2910315, Human Computer Interaction Assignments (2010-11)

Instructions Your assignments are designed to allow you to become more informed about some detailed aspects of HCI and to enable you to explore some of the online information available for this subject. You should concentrate on HCI aspects and on design principles for user interactions. Do not describe how the applications that you are asked to think about actually work, about the hardware and software involved, or about business or marketing elements. Your major focus should be on how humans use such applications and what the elements of good interaction design are. The first assignment asks you to investigate a usercentred design technique and to produce a paper-based design prototype. The second assignment asks you to investigate aspects of web-based navigation. Please take careful note of the following requirements: Answers to both assignments should be in an essay format of about 3,000-3,500 words, although fixed limits will not be rigidly imposed. Very short submissions are unacceptable. Print in portrait format on both sides of the paper and minimise paper usage (i.e. do not use a large font size; do not leave a lot of empty space; do not print new sections or references on a new page, do not print out any additional material, extra information or appendices). You do not need to restate the question asked, or provide a table of contents, an index or a cover sheet. The structure, clarity and organisation of your work will be assessed. Your submission must be well-presented in a coherent and logical fashion. It should be fully spell- and grammar-checked and you should structure it so that there is both a clear Introduction and a Conclusion. You should include relevant diagrams, drawings, illustrations or images where possible. You must provide a Bibliography and References Section, showing the books, articles and websites you have referenced and consulted. Websites should be referenced by the date of access and a complete and correct URL. Generic site names are not acceptable - references will be checked. Do not cite Wikipedia or similar pages, blogs, pages from social networking sites, or company promotional pages. These are not appropriate sources for academic work. Other references should be in a standard format (i.e. Author names (correctly spelled), Year of publication, Title, Publisher, actual page numbers referenced). For a useful guide to referencing procedure, look at: http://www.usq.edu.au/library/help/ehelp/ref_guides/harvardonline.htm The submitted assignment must be your own individual work and not a copy of another persons or authors work. Copying, plagiarism and unaccredited and wholesale reproduction of material from textbooks or from any online source is totally unacceptable. Any such copying will be extremely heavily penalised. Note that all submitted coursework is scanned by a plagiarism checker. All books cited, reports referred to and any material used (including all online resources) must be referenced. Any text that is not your own words and which is taken from any source must be placed in quotation marks and the source identified correctly in the References Section with page numbers or a specific URL. If you do not do this your coursework will be marked as a Fail. Be very careful about the validity of information on Internet sites and web sources. Be aware that many information sites are really commercial advertising, or simply repeat material from elsewhere. Check the date of all material and do not use out of date sites, sites which list student work or projects, references from commercial publishers to abstracts of journal papers only, or those which are simply personal opinions, blogs or comments. Be critical and selective in your choice of material. In order to check for plagiarism, you must provide a copy of your work on a disk. Until electronic access is made available, create a readable text only file without embedded pictures or graphics. This file should be identified by the first 4 letters of your surname and your 4 digit day and month of birth (e.g. CHUN0410). Do not name the file as HCI-01 or anything similar. Give the disk a title (i.e. your name or student number) and use a standard size CD only. Please do not use sticky tape to fix a disk to a sheet of paper it makes the disk unreadable. Do not fix the disk with staples: simply send it in a case or a large envelope that can be easily attached to your coursework and that can be opened quickly. Ensure that it is clearly identified as your work: label the disk, disk case and envelope with your surname, student number, course code and assignment number. Note that submissions without an electronic copy will not be marked.

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2910315, Human Computer Interaction Assignments (2010-11)

Assessment For both assignments, 5% will be given for presentation, structure and overall coherence and clarity. Other marks will be given for showing a good understanding of HCI and the specific topic, for appropriate and correct detail and analysis, and for good use of examples. Note the proportions carefully and structure your work to meet them. Do not forget the last part a critique of your own work. Assignment 1: 35% (Part a), 10% (Part bi), 45% (Part bii), 5% (Part c) Assignment 2: 75% (Part ai), 15% (Part aii), 5% (Part c)

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2910315, Human Computer Interaction Assignments (2010-11)

Assignment 1: Scenario-Based Design

a) Investigate what is meant by Scenario-Based Design, popularised by John Carroll and Mary-Beth Rosson. Define what is meant by the term and describe in detail when and how scenarios are used in the design, development and evaluation of interactive interfaces. Use diagrams and examples to illustrate your answer, but ensure that you correctly acknowledge the source of such diagrams.

b) Assume you are an Interaction Designer and have been asked to update the interface to a mobile location-based recommender system, such as one to suggest good meeting places or cheap restaurants and cafes in a certain area of a city. Produce a detailed plan for creating and testing a prototype of your design, based on good HCI design practice. Detail any assumptions you have made. ii. Describe two distinct scenarios for this interface design. Explain and justify the differences between the two scenarios you have chosen. Use diagrams, drawings, cartoons, mock-ups, storyboards or any other suitable technique to illustrate your work. For this coursework, interactive demonstrations cannot be used - your chosen scenarios must be paper-based only. c) Assess and critique your work - identify what you have learned and what you could do better. i.

References to start with John M. Carroll Five Reasons for Scenario-Based Design, available as downloadable pdf: search Google Scholar for numerous sites. Carroll, J.M. (Ed.), Scenario-Based Design (John Wiley, 1995) Carroll, J.M., Making Use: Scenario-Based Design of Human-Computer Interactions (MIT Press, 2000). http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=4114 Rosson, M.B. & Carroll, J.M., Usability Engineering: Scenario Based Development of Human Computer Interaction (Morgan Kaufmann, 2002).

http://www.elsevierdirect.com/product.jsp?isbn=9781558607125

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UNIVERSITY OF LONDON DIPLOMA AND BSc IN COMPUTING AND RELATED SUBJECTS FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMES STUDENTS

COURSEWORK SUBMISSION FORM

IMPORTANT, PLEASE NOTE: You must complete this form in full and attach it to the coursework that is to be submitted to the University.

Full name: ........................................................................................................................................................................ (as it appears on your Registration Form)

Student number: ................................................................................................................................................................

Unit title: ..........................................................................................................................................................................

Unit number: ....................................................................................................................................................................

Assignment number:..........................................................................................................................................................

DECLARATION
I declare that: I understand what is meant by plagiarism. I understand the implications of plagiarism. This assignment is all my own work and I have acknowledged any use of the published or unpublished works of other people.

Signature Date

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON DIPLOMA AND BSc IN COMPUTING AND RELATED SUBJECTS FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMES STUDENTS

COURSEWORK SUBMISSION CHECKLIST

Before you submit your coursework to the University, have you:

completed the title, unit number and assignment number on the submission form? signed and dated the Declaration? put your name and student number on every page? put the unit number, unit name and assignment number on every page? used more than one page? If so, have you securely stapled or tied the pages together? used a disk? If so, have you used a separate disk for each assignment? (Note: you should only use a disk if it is explicitly asked for in the assignment). labelled clearly and securely attached any disks? attached all parts of the coursework required (including the submission form)?

If you fail to do these things your coursework may not be accepted.

Please send all coursework to: The Registration and Learning Resources Office Room STG13 Stewart House University of London 32 Russell Square London WC1B 5DN United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)20 7862 8326 Fax: +44 (0)20 7862 8329

2910315, Human Computer Interaction Assignments (2010-11)

Instructions Your assignments are designed to allow you to become more informed about some detailed aspects of HCI and to enable you to explore some of the online information available for this subject. You should concentrate on HCI aspects and on design principles for user interactions. Do not describe how the applications that you are asked to think about actually work, about the hardware and software involved, or about business or marketing elements. Your major focus should be on how humans use such applications and what the elements of good interaction design are. The first assignment asks you to investigate a usercentred design technique and to produce a paper-based design prototype. The second assignment asks you to investigate aspects of web-based navigation. Please take careful note of the following requirements: Answers to both assignments should be in an essay format of about 3,000-3,500 words, although fixed limits will not be rigidly imposed. Very short submissions are unacceptable. Print in portrait format on both sides of the paper and minimise paper usage (i.e. do not use a large font size; do not leave a lot of empty space; do not print new sections or references on a new page, do not print out any additional material, extra information or appendices). You do not need to restate the question asked, or provide a table of contents, an index or a cover sheet. The structure, clarity and organisation of your work will be assessed. Your submission must be well-presented in a coherent and logical fashion. It should be fully spell- and grammar-checked and you should structure it so that there is both a clear Introduction and a Conclusion. You should include relevant diagrams, drawings, illustrations or images where possible. You must provide a Bibliography and References Section, showing the books, articles and websites you have referenced and consulted. Websites should be referenced by the date of access and a complete and correct URL. Generic site names are not acceptable - references will be checked. Do not cite Wikipedia or similar pages, blogs, pages from social networking sites, or company promotional pages. These are not appropriate sources for academic work. Other references should be in a standard format (i.e. Author names (correctly spelled), Year of publication, Title, Publisher, actual page numbers referenced). For a useful guide to referencing procedure, look at: http://www.usq.edu.au/library/help/ehelp/ref_guides/harvardonline.htm The submitted assignment must be your own individual work and not a copy of another persons or authors work. Copying, plagiarism and unaccredited and wholesale reproduction of material from textbooks or from any online source is totally unacceptable. Any such copying will be extremely heavily penalised. Note that all submitted coursework is scanned by a plagiarism checker. All books cited, reports referred to and any material used (including all online resources) must be referenced. Any text that is not your own words and which is taken from any source must be placed in quotation marks and the source identified correctly in the References Section with page numbers or a specific URL. If you do not do this your coursework will be marked as a Fail. Be very careful about the validity of information on Internet sites and web sources. Be aware that many information sites are really commercial advertising, or simply repeat material from elsewhere. Check the date of all material and do not use out of date sites, sites which list student work or projects, references from commercial publishers to abstracts of journal papers only, or those which are simply personal opinions, blogs or comments. Be critical and selective in your choice of material. In order to check for plagiarism, you must provide a copy of your work on a disk. Until electronic access is made available, create a readable text only file without embedded pictures or graphics. This file should be identified by the first 4 letters of your surname and your 4 digit day and month of birth (e.g. CHUN0410). Do not name the file as HCI-01 or anything similar. Give the disk a title (i.e. your name or student number) and use a standard size CD only. Please do not use sticky tape to fix a disk to a sheet of paper it makes the disk unreadable. Do not fix the disk with staples: simply send it in a case or a large envelope that can be easily attached to your coursework and that can be opened quickly. Ensure that it is clearly identified as your work: label the disk, disk case and envelope with your surname, student number, course code and assignment number. Note that submissions without an electronic copy will not be marked.

Page 1 of 5

2910315, Human Computer Interaction Assignments (2010-11)

Assessment For both assignments, 5% will be given for presentation, structure and overall coherence and clarity. Other marks will be given for showing a good understanding of HCI and the specific topic, for appropriate and correct detail and analysis, and for good use of examples. Note the proportions carefully and structure your work to meet them. Do not forget the last part a critique of your own work. Assignment 1: 35% (Part a), 10% (Part bi), 45% (Part bii), 5% (Part c) Assignment 2: 75% (Part ai), 15% (Part aii), 5% (Part c)

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2910315, Human Computer Interaction Assignments (2010-11)

Assignment 2: Website navigation

a) Identify as many different techniques as you can to help users to find their way around a complex website. Your focus should be on navigation of the whole site and not on individual pages or screens. You should not provide a critique of the design of the website as a whole, but should concentrate only on the navigational and wayfinding aspect.

b) Choose from the above those you think would be most usable and appropriate for an increasingly large population of elderly/senior users? Give your reasons why. Some useful terms in this area are: navigation, wayfinding, breadcrumbs, hyperspace, site-map, trace, trail, tracking, tab navigation, tag cloud. Do not limit yourself to just these terms. c) Assess and critique your work - identify what you have learned and what you could do better. Some sites to start with Design Academy http://www.coolhomepages.com/cda/usability/ Fidelity Investments http://www.eastonmass.net/tullis/WebsiteNavigation/WebsiteNavigationPaper.htm LeafDigital http://leafdigital.com/class/lessons/navigation/ Jakob Nielsen http://www.useit.com/alertbox/breadcrumbs.html Usability News

http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/52/breadcrumb.htm
General References You must undertake reading beyond the course notes and textbooks to explore both assignment topics further. Some textbooks have online resources: use them but do not copy text from them. An exhaustive list of all Internet HCI resources is not possible since sites change frequently but look at the links below: HCI Books Buxton, Bill: Sketching User Experience: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design. (Morgan Kaufman, 2007).

http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/bookdescription.cws_home/711463/description #description
Buxton, Bill; Greenberg, Saul & Carpendale, Sheelagh: Sketching User Experience: The Workbook. (Morgan Kaufman, 2010).

http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/bookdescription.cws_home/723098/description #description
Cooper, A. Reimann, R. & Cronin, D, About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design (Wiley, 2007). http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470084111.html Dix, Finlay, Abowd & Beale, Human Computer Interaction (Prentice Hall, 2004, 3rd ed.).

http://www.hcibook.com/e3/
Moggridge, Bill: Designing Interactions. (MIT Press, 2007).

http://www.designinginteractions.com/
Sharp, Rogers & Preece, Interaction Design (Wiley, 2007, 2nd edition).

http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470018666.html, http://www.id-book.com/
Sommerville, Ian: Software Engineering. (Pearson Education, 9th Edition, 2010).

http://vig.pearsoned.co.uk/catalog/academic/product/0,1144,0137053460NTE,00.html
Shneiderman, B., Designing the user interface (Addison-Wesley, 2009, 5th edition). http://www.pearsonhighered.com/dtui5einfo/,

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2910315, Human Computer Interaction Assignments (2010-11)

http://wps.aw.com/aw_shneiderman_dtui_5/
Web resources Blogs/Personal commentaries Alertbox Don Norman's jnd The Cooper Journal

www.useit.com/Alertbox/ http://www.jnd.org/ http://www.cooper.com/journal/

Commercial organisations/Company sites http://amanda.com/resources/websites_f.html AM+A http://www.eastonmass.net/tullis Fidelity Investments http://www.experientia.com/blog Putting People First http://www.sapdesignguild.org/resources/resources.asp SAP http://www.stcsig.org/usability/topics/index-alpha.html STC http://www.theusabilitycompany.com/resources/links.html Usability Company http://www.usabilityfirst.com/resources/links.txl Usability First http://www.usabilitynet.org/home.htm Usabilitynet http://www.usabilitypartners.se/usability/links.shtml Usability Partners http://www.usernomics.com/index.html Usernomics http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/ Webcredible http://www.wqusability.com/articles/more-than-ease-of WQUsability

use.html
Government/official sites Usability.gov Web Access. Initiative

http://www.usability.gov/index.html http://www.w3.org/WAI/

HCI Research Community Resources http://hcc.cc.gatech.edu/ HCC Education DL http://www.hcibib.org/ HCI Bibliography http://degraaff.org/hci/ HCI Index http://www.hcirn.com/ HCI Resource Net http://www.theuxbookmark.com/ The UX Bookmark http://www.upassoc.org/usability_resources/ UPA http://usableweb.com/ Usable Web http://www.uxmatters.com/ UX Matters Design related sites A List Apart boxes and arrows Design Academy Digital Web IxDA Resources infodesign Just Ask

http://www.alistapart.com/ http://boxesandarrows.com/ http://www.coolhomepages.com/cda/usability/ http://www.digital-web.com/ http://www.ixda.org/resources http://www.infodesign.com.au/usabilityresources http://www.uiaccess.com/accessucd/index.html

Page 5 of 5

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON DIPLOMA AND BSc IN COMPUTING AND RELATED SUBJECTS FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMES STUDENTS

COURSEWORK SUBMISSION FORM

IMPORTANT, PLEASE NOTE: You must complete this form in full and attach it to the coursework that is to be submitted to the University.

Full name: ........................................................................................................................................................................ (as it appears on your Registration Form)

Student number: ................................................................................................................................................................

Unit title: ..........................................................................................................................................................................

Unit number: ....................................................................................................................................................................

Assignment number:..........................................................................................................................................................

DECLARATION
I declare that: I understand what is meant by plagiarism. I understand the implications of plagiarism. This assignment is all my own work and I have acknowledged any use of the published or unpublished works of other people.

Signature Date

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON DIPLOMA AND BSc IN COMPUTING AND RELATED SUBJECTS FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMES STUDENTS

COURSEWORK SUBMISSION CHECKLIST

Before you submit your coursework to the University, have you:

completed the title, unit number and assignment number on the submission form? signed and dated the Declaration? put your name and student number on every page? put the unit number, unit name and assignment number on every page? used more than one page? If so, have you securely stapled or tied the pages together? used a disk? If so, have you used a separate disk for each assignment? (Note: you should only use a disk if it is explicitly asked for in the assignment). labelled clearly and securely attached any disks? attached all parts of the coursework required (including the submission form)?

If you fail to do these things your coursework may not be accepted.

Please send all coursework to: The Registration and Learning Resources Office Room STG13 Stewart House University of London 32 Russell Square London WC1B 5DN United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)20 7862 8326 Fax: +44 (0)20 7862 8329