COSC 4441 – Fall 2004
Human-Computer Interaction


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Scott MacKenzie

CSE 3045

Monday 10:30 – 11:30, Wednesday 10:30 – 11:30

TBA

6-Dec-04

Main page for 4441


Dec 6, 2004 – Here are the slides for the presentation Motor Behaviour Models for Human-Computer Interaction. 


Dec 6, 2004 – The deadline for your project paper has been extended slightly – to 5:00 p.m. tomorrow. 


Dec 2, 2004 – The final exam will take place in CB 129.  Note: you may bring an 8.5 x 11 inch crib sheet. Exam duration: 2 hours.


Nov 30, 2004 – Here are the slides for Chapter 10, "Universal Design": 10.pdf.


Nov 27, 2004 – I just learned that the file MyUtil.class was missing from the anova ZIP.  Here's an update with this file added: anova-nov27.ZIP.


Nov 25, 2004 – Here are the slides for the presentation "Handwriting Recognition": HandwritingRecognition.pdf. 


Nov 22, 2004 – Here are the results from the experiment done in today's class: SimpleExperiment-f04.xls.


Nov 21, 2004 – Here's an update to the ANOVA utility: anova-nov21.ZIP.  There are quite a few changes.  The examples have been re-worked substantially.  There is also a new utility added called BuildAnovaTable.  See the API for details.

 

Also…  There are two final readings for this course.  First, please read Chapter 12, sections 12.1 to 12.5 (pp. 420-443), excluding section 12.3.  Second, please read my article "Motor behaviour models for human-computer interaction", as recommended by Dix et al. on p. 449 in the text.


Nov 17, 2004 – Assignment #2 marks now posted. To view your mark, log on to Ariel and issue the command 'courseInfo 4441'.

 

Also... Please read Chapter 1 of Martin's Do Psychology Experiments.  Note: If took COSC 3461 within the last year, you have already read this.  However, you might consider re-reading it, since it pertains directly to you project for this course.  If you haven't read the Martin chapter, then please do so now.


Nov 16, 2004 – Here's a slight update to the ANOVA utility: anova-nov16.ZIP.  Changes include fixing a few typos, expanding some of the discussion, and support for header lines.  See API for details.


Nov 15, 2004 – Here is a link to an IBM site on text-to-speech, showing some nice demos (also

in different languages).

http://www.research.ibm.com/tts/

 

The following link is to a java applet where you can enter some text and have it read

in about 8 different languages/dialects.

 

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/pervasive/tech/demos/tts.shtml

 

Thanks to Hania Abd-El-Razik for providing this.

 


Nov 15, 2004 – I have created a Java utility to simplify doing ANOVA tests on the data collected for your experiments.  To get started with it, download anova-nov15.ZIP.  Unzip the files into a directory and open index.html with your browser to

learn about the utility.  I'll discuss it in class today.

 

Also…  The course evaluation for COSC 4441 will take place near the end of our class on Wednesday, November 24.


Nov 10, 2004 – Here are the slides from Chapter 9, "Evaluation Techniques": 09.pdf.


Nov 9, 2004 – Here are the slides on Empirical Research in HCI, as well as the three text files with links in the slides: Example-RawData.txt | Example-SummaryData.txt | Example-AnovaTable.txt.


Nov 8, 2004 – Grades for midterm exam now posted.   To view your grade, log on to Ariel and issue the command 'courseInfo 4441'.


Nov 4, 2004 – Instructions for the course Project now posted.  See the course's main web page or click here.


Nov 1, 2004 – For Assignment #2, you may use different applications for the examples.  This was always my intention, but I guess the write-up gives the opposite impression.  Sorry about that.


Oct 28, 2004 – Final exams have now been scheduled by the Registrar's office.  Our exam will be Friday, December 10 at 2:00 p.m.  Note: Rooms for exams are not yet assigned.


Oct 20, 2004 – A few students approached me after the exam today about getting in touch with me via email next week, since I am not available for office hours.  Sorry, but I don't think this will be possible.  Because of this, I've decided to push the deadline for Assignment #2 back a bit.  So…  Assignment #2 is now due Friday, November 5 @ midnight.


Oct 18, 2004 – Here's an updated version of the slides for Chapter 7, "Design Rules": 07.pdf.  And here are the slides from the discussion today on Writing a Research Paper. 


Oct 16, 2004 – Here are the slides on ISO9241-9: ISO9241-9.pdf.  Note: There will not be any questions on the midterm exam drawn from these slides.  


Oct 13, 2004 – Just a reminder…  The midterm exam will be held during our class next Wednesday.  The exam will contain short-answer questions.  The questions are based on material in the lecture slides, readings, and Chapters 1 through 7 in the textbook.  You may bring an 8½ x 11 inch crib sheet into the exam.

 

Also, here are the slides for Chapter 7, "Design Rules": 07.pdf.


Oct 12, 2004 – Assignment 2 now posted. Click here to view. 


Oct 4, 2004 – Here are the slides from Chapter 6, "HCI in the Software Process": 06.pdf. 


Sep 29, 2004 – Here are the slides from Chapter 5, "Interaction Design Basics": 05.pdf. 


Sep 27, 2004 – Here are the slides from Chapter 4, "Paradigms": 04.pdf.  Remember to read to the end of Chapter 5, if you haven't already done so.  

 

Also, I just received an email concerning a position at Motorola for a User Interface Designer.  Click here to view.  I'm posting this only because it serves as a reminder of the sort of qualifications required for user interface design.  We'll talk briefly about these in class on Wednesday.


Sep 22, 2004 – Here is an image of the Nokia phone we discussed on Monday (the one with the full, but split, Qwerty keyboard: 55101.gif.  

 

Here are the slides from Chapter 3, "The Interaction": 03.pdf. 

 

If you are interested in using the Unistroke/Graffiti demo program, here is it: sep22.zip.  Three class files are required. To run the demo, just enter java UnistrokeTest.   On the methodology for testing users' ability to quickly learn and remember the unistrokes vs Graffiti stroke alphabets, the following paper is relevant: The immediate usability of Graffiti. 

 

And finally… Here's a link to the "urinal interface" that I mentioned in class today: You're in control: A urinary user interface. 


Sep 20, 2004 – Here are the slides from Chapter 2, "The Computer": 02.pdf.  Also, here are the programs I demo'd in class today, as well as a word-frequency file: BuildKeystrokes.java | T9.java | d1-wordfreq.txt.  And here's a link to the paper I mentioned in today's class that I like you to read: The design and evaluation of a high performance soft keyboard. 


Sep 18, 2004Click here to read the "Call for Papers" for Graphics Interface 2005.  I just received this via email today.  I'll speak more about this in class on Monday. 


Sep 17, 2004 – Assignment 1 now posted.  See the course's main web page or click here. 


Sep 15, 2004 – Just to follow up on our discussion today on Text or SMS Messaging on mobile phones, here's a chart showing SMS message traffic to December 2002: click here.  For more information on SMS messaging, go the GSM Association's web page on Short Message Service (SMS) at http://www.gsmworld.com/technology/sms/index.shtml.

 

Also… Here's a screen snap of the demo I did in class on text entry error rates: MSDdemo.jpg.  The example shows the minimum string distance (MSD) for "always" vs "akwaby", plus the two possible explanations of the errors in terms of "optimal alignments".  If you're interested in trying the demo program, here's the source code MSD.java.  There are extensive comments in the source file in javadoc format.  They are best viewed from a browser after building the html files using javadoc.  I'll explan this in class on Monday, if necessary.

 

Here is a link to the paper I asked you to read for Monday: Predicting text entry speeds on mobile phones.


Sep 14, 2004 – Here are the slides from yesterday's class: 01.pdf.   I'll begin discussing Chapter 2 ("The Computer") on Wednesday.  Please make sure you have read Chapter 2 (and, of course, Chapter 1) before Wednesday's class.


Sep 8, 2004 – Here is the first set of slides shown in class today: intro.pdf.  The program used to demo the point “Context resolves ambiguity” is RemoveText.java. It was run using the text from the course description, which is in paragraph.txt.  To recreate the demo, compile the program and invoke it with java RemoveText 0.1 < paragraph.txt. 


Sep 7, 2004 – Readings from the course text: Chapter 1 (“The Human”) for this week, and Chapter 2 (“The Computer”) for next week.


Aug 13, 2004 – 4441 web page up and running.  Look here for announcements, downloads, etc.