INLS
818 – Human-Computer Interaction Seminar – Fall 2010
University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
School
of Information and Library Science
Thursdays,
2:00pm – 4:30pm, Manning 208
Schedule | Assignments | Projects | Blackboard
Instructor:
Rob
Capra
email: rcapra3 at unc dot edu
web: http://www.ils.unc.edu/~rcapra/
office: Manning 214A
Individual Assignments
Due Sep 16 – Search Engines
Goal:
Evaluate a Web search
engine using the guidelines outlined in Hearst, Ch. 1: http://searchuserinterfaces.com/book/sui_ch1_design.html
What to do:
Enter some searches on
the ViewZi search engine and evaluate the interface
design using the guidelines in Hearst, Ch. 1
Write a brief evaluation
for two different views: 1) “Power Grid”
(the default), and 2) “Web Screenshot”
What to turn in
and how:
A brief evaluation the
two views, centered around the guidelines from Hearst,
Ch1.
Explain why you think
aspects of the design either do or do not follow particular guidelines.
You don’t need to cover
all the guidelines – focus on ones that the interface follows (or does not
follow).
Your critique should be
about 1 page for each view, or two pages total.
Upload your critique as
a PDF document into the Blackboard digital dropbox
for the course web site before the start of class on Sep 16.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Due Oct 7 – Exploratory and Collaborative Search
Goal:
Reflect on an
exploratory and collaborative search process; suggest design improvements
What to do:
With a PARTNER,
collaboratively find videos that present novel search interfaces. Do this task using two sources: 1)
open-video.org, and 2) YouTube.
For open-video.org, find
three videos. For YouTube, find five
videos. For each video, submit the title
and URL.
Partners will be
assigned randomly in-class on Thursday.
You may work together synchronously or asynchronously, co-located or
remote.
Then, INDIVIDUALLY (i.e.
not with your partner), write: 1) a one paragraph description of the overall
collaboration strategy you used,
2) a
one paragraph summary of the search strategy YOU used, 3) a one paragraph
description for improving each system,
and 4) a one paragraph description of how technology could
have better helped to support your collaboration.
What to turn in
and how:
A PDF document with:
1)
Your name
2)
Your partner’s name
3)
The list of videos you
collaboratively found for each source (title, URL)
4)
The four paragraphs as
described above.
Upload your PDF document
into the Blackboard digital dropbox for the course
web site before the start of class on Oct 7.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Due Oct 28 – Calm Technology and Games with a
Purpose
Goal:
Explore the design space
of: calm technology OR games with a purpose
What to do:
Select either calm
technology OR games with a purpose.
For calm technology,
propose and describe TWO ideas for “calm technology” that you would like to
have in your life/environment that don’t currently exist.
Describe these ideas in
enough detail that someone else can understand their aesthetics, form, purpose,
and how they are “calm technology”.
Your descriptions should
not exceed two pages total (for both ideas).
Come to class prepared
to describe your TWO ideas (rough illustrations are encouraged).
For games with a
purpose, propose ONE game with a purpose.
Describe what
computational problem the game addresses and why human computation is needed to
solve the problem.
Also describe the
mechanics of the game, including rough illustrations as needed, and why the
game will be “fun”.
In your description,
address issues about how people might “cheat”.
Your description should
not exceed two pages total.
What to turn in
and how:
1) A PDF document with
descriptions.
2) One to two slides (powerpoint or pdf)
that you can use in class to describe your ideas. Everyone will have a few minutes in class on
Oct 28 to present their ideas.
Upload your PDF description(s)
and slides to the Blackboard digital dropbox before
class on October 28.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Due Nov 11 – Voice
User Interface Design
Goal:
Gain experience
designing a voice user interface.
Consider and justify design choices based on guidelines in readings.
What to do:
Design a telephone-based
voice interface (e.g. no visual display) for a hypothetical SILS room
reservation services.
Users should be able to
call into the service and find out current reservation information, to make new
reservations and to cancel existing reservations, similar to the on-line system
at http://ruby.ils.unc.edu/reservations/
You do NOT need to fully
specify the entire system. Instead,
select ONE task (e.g. review reservations, make new reservation, cancel
reservation) and write a dialog example using the turn-taking format used in
the articles assigned for Oct 28.
At the end of your
dialog example, write ONE paragraph describing rationale for your design
choices.
What to turn in
and how:
1) A PDF document of no
more than 2 pages with your dialog example.
We may discuss these in class on Nov 11.
Upload your PDF
description(s) to the Blackboard digital dropbox before class on Nov 11.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Due Dec 2 –
Digital Surrogates
Goal:
Gain experience
designing digital surrogates. Consider and
justify design choices based on literature from class.
What to do:
Design TWO different
surrogates from the following information types: webpages, videos, academic articles.
You should turn-in two
surrogate designs total, but may select any combination of webpages, videos, or
academic articles (you can even pick one twice).
Your surrogates should
differ in some significant way from existing, common surrogates (e.g.
thumbnails, video skims, article abstracts).
Describe each of your
surrogates by giving a specific example and illustration of how your surrogates
represents and summarizes important details.
Include in your
description a summary of what guidelines and principles are present in your
designs.
Your descriptions should
not exceed two pages total (for both ideas).
Also prepare TWO slides
to describe your surrogates and come to class prepared to talk about them.
What to turn in
and how:
1)
A PDF document of no
more than 2 pages with a description of your surrogates and the.
2)
A Powerpoint
or PDF document of no more than 2 slides illustrating your surrogates.
Upload both 1 & 2 to
the Blackboard digital dropbox before class on Dec 2.