HCI SEMESTER PROJECT
PROJECTS 2 -6
SEMESTER PROJECT OVERVIEW
 Project #2 (due 2/20)
Find an interface that can be improved
Interview potential clients
Identify an HCI concept to apply that might improve the interface
Research existing solutions and research papers that would influence
your approach
 Propose a solution
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 Project #3 (due 3/20)
 Implement solution
 Project #4 (due 3/30)
 Design an evaluation user study
 Project #5 (4/3) due & #6 (due 4/22)
 Evaluate solution
Previous projects
• An android app
to allow
gesture based
password
logins on the
basis they are
easier to
remember
versus textual
based logins.
(Windows 8
anyone?)
• A plugin for Chrome for easier tabbed
browsing. Tabs are shown via pictures as these
are often easier to remember than a title shown on
each tab.
• A widget for Windows desktop that keeps track of
prices for items on Amazon and notifies the user
when a change occurs.
• An android app describing the ingredients and
menu options at Taco Bell intended for foreign
students who aren’t familiar with local food.
The interface…
• Can be hardware, software, or non-electric in
nature
• No existing effective, solutions
• Some example ideas
• Mobile applications
• Plug-ins for web browsers (e.g. Chrome)
• Assistive technologies
FORMING A TEAM
 You can form your teams (teams must be 3 people each). If
there are remaining people, TA will assign additional
members.
 Friday 2/6/15, you can pitch ideas (email TA by Thursday 5
PM)
 30 minutes will be provided to meet and discuss
 Wednesday 2/11/15, (optional) pitch ideas to TA and myself
 Friday 2/13/15, you will get feedback from another team on
your project
Assign
Project 2
Agile &
Scrum
(Optional)
Pitch to TA
and Prof
Team
Formation
and
Pitch Ideas
Feedback
From
Another
Team
Project 2
Due
Project roles
• Product Manager
• Talks to customers and determines the product
requirements. You will be the product owner and represent
their needs.
• Evaluation: if your interface addresses customer needs
• Scrum Master
• Ensures that the product development gets done on time.
• Evaluation: if the team implements the planned features and
completes the planned tasks.
• User Studies/Product Evaluation
• Designs and carries out the user studies.
• Evaluation: Quality of the study design, conducting the
study, and analysis of data.
Proposal submission (submit report
on 2/20)
• The 3 team members and the role each will play
(PM, SM and US)
• The interface your team is basing the project on
• The interface you plan to create
• The reasoning behind the choice - what’s wrong
with the current version and what will you improve
• The population
• Hypotheses
• The other team’s feedback on their idea
• How the team modified its original idea based on
the other team’s feedback
• Background section using research papers
OPPORTUNIT Y FOR IDEA FEEDBACK
 Wednesday 4 th period - 2/11 your team can sign up and
present to the TAs and I
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What HCI concepts are you applying?
How are the papers influencing your proposed design?
What are other solutions/programs already exist?
Have you programmed for that platform before? If not, you should at
least be able to create a hello world app before proposing your
project using specific hardware or software
Is what you are proposing *clients* of the interface are *asking
for*? (as opposed to you suggesting)
How are you going to find users to test it?
What tasks are you going to have users do?
What is the programming component?
Course grading
• No midterm paper!
• Project 2-6 is 80% of grade
• Need to attend every class
Why Agile Scrum?
• #1 skill Industrial Advisor Board
companies would like students to
acquire before graduating!
Project objectives
1. Identify an interface that can be improved
2. Explain what HCI principle or principles you will
apply to improve the interface
• E.g. Shneiderman’s 8 Golden Rules
3. Search online to see if others have developed
the idea
• If you (or we) can find it – you need another idea
4. Interview customers (user base)
5. Develop a set of tasks to implement your new
interface
6. Conduct a study to evaluate if your interface is
better than the original interface
Questions
• I don’t know what we should do for a project
• That is for you to determine.
• How much functionality do you need to
implement?
• Enough to evaluate your interface
• Can you use fake data?
• No. Why?
Very important!!!
• Everyone will be responsible for (and
evaluated on) participating in every stage
• Everyone must participate in
• Interviewing customers
• Coding
• Conducting the user study
Developing your Proposal
• All members must do a lit search and find 2 papers
• Proposal presentation (present to 1 other team in
class on 2/7, submit critique on 2/7)
• present your team’s interface idea to another team in
class (I will assign team pairings)
• the listening team needs to critically evaluate the
presenting team’s idea
• by end of class each team submits a 1 page summary
of the interface idea they evaluated (i.e. listened to)
and their feedback/suggestions
SEMESTER PROJECT OVERVIEW
 Project #2 (due 2/16)
Find an interface that can be improved
Interview potential clients
Identify an HCI concept to apply that might improve the interface
Research existing solutions and research papers that would influence
your approach
 Propose a solution




 Project #3 (due 3/20)
 Implement solution
 Project #4 (due 3/30)
 Design an evaluation user study
 Project #5 (4/3) due & #6 (due 4/22)
 Evaluate solution