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Participatory Design in a Human-Computer Interaction Course: Teaching Ethnography Methods to Computer Scientists Dr. Jerry Weinberg Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Dr. Mary Stephen Saint Louis University Supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation
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Programs are used by somebody
Designing for human hardware/software capabilities and limitations (Human-Factors) Short term memory: Miller’s magic number Long term memory: recognition vs. recall Limits of perception: color pollution Designing for how the user thinks about the tasks the application is supporting (Psychology & Sociology) 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?
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Overall Goal Develop a learning experience for User Center Design
learn and practice methods for collecting user data Particularly from non-technical users modeling user data and recognizing design implications designing from the data Present & practice Ethnographic Techniques Team design project that encompasses entire process from gathering data to prototyping an application Students from lower division courses become potential users of the project application Create a lab environment for team design activities and user interaction
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Overview Motivating User Centered Design Course Overview
Exercises for Teaching Ethnography Putting it into Practice Results of the Course
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The Myth of Commonsense User-Friendliness:
Example from Interface Hall of Shame: HTML Checker Version 1 Version 2 Potential Design
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Usability Tests: Simple Task Made Difficult
Purchase St. Louis Cardinal Tickets for a family of four: 2 adults and 2 children. One child is under the age of 10. Get the best seats possible for the game on July 10th. The Faculty Technology Center at SIUE provides help to faculty members who want to use computer technology in their courses. Find out what hours they are open during the week.
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The Designer/Programmer
As a computer professional, they are most likely going to be both the designer and programmer of a system. Poor design results in non-use, mis-use, abuse, and (potentially severe) errors CACM Inside Risks Case of the Tell-Tale Heart
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Participatory Design Methods
Participatory design methods create situations in which the user becomes a partner in the design process. User-Centered Design [Landauer] Human-Centered Systems [Flanagan, Huang, Jones, and Kasif] Participatory Design [Muller and Kuhn] Contextual Design [Beyer and Holtzblatt]
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Overview of Contextual Design
Contextual Inquiry Gathering raw data Ethnographic Techniques: interviewing, observation, and field notes Work modeling Visual representations of work Consolidation Drawing conclusions about the general population of users from individuals Visioning Brainstorming solutions User Environment Design System Blueprint and interface specification Paper Prototyping Lo-fidelity testing of interfaces
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HCI Course Description
Covers human aspects of interaction design, on technological aspects of interface design, and design methodologies. 15 week, required course Prerequisite is Interaction Programming that teaches students a GUI programming environment. Course is usually taken in the junior year prior to the Senior Project course Enrollment is between 15 and 30
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What Is Ethnography? Research technique that involves study of people within natural setting in order to understand what is happening within that setting.
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Characteristics Researcher is instrument for gathering data
Sources of data Observations Interviews Artifacts (documents) Questionnaires
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Relationship to Contextual Design
Ethnography Skills Used Interview users Examine artifacts Prepare field notes Observe users during paper prototyping Analyze data to build models
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Interview Example
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Sample Exercises Interview another student about his/her job. Students videotaped pairs of students doing interviews and then critiqued the interviews. Observe someone working in a public area for 10 minutes. Record field notes related to observation.
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Term-long Design Project
Teams of 3-4 Students “Real” potential users Volunteers from lower division courses Universal task (e.g. electronic organizer) Project milestones Work models and consolidation models Paper prototyping High-fidelity prototype
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Work Modeling Different aspects of the User’s Work
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Paper Prototypes Prototype Session e.g. 1 Prototype Session e.g. 2
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Hi-Fi Prototypes
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Human-Computer Interaction Software Design & Usability Testing Lab
Designed with the aid of St. Louis Companies: Edward-Jones Tripos Master-Card ACM GatewayCHI
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Design War Room Writing Walls with Metal Backing
Poster sized paper for models & design ideas Magnets allow multiple teams to use as a “War Room”
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Example of Students Creating Models
Design War Room “Working-on-the-Wall” Create a shared understanding Immersion in the data – “Walking the Wall” Group Memory Example of Students Creating Models
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User Interaction Room User Interviewing Paper Prototyping
Usability Testing Cameras for observation and videotaping Monitor in Design War Room is slaved to user’s computer
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Evaluation The project looks at two general questions with respect to the HCI students: 1. How well do the course material and lab experiences translate to an understanding of design principles and practices? 2. How well does the HCI students’ understanding of design principles and practices relate to their actual design practices.
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Data Sources Questionnaires Student interviews
Analysis of videotapes of students working on projects Following students in senior project course using interviews, questionnaires, and analysis of project materials.
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Findings to Date Students rated ethnographic skills activities as very useful for the senior project. Students with work experience in computing reported viewing their jobs differently after the course.
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“I made the transition at work from being a software engineer to a software designer. I didn’t know there was a difference between the two job titles. Now I do.”
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“I had an internship and all I did was sit in a cubicle and code all day. They kept telling me that that was all there was to it – sit in a cubicle and code, and I was really disappointed. So, when I got to this class, it was a relief to me because I realized that’s not all there is to it. I had hoped there was a way you could work with people but I had no idea it was so intense with the interviews and all.”
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All teams in revised curriculum completed all phases of term-long design project.
Not case before revised curriculum implemented. Division of Labor Approach vs. Working on the Wall Approach Traditional students reported no previous experience with a group projects, and initially reported discomfort at the prospect of a group project. At the conclusion of group project, all students rated the experience of working in teams very highly.
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No detectable difference between outcomes during semester with HCI lab available and semester without HCI lab available. Students in HCI course and senior project course used lab once lab completed. All students valued lab. Having lab is important, but redesigned course can be taught even if HCI lab not available. Video camera and quiet corner
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Senior project teams used interviewing and paper prototyping
Senior project teams used interviewing and paper prototyping. Not all teams constructed work models or consolidated model. Instructor bias influences design process.
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Sample Course Materials: Available Soon
Course Materials Slides with interviewing technique video clips Sample Exercises and Example Projects Example work models Video Tape on Paper Prototyping & Card Sorting (Currently Available) Links to HCI Resources
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