Schedule

Thu, Sept 24: Introduction to the course, lecture set 1.

Tue, Sept 29: Guest speakers talking about their user evaluations:

• Dustin Adams: User evaluation of VizSnap, an iPhone app to help blind persons take, organize and recognize photos. Papers on the user evaluation report and the test plan.
• Lourdes Morales: Pro and con of user evaluations.
• Annie Pugliese: User evaluation of ambient aid for cyclists.
• Suzanne de Camara: User evaluation of Imagine! game for people with developmental disabilities: Why running user evaluations through mediators is problemmatic. Read this paper. 

Thu, Oct 1: Continuing lecture 1. Students present the idea for their class project (in 3 min or less):

1. What piece of technology is going to be evaluated (describe it if not widely known).
2. Why interested in evaluating or how to get access to that piece of technology (if it's not in public domain).
3. Where the participants will be recruited from. How many can you get (estimated)?

Tue, Oct 6: IRB

Thu, Oct 8: Back to lecture 1.

Tue, Oct 13: Lecture 1 and 2.

First group assignment

Presentation group: Read the Cairns and Cox' Chapters 1 and 2. Choose 2 HCI papers that talk about controlled experiment and 2 that talk about the use of interview, survey and/or focus group from ACM digital library. I need each paper to be at least 8 pages (or 5000 words). Below is the sequence of activities you need to do and their dates:

Starting on Tue Oct 13: Do a controlled experiment with 5 people using user interface(s)/interaction(s) of your choice, and use either a survey, interview or focus group technique to gain an understanding of the usability problems faced by these people and their suggestions for improvements. Take a 2 minutes movie of the testing and a 2 minutes movie of them doing the survey/interview/focus group discussion (just use your phone). 

Thu Oct 15: Email the links to these four papers to me for verifications. I will choose one of each as the assigned readings for the class and the discussion group. Also, email me the plan for the controlled experiment (what interface(s)/interaction(s), what are the dependent and independent variables). 

Tue Oct 20: Use up to 30 minutes to present the 2 chapters and also your controlled experiments. Lead a 15 minutes discussion with the class

Discussion group: Read the 2 papers and critique. 

Tue Oct 20: Use up to 20 minutes to present the 2 papers and your critiques. Lead the class discussion. 

Second group assignment

Presentation group: Read the Replacement to Chapter 3 at the Homepage of the course. Choose 4 HCI papers that talk about eyetracking studies in HCI from ACM digital library. I need each paper to be at least 8 pages (or 5000 words). Below is the sequence of activities you need to do and their dates:

Starting on Tue Oct 13: Do an eyetracking research with 5 people using user interface(s)/interaction(s) of your choice. Take two 2 minutes movies of the testing (just use your phone). 

Thu Oct 15: Email the links to these four papers to me for verifications. I will choose two as the assigned readings for the class and the discussion group. Also, email me the plan for the eyetracking study (what interface(s)/interaction(s), what are the dependent and independent variables, which eyetracker/eyetracking software you use). 

Thu Oct 22: Use up to 30 minutes to present the 2 chapters and also your eyetracking study. Lead a 15 minutes discussion with the class

Discussion group: Read the 2 papers and critique. 

Thu Oct 22: Use up to 20 minutes to present the 2 papers and your critiques. Lead the class discussion. 

Tue, Oct 27: Guest speaking by Nicola Antrilli on user evaluations in developmental psychology

Thu, Oct 29: Guest speaking by Artie Konrad on statistics 101.

Tue Nov 3: Guest speaking by Zachary Rubin, Sarah Hammond, Victoria Hollis.

Thu Nov 5: Guest speaking by Caitlin Deck, ORCA.

Third group assignment (presented on Tue Nov 10)

Presentation group: Read Chapter 7 at the Homepage of the course. Choose 4 HCI papers that talk about either content analysis or grounded theory from ACM digital library. I need each paper to be at least 8 pages (or 5000 words) and email them to me by Thu Nov 5 the latest) - I will choose two for the discussion group and the class to discuss. Below is the sequence of activities you need to do and their dates:

1. Decide on user behavior that you are interested in. Interview the five users assigned to you to describe in open-ended format that behavior. Take a 2 minutes movies of the interview (just use your phone). Perform grounded theory (including open, axial and selective codings) of this behavior.
2. Now, objectively assess the same behavior (take another 2 minutes movie) and do another grounded theory. 
3. Compare the two codes (subjective vs. objective)
4. On Tue Nov 10, present Chapter 7 as well as the results of your qualitative method.

Discussion group: Read the 2 papers and critique. 

Fourth group assignment (presented on Thu Nov 12)

Presentation group: Read Participant Observation method. Choose 4 HCI papers that talk about participant method or ethnographic observation from ACM digital library. I need each paper to be at least 8 pages (or 5000 words) and email them to me by Thu Nov 5 the latest) - I will choose two for the discussion group and the class to discuss. Below is the sequence of activities you need to do and their dates:

1. Decide on user behavior that you are interested in. Spend some time observing this behavior, producing 5 distinct observations. Following Schensul et al's suggestions, for each observation, include the following:
• a count of attendees, including such demographics as age (estimated), gender, race and other relevant characteristics (e.g., the types of phones if you are observing, for example, user behaviors when using cellphones inside UCSC shuttles);
• a physical map of the setting and description of the physical surroundings (sketch or photo would help);
• a portrayal of where participants are positioned over time;
• a description of the activities being observed, detailing activities of interest.
2. Make field notes, include exact quotes if possible.
3. On Thu Nov 12 present the summary of your reading and the results of your observations with the sketches, field notes with exact quotes and other relevant information.

Discussion group: Read the 2 papers and critique. 

Thu Nov 19: Data Visualization. Please read this article for background reading. 

Tue Nov 24: Guest speaking by Dr. Travis Seymour on the use of cognitive modelling in HCI. Please read Chapter 4 for preparation.