The aim of this module is to introduce students to the theory and practice of user-centred interaction design, an approach that is becoming more and more vital as the growth of the World Wide Web brings interactive software to a wide audience.
Practical
Details
Assessment
Case
Study
Week of November 6th - please go through the user object model activity
described on http://www.it.bton.ac.uk/staff/rng/teaching/notes/GUIDE/GUIDE3UserObjects.html
Staff: Lyn Pemberton
room: W602
tel: 01273 64 2476
email: LP22@bton.ac.uk
Class times: Tuesday 11.00 - 12.00 & Friday 10.00 - 12.00 in W503
The module is assessed via a portfolio of work developed during the module, based around a practical case study. You are advised to work in groups of two or three to give yourselves the chance to maximise your creativity. As you will see on the schedule, you should be aiming to generate the products of each stage as you go along. These will be documents such as reports on user requirements or storyboards for the screen design stage. You should accompany each deliverable with a brief report (no more than an A4 page for each deliverable) discussing the stage. The design documents can be individual or group work. The report must be your own individual work. Each portfolio will be marked individually.
The deliverables
Deliverable 1: an initial requirements description
Deliverable 2: brief analysis of comparable sites
Deliverable 3: user class analysis, in the form of personas
Deliverable 4: task scenarios
Deliverable 5: user object model
Deliverable 6: content structure diagram
Deliverable 7: site structure diagram
Deliverable 8: initial evaluation results
Deliverable 9: storyboards
Deliverable 10: lo-fi prototype
Deliverable 11: evaluation report
Deliverable 12: maintenance document
Deliverable 13: design document
Hand-in date:Week 13 - January 26th 2001
Return date: Feb 15 2001
The
case study - information and schedule
The basic requirement for the assessed work
is for a Web site to publicise and complement a conference, The
First European Conference on Researching the Internet, to be held at the
fictional University of Brighthelmstone on Dec 18 and 19th 2001. Each week
we will have a session introducing a stage or technique, followed by a
practical session applying this technique to the Case Study. You will also
be expected to do some independent study, normally reading an article or
Web site.
| You can find the case study details here. |
Week One
Lecture: Introduction to case study and general overview
Practical: Your first task is to find our some basic information.You will have to obtain further information from your client (played by me) at your first session. Ask me about conferences in general, how they are organised, what happens at them and specific details of this one. You will also be able to find information relevant to this stage on the Case Study web site. You will need to plan this meeting. Who will ask questions? What questions will they ask? Who will keep notes? What preliminary research can you do so that you do not waste my time and yours? For instance, you can consult the University Web site - www.bton.ac.uk - for details of the University and town.
Deliverable 1: an initial requirements description
Then -
| Week | Work | Deliverable |
| Week 2 | Lecture:
User Centred Design Cycle
Look at 3 or 4 other conference sites (some references below) - see if they give you ideas for facilities you might include or conventions that seem to have been established already for conference sites. |
Deliverable 2: brief analysis of comparable sites |
| Week 3 | Lecture
: users and personas
Reading: Cooper on Personas Define user classes and analyse them - who will be likely to consult this site? What do you know about them? What will they want to do? When will they want to consult the site? What extra requirements can you obtain from this analysis? Can you find any typical users to talk to? Use the case study Web site here. |
Deliverable 3: user class analysis, in the form of personas |
| Week 4 | Lecture:
task
scenarios
Reading: Carroll on scenarios Write descriptions of 5 or 6 concrete tasks which specific users may want to carry out. Some may be several mini-tasks linked together. Remember these should be as realistic and detailed as possible.Check with the users on the site if you think it will help… |
Deliverable 4: task scenarios |
| Week 5 | Lecture:
user
object models
(from GUIDE)
In your task descriptions, try to identify the objects which make up the user’s mental model of the site and the information/services on it. You should be finding nouns like "hotel", "registration fees", "call for papers" and so on, plus verbs like "register", "submit" and "book". |
Deliverable 5: user object model |
| Week 6 | Lecture: hypertext
& navigation
From the user objects, work out what the content of
the site must be and how the various content elements are logically related
to each other. Without even thinking of the appearance of individual pages,
distribute content to pages and decide on the page-to-page links. Represent
this as a logical structure diagram, showing hierarchical and/or linear
structure, plus navigation.
|
Deliverable 6: content structure diagram |
| Week 7 | Lecture: analytic evaluation
Reading: Cognitive Walkthrough (Newman & Lamming) Even at this stage you will be able to do some analytic evaluation. Go through your task representations and make sure they can be carried out in the system you are proposing. |
Deliverable 7: site structure diagram |
| Week 8 | Lecture: screen design guidelines
Design the screens |
Deliverable 8: initial evaluation results |
| Week 9 | Lecture: prototyping
Reading: PICTIVE & lo-fi Prototypes Make lo-fi prototypes to illustrate the central task scenarios you have devised |
Deliverable 9: storyboards |
| Week 10 | Lecture: empirical evaluation
Reading: Usability Toolbox Evaluate your prototypes with at least 2 users, possibly
using the usability lab
|
Deliverable 10: lo-fi prototype |
| Week 11 | Lecture hour - discussion of evaluation
implications
Modify design and write it up
|
Deliverable 11: evaluation report |
| Week 12 | Draw up maintenance document | Deliverable 12: maintenance document |
| Week 13 | Polishing: can you now hand over your documentation to a programmer and graphic designer with confidence? | Deliverable 13: design document |