Representations for Interaction Design

USI Programme, Module M4 Panos Markopoulos

February 2005

The aim of this one week module is to learn to express design ideas through prototypes and specifications. Specifications, like design ideas, can concern various stages of the system development from conception to detailed implementation. The emphasis on interaction with the user, means that we focus on specifying aspects of the system that are salient to the users: the intended usage of the system, user tasks, detailed interaction specification the `look and the feel`, etc. 

We shall cover the following broad topics:

• Using video as a source and as a medium for representing design ideas
• Specifying interaction with elements of the UML

Mini Project:  Informal Communication at the Workplace

John is a research student in the TU/e and is working for a student association.  The association organizes a party and John puts up some funny posters they knocked up together on the department announcement board.  The next day he is surprised to see that his announcements have been taken down and the department secretary is rather annoyed with him.  The board is clearly her responsibility and she makes sure that it is tidy, it portrays the image that the staff want to project to the outside world but also it is guaranteed to give sufficient prominence to information that must be noticed by the staff.  Indeed staff have come to rely on the board for a place to find out about department wide activities but also achievements of their colleagues.  As the board is next to the staff's mail box, it is often that workers will chat about items before starting their day.

The vignette above (same as in intro course) shows that public displays of information are usually an important component of social or professional life.  They serve as a material representation of culture, a shared point of reference, sparking social interactions and setting the tone of the place. Their usage also reflects tacit structures and practices within groups and sometimes very explicit intentions by their users.  Maintaining them is usually deliberate, requires work but also some coordination amongst the team. 

Contrary to introduction course where the same vignette was offered, this course will consider how to support informal communication at the workplace.  We care for:

• communicating folklore knowledge, e.g., Lucy is the person to ask about video editing, before you do something with optics, check with Martin who is the true expert, you can install application X but it will not be supported, etc.
• increasing awareness of interests and projects, to make cooperation more effective:  supporting workers to find shared interests, start shared enterprises, being aware and proud of knowledge in house, helping each other network, etc.
• sharing cultural values in an organization
• using technology for enhancing social cohesion, e.g., drinking coffee together, organizing social events, etc. 

The solutions you should consider are quite wide, e.g., ambient, mobile and personal, or public displays used in the work environment.  

Reading

Schedule

Deliverable DVD

The deliverable is one DVD per project team. All work should be included in the DVD.

This DVD should be labeled and the contents described on its cover.

Please include the following:

A. Video Material
1. video interview
2. video brainstorm
3. video prototype

B. Documents
1. Video Interview report: including interview plan, session summary and conclusions
2. Analysis of your own interview with respect to Ethics guidelines
3. Analysis of example Video prototypes with regards to the Starfire guidelines
4. Evaluation of your video prototype by another team
5. Storyboard for the video prototype as a PowerPoint or word document or a .jpg image.
6. your slides of your final presentation
7. A Readme text with a table of contents for the DVD

Ground Rules for Presentations

• Everyone should be present in the class at the starting time listed in the schedule.
• To minimize change-over time, presenters should have one laptop connected, with access (through the network or USB stick or hard disc) to the presentations of each team.
• In preparing your presentations, make sure you describe:
  •  process - focus on what decisions you made on the way, rather than a list of steps you did.
  •  product - focus on the conclusions you draw from each part of the process, rather than on a dry exposition of findings/creations.
• It helps if the whole group is interactive, so you can learn from each other's experiences. So ask questions, share your thoughts about the work of other people.
• One rule is though to remain constructive even when you are offering critique. You can inquire about the rationale of other people's work, suggest shortcomings, offer alternatives, but do so in a helpful manner that does not become personal.

Ground Rules for Reporting

1. Each report should have a cover, including the names of team members.
2. The report must be handed in as paper during the face to face meeting and also included in the CD you deliver with the video materials
3. Reports should be formatted in any professional format you like...but, you could use the simple template provided.