Today Thursday Introduction to HCI and Contextual Design Course Introduction CS 321 Human-Computer Interaction Jerry B. Weinberg Reading: CD: Chapter 1 AF: Chapters 1 & 2 ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved.

Why do people feel like this?

Software is typically not designed for the way users understand how things work or the way users work. Rather it is designed for the way programmers, you and me, think things work. ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. This is why:

I know how to program! CS 140 –Programming, structured design, problem-solving CS 150 –Object oriented design and programming CS 240 –Data structures and algorithms CS 275 –Event-driven programming, GUI elements

What will you learn to do in CS 321? To make the world a better place! You can make the best, coolest, new application … but if no one can or wants to use it, no one will use it.

Why do fonts mysteriously change in my MS Word documents? During a typical day, I work on three different computers – one in my office, one in the class room, and one at home. I use Microsoft Word and Microsoft Power Point to make handouts and lectures. Both of these are WYSIWYG products. Many times though a document I make on one computer looks different on other computers. Why? That doesn’t fit my understanding of a “document” or WYSIWIG. ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved.

Why can’t my wife find her files? Recently I transferred my wife's applications, directories, and files to a new computer. She opened up an often used application and went to file->open to open up a document. However she did not see and of the documents she had created before. She came to me, worried, and said none of her files were transferred and they are very important to her. Where did the files go? What is her understanding of of the file system? ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved.

Users are not Computer Programmers Computer users want systems that are tools that help them. They do not want to know and do not want to learn how computers and programs work. Computer systems should be a tool that allows someone to think about the task they are doing, and not about how a program is implemented. –Much like modern cars It is up to us, the designers, to make the computer an invisible part of the system. ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved.

Early Computer Interfaces Who was the typical computer user in 1968?

Early Computer Interfaces Who was the typical computer user in 1985?

Current Computer Interfaces Who are the typical computer user now? The Computer for the Rest of Us -The Original Macintosh

How should we design a program for today’s users? Design is a creative activity of making artifacts that are usable for a specific purpose. To be “usable” means the designer must take into account who is using the system, what they are using it for, and how does it fit within their overall activities. Programs are used by somebody (who is not you) ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved.

Programs are used by somebody (else) In a general this means designing for human hardware/software capabilities and limitations for explain: Short term memory: Miller’s magic number Long term memory: recognition vs. recall Limits of perception: color pollution Motor skills: Fitt’s Law More specifically this means designing for how the user thinks about the tasks the application is supporting: How do they organize the work? What strategies do they use to accomplish tasks? How is information recorded and communicated? What is their conceptual model? ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved.

Programs are used by somebody Software systems are used within a user’s cognitive context and a goal-oriented context of an organization. What is the difference between a goal & a task? (See Cooper) “Software Design is a user-oriented field” -Bringing Design to Software ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. The Field of HCI Computer Science, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Sociology, Business, Anthropology, Graphic Design

Isn’t interface design just a matter of applying common sense to make a program “user friendly”? Version 1 Version 2 No, it goes beyond that to consider how other people think about the tasks they set out to accomplish. Consider this example of an HTML Checker Program ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved.

Interface Hall of Shame Example from: Interface Hall of Shame Potential Design ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved.

Human-Computer Interaction “HCI” Stresses the importance of good interfaces and the relationship of good interface design to effective human interaction with computers. Good interface design makes users more effective Skills: Design, implement, and evaluate reasonable interfaces Participatory Design: Users (customers) play an integral role in the design process. ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved.

The Designer/Programmer As a computer professional, you are most likely going to be both the designer and programmer of a system. Poor design results in non-use, mis-use, abuse, feelings of abuse, (potentially severe) errors. Case of the Tell-Tale Heart: ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Usability Test St. Louis Post-Dispatch Usability Test You just spoke on the phone with a New York customer who happens to be a big baseball fan. During this conversation, he wondered if there was any way you could send to him an article that appeared in the St. Louis newspapers the day after the historic 62th home run of Mark McGwire. You decide to go to stltoday.com to find a good article that covered the event that day. You don't recall the exact day of McGwire's home run, but you do remember that it happened in September 1998, and that it was the 62nd home run that broke the record for home runs in one season. Since it is an old article, you expect that you might have to pay for it, and you have a credit card handy to do so. You plan to print the article and mail it to your client. 1.Go to stltoday.com 2.Find an article that covered Mark McGwire's 62nd home run. 3.Make sure the article appeared at the time of the home run. 4.You recall the home run occurred in September Print it. ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Usability Test Go to the News section through the top navigation bar Go to PD Archives through the right navigation bar. Search using the terms “McGwire home run 62”. Only search the year “1998.”

Class Organization Syllabus & Schedule ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Course Website: