BSc (Hons) Software Development Applications

1. BSc (Hons) Software Development Applications

2. Lecturer Details • Name:Miss Sophia Mian • Location: Victoria room 26 • Tel: 01274 436108 • Email: s.mian@bilk.ac.uk

3. Introduction • HCI is a multi-disciplinary field concerned with all aspects of making computer technology as easy, efficient and enjoyable as possible for people to use. HCI is often misunderstood as concerning itself just with the cosmetics of interface design, it goes much deeper than that. Students who take this module will learn that taking a people-centred approach to systems design necessitates a reappraisal of all aspects of the software development life cycle. We can confidently predict that having studied HCI you will look at the world differently!

4. Aims Students will be able to: • Understand why good user interface design is important • Understand how context of use influences the design of human computer interaction • Appreciate the place of user interaction design in the development process

5. Use of pragmatic set of methods, techniques and tools for the analysis of requirements on the user interface and its specification, design and evaluation. • Develop skills in prototyping the user interface

6. Objectives and learning Outcomes • The module will provide an understanding of the basic theoretical and methodological approaches for the design of effective interactive systems.

7. Human cognitive psychology – just enough to appreciate the aspects of human perception and mental performance that are relevant to interacting with computers • Requirements capture – how to go about investigating the requirements for a new system from a human-centred perspective. • Usability analysis – an introduction to usability metrics and the range of techniques available to assess software usability

8. Extraordinary users – looking at the special needs of the very young, the old and the disabled in terms of application domains, interaction devices, interaction styles and generally how to avoid unnecessary exclusion in systems design • Tools and techniques for analysing the tasks people do and how best to support them e.g., task analysis.

9. Interaction styles – an overview of different approaches to interacting with machines, their advantages and disadvantages • User modelling – methods that can be used to incorporate useful representations of users, their goals, knowledge and needs, in computer systems • Topical themes – we may include something on current technical developments of interest, e.g., mobile and wearable devices; ethical issues, e.g., data protection; social issues, e.g., virtual communities, the gender imbalance in computing.

10. Reading List • Dix, A., Finlay, J., Abowd, G, and Beale, R. (1998)Human-Computer Interaction (2nd ed.). London: Prentice Hall. • Edwards, A. D. N. (Ed.) (1995)Extra-ordinary Human-Computer Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Johnson, P. (1992)Human-Computer Interaction: psychology, task analysis and software engineering. McGraw-Hill.

11. Laurel. B. (Ed.). (1990)The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design. Apple Computer Inc. • Newman, W. M., and Lamming, M, G. (1995)Interactive System Design. Addison Wesley. • Norman, D. A. (1988)The psychology of everyday things. New York: Basic. • Preece, J., et al. (1994)Human-Computer Interaction. Wokingham: Addison Wesley. • Shneiderman, B. (1998)Designing the User Interface: strategies for effective human-computer interaction (3rd ed.). Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley.

12. Lindgaard, G. (1994)Usability Testing and System Evaluation. London: Chapman & Hall. • Norman, D. A., and Draper, S. W. (Eds). (1986)User Centred System Design: new perspectives on human-computer interaction. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates • Thimbleby, H. (1990)User Interface Design. Addison Wesley

13. Journals • Behaviour and Information Technology • Human-Computer Interaction • International Journal of Human-Computer Studies • Interacting with Computers • Interactions

14. Introduction to Human Computer Interaction Design (HCID)

15. What is HCI? • HCI is a discipline concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computer systems for human use and with the study of major phenomena surrounding them, ACM SIGCHI (1992). • Other names which are synonymous with HCI include Man-Machine Interaction (MMI) and User-System Interaction (USI).

16. Why is HCI important? The pervasiveness of computers • ­ 1950s -> Large Mainframes ­ 1970s -> Development of Personal Computers • ­ 1990s -> Socialisation of Computing?? • Associated with this increase in user population has been an increased emphasis on the design of interfaces. • Realisation that computers should be designed for the needs and capabilities of the people for whom they are intended.

17. A well designed interface should reflect the functionality offered by the technology. • ­ i.e. steering wheel on a car. • Donald Norman (1988) identified two principles that he considered would help toward good interface design • VISIBILITY (Controls need to be visible) • AFFORDANCE (Their design should suggest their functionality) • Norman, D.A. (1988) The Psychology of Everyday Things, Basic Books

18. By the mid 1980¹s the term Human Computer Interaction was adopted in order to reflect the concern with all aspects that relate to the interaction between users and computers • The design of interfaces is not a straightforward matter because: • rapid change in the underlying technology • existence of inherent trade-offs among design goals • multi-disciplinary nature of HCI • Everyday examples of poor interface design abound: • DX Telephone system at Napier • Most Video Recorders

19. Underlying all HCI research and design is the belief • that people using the computer system should come first. Their needs, capabilities and preferences for performing various activities should inform the ways that systems are designed, implemented and deployed. • In short, people should NOT have to change radically to fit in with the system, the system should be designed to match their requirements. • Problem lies in a mismatch between the controls and the associated functionality

20. The Components of HCI Cognitive psychology Engineering HCI Social And Organisational psychology Computer Science Artificial Intelligence Design Sociology Linguistics Ergonomics and human factors Philosophy Computer Science