HCI Fundamentals: Design, Evaluation & User Experience

1. ITIS 6010/8010Principles of Human Computer Interaction Dr. Heather Richter richter@uncc.edu

2. Agenda • Course Info & Syllabus • Course Overview • Introductions • HCI Overview • Ethics • IDEO Video • Project discussion

3. Course Information • Books • Human Computer Interaction, 3rd edition, by Dix, Finlay, Abowd, Beale. (DFAB) • The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald Norman, 2002. (DOET) • Web • http://www.sis.uncc.edu/~richter/classes/2006/6010/index.html • Overview • Grading and Policies • Syllabus and Lectures • Assignments • Swiki

4. Course Information • Grading for 6010 • 10% Participation • 50% Project • More details to come… • 20% Midterm • 20% Final

5. Course Information • Grading for 8010 • 10% Participation • 50% Project • More details to come… • 10% Assignment • 15% Midterm • 15% Final

6. 8010 Assignment • Additional reading on a more focused theory or research topic • Teach or present the topic – 30 minutes in class • At least 20 minutes of presentation • 2 page (or so) summary and study guide posted to the Swiki • See web pages for suggestions

7. Group project • 4 parts, each 12.5% • 3-4 people per group, graded as a group • Original interface design and evaluation • Each part due by class time on the due date • Project notebook on Swiki with each write up

8. 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! • Introduction to theory and research topics in HCI

9. 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, groupware, ubiquitous computing

10. How to do well • Time and effort • Do the reading and prepare for class • Attend class and participate • Spend time on project • Attention to detail • Communication • Tell me what you learned and why you made decisions

11. Introductions –Dr. Heather Richter • Ph.D. in C.S. from Georgia Tech in May 2005 • HCI, Ubiquitous Computing, and Software Engineering focus • Contact info: • Email preferred, put 6010 or 8010 in title • Office: 305E Woodward • Office Hours: • Thursday 4-6pm • By appointment

12. Introductions – Your Turn • Name, student status, specialization • Previous HCI/interface experience? • A product/device/application you • Love to use and why • Hate to use and why

13. Now let’s get started What is Human-Computer Interaction?

14. HCI • Basic definition: • The interaction and interface between a human and a computer performing a task • What tasks? Write a document, calculate monthly budget, learn about places to live in Charlotte, drive home… • Tasks might be work, play, learning, communicating, etc. etc. • …not just desktop computers!

15. 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

16. Famous Quotations “It is easy to make things hard. It is hard to make things easy.” – Al Chapanis, 1982 “Learning to use a computer system is like learning to use a parachute – if a person fails on the first try, odds are he won’t try again.” – anonymous

17. Goals of HCI • Allow users to carry out tasks • Safely • Effectively • Efficiently • Enjoyably

18. Usability • Important issue • Combination of • Ease of learning • High speed of user task performance • Low user error rate • Subjective user satisfaction • User retention over time

19. UI Design / Develop Process • User-Centered Design • Analyze user’s goals & tasks • Create design alternatives • Evaluate options • Implement prototype • Test • Refine • IMPLEMENT

20. 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

21. 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

22. It’s HARD! • Design is more difficult when the designer takes responsibility. • Think about the user(s), the situation and make the system appropriate. • Co-evolution makes it even harder.

23. Working with People • Issues of rights, respect, ethics • YOU will be observing and talking to people to: • Gather requirements • Get initial design feedback • Perform evaluations of your design • Important to be professional with any interaction with potential users

24. Why an issue? • Usability testing can be arduous; privacy is important • Each person should know and understand what they are participating in: • what to expect, time commitments • what the potential risks are • how their information will be used • Must be able to stop without danger or penalty • All participants to be treated with respect

25. IRB, Participants, & Ethics • Institutional Review Board (IRB) • Federal law governs procedures • Reviews all research involving human (or animal) participants • Safeguarding the participants, and thereby the researcher and university • Not a science review (i.e., not to asess your research ideas); only safety & ethics • http://www.research.uncc.edu/Comp/human.cfm

26. Ethics Certification • Ethics is not just common sense • Training being standardized to ensure even and equal understanding of issues • Go get your certification: http://www.research.uncc.edu/tutorial/index3.cfm

27. Recruiting Participants • Who you are recruiting • Must fit user population (validity) • How you are recruiting • Must adequately disclose purpose and tasks • Compensation • Does compensation fit task? Reasonable expectations? • Note: Maintaining proper ethics applies to all participants, even friends and family

28. Consent • Why important? • People can be sensitive about this process and issues • Errors will likely be made, participant may feel inadequate • May be mentally or physically strenuous • What are the potential risks (there are always risks)? • Examples? • “Vulnerable” populations need special care & consideration • Children; disabled; pregnant; students (why?)

29. Study procedures and materials • Match what consent form states • Only deception when necessary and not harmful • Only necessary information is gathered • Participant is not unduly burdened • Privacy of the gathered data • Data to be stored anonymously, securely, and/or destroyed

30. Attribution Theory • Studies why people believe that they succeeded or failed--themselves or outside factors (gender, age differences) • Make sure participants do not feel that they did something wrong, that the errors are their problem

31. Respecting your participants • Be well prepared so participant’s time is not wasted • Make sure they know you are testing software, not them • Explain procedures without compromising results • Make them aware they can quit anytime • Make sure participant is comfortable • Session should not be too long • Maintain relaxed atmosphere • Never indicate displeasure or anger • State how session will help you improve system (“debriefing”) • Don’t compromise privacy (never identify people, only show videos with explicit permission)

32. IRB @ UNCC http://www.research.uncc.edu/comp/chuman.cfm • On-line tutorial • Guidelines • Consent procedures and template forms • Protocol application forms • IRB Protocol 101 Training • http://www.research.uncc.edu/comp/human_trng.cfm • 1/31: 10am, 2/1: 5pm, 2/2: 10am & 5pm

33. Agenda • Course Info & Syllabus • Course Overview • Introductions • HCI Overview • Ethics • IDEO Video • Project discussion

34. Project Structure • Group project – 3 or 4 people • Worth 50% of grade, 12.5% per part • Design and evaluate an interface • 1 - Understand the problem • 2 - Design alternatives • 3 - Prototype & evaluation plan • 4 – Evaluation

35. Project Groups • 3-4 people • You decide • Diverse is best! • Consider schedules, email habits, etc. • Cool name • Form by end of class next week

36. Project topics • Group-oriented picture frame http://hci.sis.uncc.edu:8080/richter/12 • Microsoft Interface Design Imagine Cup http://thespoke.net/ViewContent.aspx?PostID=807760 • Problem of your choice

37. Programming requirements • Leverage team expertise • Full functionality is NOT intention • But good evaluation requires authentic experience

38. Project advice • Think of someone else • Avoid being biased by your intuitions • Think off the desktop too! • Mobile, handheld, environmental • Think everyday • Home • Think about people first, then technology

39. Previous Projects • System for organizing and showcasing art • Mall kiosk • Friend Finder on a cell phone • System to assist real estate agents with directions and details for showing houses • System for assisting anesthesiologists • Campus companion • University remote control for a hotel room • Money tracker in your wallet

40. 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

41. Next time History & Paradigms, more project planning • Read: DFAB 4 • Activity: project brainstorm • Start to form groups • Think about project topics