What we teach and what we do

1. What we teach and what we do The on going “discussion” Lidia Oshlyansky

2. No clear professional definition of roles or career progression Suggested solution: • SFIA needs publicising. (Skills framework for the information age www.sfia.org.uk) • We need to develop, within SFIA, other roles and overlapping roles with related disciplines. • Participate in process; set up a group to be ready for the next SFIA call. • Evaluate what’s already prepared. • Build bridges with CHI activities, UPA, RDCEO. • “Positions wanted” lists could be used as source materials to ensure relevance.

3. HCI is not seen as valuable Suggested solution: • Need to do cost justification – we’ve been doing this and need to keep doing it. • Need case studies to demonstrate value. • Need to be able to point to HCI and its purpose. • Need to define what HCI is.

4. Lack of framework for field Suggested solution: • No formalisation in our field – a language we agree on • Acknowledgment of the pluralistic basis of HCI. • Defining the good, the bad and the ugly of methods. • Do we need a professional reading list? • Continuing profession development (CPD) products should be offered by academia to industry.

5. Not teaching students full range of benefits and costs of methods Suggested solution: • Our degrees need to do more to map onto jobs • We need to teach critical thinking to students • Industry needs to offer placements and feedback • Students need to be taught practical skills and how to apply them

6. Lack of applicability of academic work Suggested solution: • Need more on methods and how to do them. • A new “how to” method book every six months! • Disseminate information on methods and how to use them • Existing text books are not enough – they don’t offer appropriate level of detail for industry • Industry needs to take more responsibility for contributing to the knowledge of methods, their application and their appropriateness

7. Companies aren’t investing in the knowledge and methodologies of HCI Suggested solution: • Companies in UK invest less in R and D than other countries. • Part of that larger problem. • Practitioners are keen to learn so go to conferences. • Needs to be viewed as an investment. • Community of practice and community participation.

8. Lack of communication between industry and academics • Really poor, narrow channel • Communication is not timely on the scale of industrial problems specifically making a profit. • Knowledge transfer needs to be considered in lots of different ways and in both directions

9. Suggested solution • Maintain contact with students – they go into industry • Let alumni at the research, particularly postgraduates. • Need plain English in academia. • Encouraging conferences as a community event and bringing students into them. • Promoting networks that include both academia and industry. • Give students a view of academics as approachable resources for future use. • Consider industry placements for students instead of formal thesis projects. • Professionals giving lectures as part of degree programmes. • Set industry challenges for students as part of course works and see what students have come up with.

10. Participants • Philip Bonhard • Paul Cairns • Lorraine Catwell • Chandra Harrison • Tom McEwan • William Newman • Natalie Webb

11. Comments? • Questions?