University of East London
School of Arts and Digital Industries
MS3305 New Media Theory/Practice: User Experience Design - 2013/14
Semester B: Jan 2012 – May 2012
Teaching Arrangements:
MS 3305 – NEW MEDIA THEORY-PRACTICE: USER EXPERIENCE
DESIGN
Tuesday
Lecture
Breakout session
MODULE LEADER: TONY SAMPSON
Room EB1.31
Email: t.d.sampson@uel.ac.uk
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Office Hours: By email appointment
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MS3305 New Media Theory/Practice
11.00 – 12.00
12.00 – 2.00
EB.3.17
WB.2.05
Orientation
The first lecture will map out the module with the subsequent seminar providing an
opportunity to discuss what you can expect to get out of it, and what you need to put
in.
Aims of the module
This module focuses on concepts of knowledge and power and the interconnections
between the two. It does this via an academic study of user-centre-design. By
exploring this method in the context of academic, industrial, social and technological
developments associated with new media, it will evaluate the impact of new media
on consumer/producer relations.
A variety of different routes and materials will be used to explore the user centred
design method. Besides conventional academic texts, students will draw on their own
experiences as learners, consumers and producers of media and multimedia.
Students will also engage with workplace environments and company cultures
associated with media/multimedia production, the culture industries, and 'the
knowledge economy', analysing and comparing such experiences with a range of
rhetorical representations of new media.
Students' own experience will form an integral part of this analysis, which, in turn, will
inform students' practice as media/multimedia producers. The weighting of assessed
work reflects the importance of the relationship between theory and practice in the
make-up of the various degree programmes on which you are enrolled.
Main topics of study:
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Concepts of new media theory and their relation to research and practice
Theoretical approaches to new media, including media consumption,
attention, emotion and cognition, memory, the “user”, usability, user
experience design, HCI and neuromarketing.
Practical approaches to prototyping, testing and other user centred research
methods.
The social and cultural power relations implicated in new media
consumer/producer relations
MS3305 New Media Theory/Practice
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MS3305 (updated for 11-12) Module Debate
Taken from CTheory Journal: Theory Beyond the Codes
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Special Issue: In the Name of Security
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Contagion Theory Beyond the Microbe
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Tony D. Sampson
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http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=675#_edn83
Nothing... is less scientific than the establishment of this absolute separation,
of this abrupt break, between the voluntary and the involuntary, between the
conscious and unconscious. Do we not pass by insensible degrees from
deliberate volition to almost mechanical habit? [83]
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Neuromarketing
Over a hundred years later and Tarde's notion of the inseparability of voluntary
and involuntary behavior is becoming central to biopolitical endeavors to
organize consumptive labor. Just as Thrift argues that the contemporary
exercise of biopower evident in network science closely follows a Tardean
trajectory, [84] the so-called neuromarketing expert claims to be able to
measure the inseparable and anesthetized degrees between conscious and
unconscious consumption. Drawing on recent inventions in neuroscience to
inform such business enterprises, the neuromarketing expert claims to be able
to gauge the spontaneous flows of consumer passion for services, brands and
products. With ready access to advanced emotional recognition software and
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affective dataflows collected from the "user testing" of consumption
experiences increasingly delivered online and through mobile devices, these
highly qualified experts endeavor to prime environments for future purchase
intent. Blending eye tracking software with electroencephalography (EEG) and
galvanic skin response (GSR), companies like Berkeley based NeuroFocus not
only measure a consumer's cognitive attention and memory retention, but
claim to directly tap into what a consumer "feels about a product." [85] The
combination of eye movement with the measurement of electrical activity in the
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MS3305 New Media Theory/Practice
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brain, heart rate, and skin temperature to effectively record a user's emotional
arousal during consumption, supplants the subjective inaccuracies of older
marketing techniques of self-reporting, like questionnaires, surveys and focus
groups.
Another innovation from the Danish company, iMotions, flags a distinct
Tardean turn in market research technology. Distinct from slightly older
methods that tended to measure either voluntary attention (bodily gestures,
orientation, voice intonation, eye contact and evasion, and nervous responses)
or involuntary inattention (increases in heart, pulse and breathing rates, and
body temperature and sweating) the Emotion Tool claims to tap into the
relation between the two. It targets, as such, the space in between the implicit,
unconscious part of the brain (the limbic system), which is widely recognized
as being hardwired to the nervous system and physical reactions, and the
explicit, conscious system (the frontal cortex) associated with cognitive
attention. It is the somatic memory, physical responses and emotions of the
implicit system that are supposed to prime or guide the explicit system. [86] As
the developer of the Emotion Tool claims:
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It is now generally accepted that emotions dominate cognition, the mental
process of the ability to think, reason and remember. Therefore, there is a
rapidly increasing interest in methods that can tap into these mostly
subconscious emotional processes, in order to gain knowledge and
understanding of consumer behavior. [87]
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The Emotion Tool tracks facial expressions, particularly those that occur
around the eyes, the amount of blinking, the duration of the gaze, along with
pupil dilation to measure emotional engagement. It further incorporates an
algorithmic assessment of two dimensions of the emotional responses
captured by the technology: emotional strength and affective valence. The first
gauges the level of excitement an external stimulus provokes in the consumer,
the second, measures the feelings that follow the stimulus -- the degree of
attraction or aversion that an individual feels toward a specific object or event.
Scores are calculated from a range of pleasant, unpleasant, or neither
pleasant nor unpleasant. High scores are defined as "affective," low scores
"unaffective."
Neuromarketing ushers in new methods of persuasion designed to sidestep
the cognitive realm of visual representation and tap into the implicit,
MS3305 New Media Theory/Practice
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unconscious affective systems of consumption. Over and above focusing on
what a consumer cognitively consumes in terms of visual attention (assumed
to be atop of the Kantian hierarchy of the senses), neuromarketers measure
the streams of affect the user somatically absorbs in the atmosphere. As the
enthusiastic CEO of NeuroFocus puts it, a combination of techniques helps the
marketer to go beyond conscious consumer engagement with a product and
actively seek out what unconsciously attracts them.
Absorption is the ideal because it signifies that the consumer's brain has not
only registered your marketing message or your creative content, but that the
other centers of the brain that are involved with emotions and memory have
been activated as well. The latest advances in neuroscience have revealed
that all three of these key elements -- attention, emotion and memory retention
-- are essential to the formation of what we call "persuasion"- which in turn
means purchase intent. [88]
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This inherently Tardean appeal to the indivisible neurological space between
volition and mechanical habit suggests that "subliminal advertising," as Thrift
notes, "does work." [89]
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[83] Gabriel Tarde, The Laws of Imitation, xi.
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[84] Nigel Thrift, "Pass it On: Towards a Political Economy of Propensity," 24.
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[85] Dr. A. K. Pradeep, "Persuasion: The Science and Methods of Neuromarketing."
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[86] Jakob de Lemos, "Measuring Emotionally 'Fuelled' Marketing," Admap Magazine,
Issue 482, April 2007, 40-42.
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[87] Ibid.
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[88] Dr. A. K. Pradeep, "Persuasion: The Science and Methods of Neuromarketing."
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[89] Nigel Thrift, "Pass it On: Towards a Political Economy of Propensity," 22.
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MS3305 New Media Theory/Practice
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Learning and teaching methods
These include lectures and student centred seminars, independent study and
production work (prototyping and user testing).
Independent learning
1B
Apart from reading, writing and prototyping (see account of assignments below) you
are strongly encouraged to engage in further research so as better understand the
context and learning outcomes of the module.
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To explore ideas, debates and theories in the field of new media relating to
media consumption, attention, emotion and cognition, memory, the “user”,
usability, user experience design, HCI and neuromarketing.
To integrate theoretical ideas and research focused practice
To investigate the relationship between theory and practice in the new media
field in general and in the context of user experience specifically
Assessment
You are required to submit two pieces of course work. These course works are
separate but related. Together they account for all available marks.
CW1: Illustrated Essay of 1,500 words with a minimum of 5 good quality printed
colour images (50 per cent of module marks)
As design students you will be expected to submit a written essay that uses images to
illustrate and support your analysis. Choose one title from below: Updated 2013/14
1. Apply Crary’s concept of the attentive subject to current marketing attempts
to draw attention to products and brands. In your discussion refer to the
techniques and theories used in neuromarketing.
2. Referring to Harrison et al’s Three Paradigms of HCI, and other relevant
sources, discuss the continuities and discontinuities between all three
paradigms. In your discussion consider what we have called the politics of HCI,
particularly the relation HCI has with, for example, capitalism and work.
3. Use Norman’s model of experience processing to explain how consumers
become emotionally and affectively connected to the brands and products
they consume? Refer to an example, like Apple, to support and illustrate your
discussion.
4. Affect and emotions are increasingly understood to influence cognitive
processes such as decision making and memory. Discuss how the relation
between affect, emotion and cognition is grasped and how it relates to
consumption. Refer to a good mixture of theories, for example, from
psychology, neuroscience, design, and cultural theory.
MS3305 New Media Theory/Practice
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(Questions revised Jan 2013)
Marks will be awarded for:
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engagement with the themes of the module
a wide-ranging analysis which looks at various approaches before coming to a
conclusion
inclusion of illustrations and design elements relating to the question and
associated themes
effective layout of text and images
labelling of images
coherent structure of argumentation
appropriate examples
use of a variety of sources including academic texts, newspapers/magazines/tv
and radio/websites, and personal experience of media/multimedia production
and consumption
correct grammar and spelling
referencing in accordance with academic conventions
Submit ONE hardcopy of CW1 to the Student Enquiries Desk
Deadline: before 4pm Tues April 22nd
CW2 Media/Multimedia Prototype (50 per cent)
You are asked to produce and present a “paper” prototype that can be used in the
design of a large project. The prototype must:
1. Adhere to methods introduced in the seminar sessions (or justify other
methods)
2. Be logical and conform to stages of UXD design (user analysis, design concepts
and implementation)
3. Include evidence of user testing
4. Demonstrate iterative modifications based on documented user tests
5. Engage in a creative way with the theoretical ideas discussed in the module
(i.e. feature elements of criticality built into the design).
The submission will take the form of (a) a slide presentation providing supporting
evidence of the above and (b) an actual paper prototype.
Marks will be awarded for:
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engagement with the theme of the module and material introduced on user
testing techniques
evidence of user-testing
functionality of the prototype
high production values
MS3305 New Media Theory/Practice
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creative/imaginative approach
Email plan for CW2 presentation to the module leader
Deadline 1: End of day April 22nd
Submit ONE copy of CW2 presentation to the Student Enquiries Desk!
Deadline 2: before 4pm Tuesday May 13th
Reading and resources for the module:
Updated readings and resources will be published on the module blog.
Key readings for the essay
• Chapter one of Crary, J Suspensions of Perception: attention, spectacle, and
modern culture. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1999
• Chapter one of Thrift, N. Non-Representational Theory: Space, Politics, Affect.
London and New York, Routledge, 2008
– See online journal version:
http://nigelthrift.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/reinventing.pdf
• Various chapters in Preece, J., Rogers, Y., Sharp, H., Benyon, D., Holland, S. &
Carey, T. Human-Computer Interaction. Wokingham, UK: Addison-Wesley,
1994
• Norman, D. Emotional design: Why we love (or hate) everyday things New
York: Basic Books, 2004
– See online version of chapter one:
http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/CH01.pdf
– Prologue - http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/CH00_Prolog.pdf
– Epilogue - http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/CH-Epilog.pdf
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Additional reading: Brennan, T. The Transmission of Affect, Ithaca & London: Cornell
University Press, 2004
Key reading for prototyping
• See chapter ten in Moggridge, B. Designing Interactions. Cambridge, MA: The
MIT Press, 2007
• Norman, D. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books, 1988
Journals and Website Resources
• Media and Culture Journal “Affect” 8/6 2005
• http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0512/
• Brun, A “Some Exploratory Notes on Produsers and Produsage”, snurb.info,
http://snurb.info/index.php?q=node/329 , accessed May 10, 2006
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There is a number usability resources that you should make use of:
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http://www.usabilitynet.org
www. useit .com/
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MS3305 New Media Theory/Practice
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Journals and Websites
Media and Culture Journal “Affect” 8/6 2005
http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0512/
Brun, A “Some Exploratory Notes on Produsers and Produsage”, snurb.info,
http://snurb.info/index.php?q=node/329 , accessed May 10, 2006
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List of Lecture Sessions
Date
Topic
(w/c)
Module
runs on
Tuesday
Introducing Assessments and Context
Week
One
Lecture and Seminar: The Module Debate
4th Feb
Introduction to the Module and Assessment Criteria
Neuromarketing
Reading section of Tony’s CTheory Paper and references to conference
presentation at MeCCSA: National Media Museum Bradford Jan 09
“Rethinking Producer/Consumer Relations or the Politics of User
Interface Design”
Seminar Question: Why is absorption the ideal?
What does neuromarketing say about user experience?
Brain power game
Lecture Series and Seminars
Week
Two
11th Feb
Week
Three
18th Feb
The Politics of HCI: Human Machine Coupling and the prototype
Seminar: Introducing the Stages of User Testing
Scoping the project (brainstorm)
User analysis, conceptual testing and implementation
Garret’s five planes
(Mary and Tony)
The Attentive User: HCI and Approaches to User Testing – Focus on
Cognitive Framework - HCI by Jenny Preece et al (Tony)
MS3305 New Media Theory/Practice
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Seminar: Scoping the Prototype Project
Learning from Users – Lego building task (Tony and Mary)
Week
Four
Crary’s Cultural History of Attention: The Attentive Subject
25th Feb
Seminar: Scoping the Prototype Project
Looking at Users (Tony and Mary)
Week
Five
Crary’s Cultural History of Attention: Pathologies of Inattention, Freewill
and Media Hypnosis
March 4th
Seminar: Scoping the Prototype Project
Asking Users (Tony and Mary) Card sorting
Week Six
Suggestion, Affect and Persuasion (advancing from MS2306)
March
11th
Seminar: Users Trying (Tony and Mary) Prototypes (current third year
work)
Week
Seven
The Experience and Attention Economy
March
18th
From Cognition to Affect
Emotion and the World of Products
Visceral, Behavioural and Reflective Usability
Seminar: Focus on approach to prototype – what methods have you used
and why? (Tony and Mary)
Group discussion
What to include in the essay?
What to include in the presentation plan?
REMINDER TO PREBOOK ESSAY TUTORIALS
Week
Eight
March
25th
Entire session dedicated to essay development (pre booked tutorials with
Tony)
Week
Nine
April 1st
Entire session dedicated to essay development (pre booked tutorials with
Tony)
Groups to visit lab to use kit (Mary)
Groups to visit lab to use kit (Mary)
MS3305 New Media Theory/Practice
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Vacation (week starting April 7th and week starting April 14th)
Focus on Assessments and Presentations
Week
Ten
April 22nd
Office drop in session (Mary and Tony)
CW2 Draft Prototype Deadline (plan for presentation to be emailed to
Tony before end of day)
CW1 Illustrated Essay Deadline
Week
Eleven
Demonstration of Prototype Assessments
April 29th
Week
Twelve
May 6th
Demonstration of Prototype Assessments
Review And Evaluation
Review And Evaluation
Week
Thirteen CW2 Final Prototype hand in deadline
May 13th
MS3305: New Media Theory-Practice: User Experience Design
2B
Module Title:
Title: New Media
Theory-Practice: User
Experience Design
Module Code:
MS3305
Level: 3
Credit: 20
ECTS credit: 10
Pre-requisite:
MS2306
Co-requisite: MS3000
Skills module: NO
MS3305 New Media Theory/Practice
Module Leader:
Module Leader: Tony Sampson
Teaching Team: Tony Sampson and
Mary Newman
Date Modified: May 2011
Pre-cursor: none
Excluded combinations: none
University-wide option: No
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Main aim(s) of the module:
 To explore ideas, debates and theories in the field of new media relating to
media consumption, attention, emotion and cognition, memory, the “user”,
usability, user experience design, HCI and neuromarketing.
 To integrate theoretical ideas and research focused practice
 To investigate the relationship between theory and practice in the new media
field in general and in the context of user experience specifically
Main topics of study:
Main Topics of Study:
 Concepts of new media theory and their relation to research and practice
 Theoretical approaches to new media, including media consumption, attention,
emotion and cognition, memory, the “user”, usability, user experience design,
HCI and neuromarketing.
 Practical approaches to prototyping, testing and other user centred research
methods.
 The social and cultural power relations implicated in new media
consumer/producer relations
Learning Outcomes for the module
At the end of this module, students will:
Knowledge
1. Demonstrate an understanding of advanced debates about theory and practice
in the field of new media
2. Understand how theoretical models can be applied to new media products and
the contexts in which products are produced and consumed.
Thinking skills
3. Analyse ways in which theoretical ideas are applied to practice
4. Engage critically with major thinkers, debates and intellectual paradigms within
the [multidisciplinary] field and put them to productive use
Subject-based practical skills
5. Develop methodologies
6. Test new media products that reflect theory, analysis and methodology
7. Synthesise ideas in essay format
8. Deliver work to a given length, format, brief and deadline, properly referencing
sources and ideas and making use, as appropriate, of a problem-solving
approach
Skills for life and work (general skills)
9. Work effectively on a multidisciplinary project
10. Organise and manage supervised, self-directed projects
11. Work to briefs and deadlines, including managing concurrent projects
MS3305 New Media Theory/Practice
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12. Take responsibility for one's own work
Teaching/ learning methods/strategies used to enable the achievement of learning
outcomes:
Lectures, seminars and technical demonstration led workshops
Assessment methods which enable students to
demonstrate the learning outcomes for the module:
Weighting:
Learning
Outcomes
demonstrate
d
CW1 (50%) Essay (2000 words)
50%
1, 2, 3, 4, 7,
8, 11, 12
CW2 (50%) New Media Prototype (70 hours)
50%
2, 3, 5, 6, 8,
9, 10, 11, 12
Reading and resources for the module:
Core
Crary, J (1999) Suspensions of Perception: attention, spectacle, and modern culture,
Cambridge And London, MA: MIT Press.
Galloway, A R (2004) Protocol: How Control Exists After Decentralization. Cambridge
And London, MA: MIT Press.
Foucault, M (1980) Power/Knowledge, Harvester.
Preece, J., Rogers, Y., Sharp, H., Benyon, D., Holland, S. & Carey, T. Human-Computer
Interaction. Wokingham, UK: Addison-Wesley,1994
Thrift, N (2008) Non-Representational Theory: Space, Politics, Affect, London and New
York: Routledge,
Recommended
Moggridge, B (2007) Designing Interactions, Cambridge And London, MA: MIT Press.
Norman, D (1988) The Design of Everyday Things, New York: Basic Books.
Norman, D (2004) Emotional design: Why We Love (or hate) Everyday Things New York:
Basic Books.
Brennan, T (2004) The Transmission of Affect, Ithaca & London: Cornell University
Press.
Journals and Websites
See various authors (2005) “Affect” Media and Culture Journal “8/6
http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0512/
Brun, A “Some Exploratory Notes on Produsers and Produsage”, Snurb.info website,
http://snurb.info/index.php?q=node/329 , accessed May 10, 2006
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Indicative
learning and
teaching time
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Activity
MS3305 New Media Theory/Practice
13
(10 hrs per
credit):
1.
Student/tutor
contact time:
18
hrs/semester
24
hrs/semester
Activity: (e.g. lectures/seminars/tutorials/workshops/practical
work/email and social networking etc)
Lecture
Seminar/Workshop
2. Student
learning time:
Activity: (e.g. seminar reading and preparation/assignment
preparation/ background reading/ on-line activities etc)
158
Reading in preparation for/review of lecture material; seminar
preparation; workshop preparation and completion of workshop
exercises; assessment preparation
Total hours (1
and 2):
200
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