CMPE 131/231, DANM 231 and PSYC 131/223:
Human-Computer Interaction
The Project
What is the project about?
Developing a conceptual design for the task/problem, implementing a series of prototypes, and evaluating design - with user involvement throughout the design process. Please beware that this project is worth 50-60% of the course mark, so the project has to have the level of complexity that merits 50-60% of your time and effort as a group. The idea of the project is modelled after the Student Design Competition at CHI. Please see the website of the second place Winner of CHI'08 SDC to get a sense of the sort of activities that are involved in this course's project.I strongly encourage you to make this project more than just a class project. There are many venues where you can submit the project when it is ready, so please consider the following venues:
- CHI 2009 SDC
- UPA 2009 SDC
- Imagine Cup 2009 - Student Technology Competition
- Knight News Challenge. Be aware, this one has a proposal deadline of 1 November 2008.
Some suggested projects (in which the equipment is already here in house)
Embosser-related projects
We have an embosser, which as the name implied, is a device that helps blind persons to access information by taking a document and print an embossed paper showing the text (in Braille) or other graphical information (maps, floor plans, and routes, graphics, charts, etc). If your group is thinking of doing a project with this embosser, we have access to some blind persons that can help with your user-centered design process. For an example of projects that can be done with an embosser, take a look at TMAP project.
Livescribe pen related projects
Livescribe pen is a pen that captures handwriting and simultaneously records audio and synchronizes it to the writing. Users can simply tap on their notes to replay what was recorded from the exact moment they were writing. The possibilities are endless. We have one livescribe pen, just write what you would like to do with it in the proposal.
Falcon related projects
Novint Falcon is a force feedback haptic device that is comprised of a spherical grip, connected via three arms to a roughly conical housing, which sits on a weighted base. Again, the possibilities are endless (check on youtube of how Falcon is used for controlling Half Life 2), so write a proposal of what you would like to do with Novint Falcon.
Projects with Fone+
Microsoft's research project called Fone+ is a cell phone system that would allow the phone to work with a TV as a secondary display, and one that could allow video stored on the device to be played back on the television. Write a proposal of what you would like to do with this system.
Evaluation-based project: Comparing various low-cost eye trackers
There are various open source and low cost eye trackers out there. If you can think of creative applications of at least of these 3 eye trackers (e.g., capturing user interactions on World of Warcraft), you can have evaluation-based projects, no heavy programming is needed (you will still probably need to develop an application, perhaps in Macromedia Director or install an Apache Web server, to capture user interactions to really compare performances using the three chosen systems. In general, if you can think of a cool application in which 3 competing systems are compared, and a proper user study is designed, it is fine to have evaluation-based projects.
Submission method
Unless specified otherwise, by email to both tutors, due at 23:55 Friday of that week (the tutors' emails' timestamps). CC all members.Project Timeline
Weeks:1. Choose team mates – 3-4 (contact me if you wish to have a team with different size - including a team of one). To help you form a team, I had set up a Facebook page for this course. Send your Friend's request to this - the tutors will approve your request.
3. Project proposal – project description, target audience, why it is interesting, what would be fully implemented and what would be left out, why it is challenging, the equipment that you require (and why). At the very minimum your project proposal should contain the elements of this example of the project proposal.
5. User requirement report due. Here is a document describing what should be included in the requirements report.
8. Low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes as well as user evaluation report are due. The low-fidelity section consists of the following items: a storyboard of the interface, a hierarchical task diagram for all of the tasks supported by the system, and a hierarchical representation of all of the functions that your system supports (for this I would strongly suggest that you do a card sorting exercise with your users). The high fidelity and user evaluation report consists of the items described in this document.
And finally, Week 10:
For all: Reports due in paper format (please give me all of your sketches/scrap paper, etc) and the electronic version of everything that can be made electronic easily (i.e. don't go to too much trouble scanning paper only documents) in a DVD/CD.
Undergraduate project report
Graduate project report.
Project presentation in an undefined space (TBA, I need a space where I am allowed to bring food and drinks) on Tuesday Week 10
For this presentation, you will need to create a poster (to be placed on a 5' by 3' board) that focuses on:- Why such system, what are the limitations of current system/practice that the system addresses.
- Requirement method and summary
- Iterative design (lo-fi, hi-fi, with evaluations in between)
- Conclusion - how your system had made a change (to practices, theories, compared against other similar systems, etc)
Demonstration of the system - you will also be given 5 minutes to demonstrate your system. In addition, the tutors and myself will be walking around the room asking you questions.