MSc / MRes AISD course

resources

coursework

copy of assignment (PDF, 16K)
N.B. the end of the second page says 'see lecture slides' for an example of navigation diagrams etc. - this refers to 'the big picture - navigation and dialogue' - (HTML or PPT (97K)), not the more detailed HTA and STN diagrams.

• first part (group report) due Monday week 6
  
• second part (group report) due Monday week 8
  
• the individual critique due Friday week 10

In all cases electronic copy to me plus paper copy to Trish in CS (for MSc) or Claire is Psych (for MRes).

 

previous years' MSc exams (N.B. no exam this year)

2000/2001: exam paper (PDF, 125K), sample answers (PDF, 137K)

2001/2002: exam paper (PDF, 158K), sample answers (PDF, 25K)

use these as exercises

 

general resources

try the search engine for my HCI book
there are also chapter-by-chapter links (not as extensive as I would like)
and also a page of links to other HCI resource sites
and you can look at previous year's courses for 2000/2001 and 2001/2002

 

mini case studies...

if I talk through an example in class and it doesn't appear here, please tell me and I'll get it written up!
the Excel mode error and analysis highlighting hidden modes and closure
the HCI book search a case study of designing user value
the little things the evolution of the scroll bar.see also related articles:
Hands Across the Screen - why scrollbars are on the right and other stories.
and Sinister Scrollbar in the Xerox Star Xplained

 

introduction

slides for introduction (PPT, 128K) and basic UI design (PPT,120K)
in HCI book most relevant overview chapters are 1 to 4
also see my short tutorial article for Assembly Automation
the term "form (ever) follows function" was coined by Louis Sullivan and was one of the drivers behind the work of his student Frank Lloyd Wright
the Electrolux Screenfridge an example of an internet appliance

 

scenarios

see power plant scenario in 2001/2 exam paper
aQtive technical documentation for onCue - uses rich scenario

 

task analysis

focused on Hierarchcial Task Analysis (HTA)
see chapter 7 of HCI book and HTA chapter in 'Perspectives'
selected slides from chapter 7 (PPT, 195K)
exercise 3 (mobile phone HTA) from 2000/1 exam paper
selected slides from Tamodia 2002 talk (PPT, 86K)
also see the associated Tamodia 2002 invited paper

 

dialogue notations

focused on State Transition Networks (STN)
see chapter 8 of HCI book
selected slides from chapter 8 (PDF, 377K) [including the missing pages!]
calculator STN exercise (PDF, 385K) including my potential (partial) solutions
also look at question 4 parts i & ii (mobile phone HTA) in 2000/1 exam paper
and question 3 parts iii & iv (power plant) in 2001/2 exam paper

 

state modelling

see chapter 9 of HCI book
also for this and dialogue modelling see my chapter "upside down As and algorithms" in Carroll's theory book
slides on modelling state (PPT, 40K)
worked calculator state exercise (PDF, 17K)
see also my pages on formal methods in HCI

 

UI architectures

see chapter 10 of HCI
slides on User Interface Architectures (PPT, 64K) for Seeheim, MVC etc.

 

web architectures

see my Interfaces tutorial article on the Active Web
and slides on web architecture (PPT, 90K)
examples included dancing histograms (also described in a paper 'starting simple' given at AVI'98)
also Professor Alan's square and Query-by-Browsing

 

colour

slides about colour (PPT, 47K)
lots about colour theory at www.colormatters.com

 

3D vision

little bit about this in HCI chapter 1, but previously I've found the slides are fairly self-explanatory
slides in HTML, PPT (156K) or PDF (47K)
is vision merely common sense?

is vision merely common sense?

designing experience

talked a little about marketing and that what you say about artefacts changes them as products
see more about this in my interfaces article artefact + marketing = product
the story of the design of the virtual crackers experience is told in two places: a short account in "absolutely crackers" at computers and fun 2001 and a longer chapter "deconstructing experience" in the Funology book
the "absolutely crackers" page also has some links to related topics
the name of the 'flow' guy is Csikszentmihalyi

 

alternative media

see chapter 15 from HCI boob and slides on media (PPT, 40K)
for more on network media issues such as jitter and buffering see my chapter in the Handbook of HCI
you can read online abstract including live references and draft chapter (PPT, 375K)

 

birds eye view of HCI

look at the table of contents of Handbook for Human-Computer Interaction this gives a third-party view of the field (not just mine!) but it does seem to miss out nearly everything of the actual implementation stage
the table of contents of my HCI book (and the book itself) structures the field a little differently and does include the above, perhaps a more techie/modelling focus to HCI.

books

Human-Computer Interaction second edition. A. Dix, J. Finlay, G. Abowd and R. Beale. Prentice Hall, 1998.

Main course text. Referred to simply as 'HCI' above. Book website at www.hcibook.com includes some web links and also a full on-line search facility for the book.
not to be confused with ...

Human-Computer Interaction. J. Preece, Y. Rogers, Helen Sharp, D. Benyon, Simon Holland and T. Carey. Addison Wesley, 1994. Prentice Hall, 1998.

Our arch rival ... but very good despite that - darn! Interviews are really fun. Harder to find things than in our book, but with more in-depth discursive treatment of some topics. Lots more piccies than we have as well.

Interaction Design, Preece et al. Wiley, 2002

The OU had the copyright to the original Preece, but they had all left by the time a seciond edition was due. The author team weren't allowed to compete, so they produced a slightly different kind of book!

edited collections

Human-Computer Interaction Handbook, J. Jacko and A. Sears. Lawrence Erlbaum, 2003.

Enormous tome. Chapters by experts in all sorts fo areas of HCI but laregly missing out more implementation focused areas.
<@ book web site>

Perspectives on HCI, A. Monk and N.Gilbert, Academic Press, 1995

Chapters by indivual experts, writing aimed at a mixed audience. Includes chapters on formal methods (me!), task analysis, cognitive modelling etc.

due out by next spring …

HCI Models, Theories, and Frameworks: Toward an Interdisciplinary Science. J. Carroll. Morgan Kaufmann.

Chapters by experts in different theoretical areas contributing to HCI

Funology: From Usability to Enjoyment. M. Blythe, A. Monk and P. Wright. Kluwer, 2003.

Making interfaces that not only do work but make you feel good!