Introduction to the Course and to Human Computer Interaction

The course starts with a brief administrative overview, indicating its purpose, structure, objectives, and so on. A taxonomy of HCI is then used to present an overview of the field, and to indicate what this course will cover and what it will leave out.

Overheads

• Course Introduction: [Adobe Pdf]
• Optional: Overview and Taxonomy of HCI: [Adobe Pdf]

Topics Covered

• Administrivia
  • Interface design and usability engineering
  • Course structure, objectives and evaluation
  • Text and reference books

• Optional: Overview and Taxonomy of Human Computer Interaction

Required Readings

• Hix, D. and Hartson, H. (1993) Chapter 1: Ensuring Usability in Human-Computer Interaction.  Developing User  Interfaces, Wiley, p1-12.
• Gould, J. (1988) How to design usable systems. In text: Baecker Grudin Buxton and Greenberg.

Optional Readings from Baecker Grudin Buxton and Greenberg

• Optional: Preface, p.xii-xiii describes how the text relates to the ACM Curricula.
• Optional:  A Taxonomy of Human Computer Interaction gives details of the HCI taxonomy
• Optional Bill Buxton's fun to read article: Absorbing and Squeezing Out: On Sponges and Ubiquitous Media presents a vision of future computing.

Videos

Videos are used in the first few classes to show futuristic and visionary interfaces. They not only inspire and motivate, but also illustrate how many major problems in Computer Science (outside of HCI) must be solved before these visions can be realized. For example, I ask students to write down all the innovations displayed in the Apple video. We then list them on the board, and relate them to computer science problems (here is an example list). I then use Ishii's delightful video because it goes beyond business users, showing kids and artists as well.

• 2020, by Apple Inc. (~1992, distributed with the video set from the Apple Developer's Conference)
• Seamless Media Design, by NTT - Ishii (1994, SGVR Issue 106)

Major sources used to prepare the lecture material

• Map of Human Computer Interaction from The ACM SIGCHI Curricula for Human-Computer Interaction.