highlighting the most important aspects of the data. Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

  50. How will I evaluate research papers - 2 • 25% Incorporation of background material • Synthesis of ideas from various sources • Journals and conferences (peer reviewed) • A goal is to cite 10 of these • Use online databases (discussed earlier) • Books • Good quality, reliable web-based material • Should not be a majority Section 1: Course Outline and Work To Do

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