CS/PSY 6750 - Human-Computer Interaction

Insructor: John Stasko
Spring 2007

This course will teach you about the importance of the human-computer interface in the design and development of things that people use. We will touch on many of the perceptual, cognitive, and social characteristics of people, as well as methods for learning more about the people you wish to use your systems (analyzing the tasks they perform, the way they perform them, the way they think and feel about what they do, etc.). We will discuss the capabilities and limits of computers and other related systems, and discuss how that affects design and implementation decisions. We will also cover methods of design, and ways to evaluate and improve a design. The heart of the course is a semester-long group project that will help you learn in a hands-on way about the various stages of an effective design process.

The objectives of the course are to

  • facilitate communication between students of psychology, design, and computer science on user interface development projects.
  • provide the future user interface designer with concepts and strategies for making design decisions.
  • expose the future user interface designer to tools, techniques, and ideas for interface design.
  • introduce the student to the literature of human-computer interaction.
  • stress the importance of good user interface design.

    Required Textbooks:

  • Human-Computer Interaction (3rd ed.), by Alan Dix, Janet Finlay, Gregory Abowd, & Russell Beale. Prentice Hall, 2003. In the course schedule, this is the DFAB book.
  • The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald Norman. Basic Books, 2002. In the course schedule this is the DOET book.

    Announcements

    12:00 pm, Feb. 28th -- HW 3 posted
    HW 3 is available and is due on March 6.

    8:00 am, Feb. 18th -- Exam remninder
    The midterm exam (closed book) is on Tuesday.

    9:30 am, Feb. 15th -- HW 2 extended
    HW 2 is now due on the 27th.

    9:00 am, Feb. 8th -- HW 2 posted
    HW 2 is available and is due on 20th.

    12:00 pm, Jan. 11th -- HW 1 posted
    HW 1 is available and is due on 23rd.

    5:00 pm, Jan. 7th -- WebSite is up
    Our website is live and running, although many items are missing and more complete details about course matters will gradually be filled in. See you on the first day of class, Jan. 9th.