PROFESSOR'S OVERVIEW

     As you read the syllabus to find out about the essentials of this
course, I would like to take the opportunity to expand on the overall goal
of the course. Hopefully, this may help you see more clearly the "big
picture" of why this course is important to your graduate studies.

     First, why study human-computer interaction?  The importance of
understanding how people use computers and, in particular, how people
communicate with one another through computer technology, is not as
obvious as one would think.  There is a tendency to view the human factors
issue as a "common sense" approach to a level where user needs are
somehow inherently accomplished in the design process.  Understanding
the relationship between people and technology lies somewhere between
the obvious (e.g., a system is designed for the benefit of the user) and often
the discrete (e.g., does THIS graphical interface produce information
overload by presenting too many icons to the user at one time?).  

     A common sense approach to considering people when designing
software interfaces is really not enough to ensure that systems will be
designed for users.  As computing professionals, we need to approach
Human-Computer Interaction as a science -- a field that requires
professional responsibility for conducting empirical studies, establishing
theoretical frameworks, and applying theoretical and empirical efforts to
practical applications.  Practical applications take form in software or
hardware. If systems are designed properly using sound design principles
and facts about user behavior, our chances increase that people will use
such applications.  It has already been witnessed that the common sense
approach to designing systems has resulted in many computer products that
are difficult to learn and consequently have been virtually unused.  

     If you gain anything out of this course at all, it is my hope that you
will discover that designing systems for people is, in fact, a difficult and
highly technical endeavor.  This course will introduce you to the pertinent
topics today in HCI and user interface design.  To bring you the latest
developments, you will be reading several articles published by researchers
and industry experts in the HCI field. These professionals typically are
members of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the
Special Interest Group in Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI).  
SIGCHI is the fastest growing special interest group in ACM. I strongly
urge you to join ACM SIGCHI (student membership fee is low) and to
continue to explore beyond the confines of this course, what continues to
be investigated by SIGCHI.  Of course, you may have your own
contribution to make to the HCI field!

Some of you will be reading either Shneiderman's text or Preece, Rogers &
Sharp:

    These texts are an excellent overview to HCI, particularly
user interface design.  These authors have a simple and wonderful 
style of discussing the critical areas of concern in non-technie language. 

Some of you will be reading ether Barnum's or Jordan's or Dumas and Redish:

     These texts offer comprehensive introduction to usability
engineering.  How do we know "usable" systems are being designed if
evaluation does not coincide with the design process?  When is evaluation
necessary in the software development process?  These texts bring to light the
principles of usability and how they can be used as heuristics to define and
evaluate usability.

     Doctoral students will be reading the CHI Conferencing Proceedings.
The Conference Proceedings will connect you to the current research.

     As you complete your readings, evaluate software interfaces, and
contribute to the established computer conferences on various HCI
topics, you will gain first hand experience in usability testing.  You will be
forced to look at software through other user's eyes.  I assure you if you
complete the exercise as outlined, you will discover the difficulties of
interface design and you will discover firsthand that designing interfaces for
users is not a common sense approach at all, but an approach that requires
formal method and evaluation procedures.

     I certainly look forward to your participation in this course.  Please
contact me by email if you have any questions.  See you online.
               --Dr. Laurie P. Dringus
               (laurie@nova.edu)
               Web site:
          http://scis.nova.edu/nova/hci/top.html