HCI 2009 Tutorials Tutorials on Tuesday 1 September In-Depth Introduction to Field Research in User-Centered Design (full day) There is ever-increasing awareness of the need to understand the context of work as well as its process. This topic has received coverage in the business press, as well as in academic circles, and more user-centered design professionals are venturing out of their labs and into the field. Many people are still in the early stages of this transition and looking for foundational learning. This need is not met by courses on Contextual Design alone. While this is a powerful method, and has been influential in our field, it represents only one approach. Fieldwork is bigger than any one methodology. When "schools of thought" and "branded" methodologies risk becoming orthodoxies, it is especially important to take a fresh and deeper look at fundamental principles and examine important issues on which these methods differ. Understanding these issues will help practitioners do a better job of adapting field research techniques to a range of situations and to improve the quality of their research by making intelligent, considered choices as they plan their approach for carrying out studies in a range of situations for a range of products. Audience: This hands-on tutorial was aimed at practitioners, including developers, designers, usability specialists and managers who are responsible for user experience, usability, user needs or user requirements identification. This was an introductory to intermediate level tutorial. It will be useful for beginners, including people with lab usability experience who are beginning to venture out into the field, as well as for those with some experience in field studies of users who want to broaden and deepen their knowledge of approaches. Innovations in Card-Sorting: A Hands-on Approach (morning) Card sorting is a powerful technique for assessing how people group related concepts together. For example, it can be much more effective than usability testing in determining how effective web site navigation is. This tutorial will give participants the opportunity to try a range of techniques maximising the benefits of card sorting applied to information architecture. The techniques range from the use of barcodes to expedite the data capture from paper card sorts through to new methods of analysis that extend and complement traditional approaches such as cluster analysis. This tutorial will give participants the opportunity to try a range of techniques maximising the benefits of card sorting applied to information architecture. The techniques range from the use of barcodes to expedite the data capture from paper card sorts through to new methods of analysis that extend and complement traditional approaches such as cluster analysis. William Hudson has over 30 years experience in the development of interactive systems. He has contributed material on user-centered design and user interface design to the Rational Unified Process and to Addison- Wesley's Object Modeling and User Interface Design (van Harmelen, 2001). He is the Director of User Experience for the Intranet Benchmarking Forum and has written regularly for the ACM Interactions magazine and SIGCHI Bulletin. William is the inventor of the "Caps" approach to card sorting (Computer-Aided Paper Sorting). Further information at http://www.designforusability.com Audience: Web and intranet designers, information architects, usability and HCI professionals interested in the practical application of card sorting. No specialist skills or knowledge are required, however maximum value will be obtained if you are able to bring along a Windows laptop. Benefits - on completion of this tutorial you will be able to:
Ajax - Design and Usability (afternoon) This half-day interactive course breaks new ground in relating Ajax technology to key principles of Computer-Human Interaction. It was previously presented at HCI 2007, and was highly-rated at CHI 2007 and 2008. Audience: Web and intranet designers, information architects, usability and HCI professionals. No specialist skills or knowledge are required. Benefits - on completion of this tutorial you will be able to:
Tutorials on Friday afternoon 4 September Mobile Interaction Design The tutorial explores interesting and empowering mobile design philosophies, principles and methods as well as giving specific guidance on key emerging consumer application areas such as image browsing and information access. Matt Jones is co-author, with Gary Marsden, of the popular textbook "Mobile Interaction Design" (Wiley 2005). Audience and Benefits:
Prototyping in Physical Computing using the Arduino microcontroller and software This tutorial offers a beginner's introduction to prototyping in Physical Computing using the Arduino microcontroller and software. Arduino is an open-source hardware platform that is a widely recognised tool for prototyping interactions with screen-based and physically interactive systems. It is being adoped by practitioners in both academia and industry and is an important aid to rapid prototyping of interactive physical devices. It has proved very successful within the Make and Hacking communities. Note: registration fee of £70 includes the cost of a kit containing an Arduino microcontroller, USB connection, prototyping breadboard and basic peripheral components, so that participants can take away their prototypes at the end of the tutorial. Although not essential, participants will get the most value from this tutorial if they have their own laptops available for use (Windows, Linux or Mac, with administrative rights enabled. Designing Effective Search & Discovery User Experiences This half-day tutorial aims to provide a practical introduction to Human Centred Design for information search, access and discovery - what we call "Design for Discovery". We will present a concise overview of how this framework can be applied to optimize the effectiveness of information search and discovery applications and user journeys, and facilitate the application of these skills in a practical group exercise. Tony Rose is User Experience Manager at Endeca Technologies, an enterprise software company specialising in innovative solutions for information search and discovery. Before joining Endeca, Tony was founder and director of UXLabs, a user experience consultancy specialising in technology innovation and applied R&D. Prior to this he was R&D group manager at Canon Research Centre Europe and technical lead at Reuters, specialising in advanced user interfaces for information access and search. He holds a PhD in HCI and a first degree in engineering, majoring in human factors. Tony is also Honorary Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Interactive Systems Research, City University, London. Mark Burrell is Worldwide Lead for User Experience at Endeca Technologies, a software company specialising in innovative solutions for information search and discovery. He has over 25 years of professional experience, including 15 years focused on the evaluation, design, and adoption of interactive technology solutions (with special emphasis on applications that aim to support learning and discovery). Prior to joining Endeca, Mark built and led user experience teams at several leading product and service companies including serving as Sr. UX Manager for Microsoft's Unified Communications product division and Global UX Lead for Sapient. Mark holds a PhD in Clinical psychology with concentrations in cognitive psychology and epistemology/philosophy of science. Audience: This tutorial was aimed at those who have an understanding of the basic principles of UI design, or alternatively, some experience of having tackled UI design problems for search & information access applications. It does not assume familiarity with any particular conceptual model, proprietary technique or development methodology. Tutorial on Saturday 5 September Beyond Anecdotes: Analyzing Qualitative Data from Field Studies (full day) Field studies are essential to user-centered design. However the qualitative data from these studies is overwhelming and ambiguous. Too often, disciplined analysis, if done at all, is limited. The result is findings that are anecdotal or impressionistic, with vague or even misleading implications for design. This tutorial teaches techniques to improve the validity and credibility of findings, to make them useful for design, and to help the field researcher avoid drowning in data. We do not present a single "canned" approach. Rather, we discuss the challenges of analysis, and the benefits and limitations of various techniques, to help students think critically about methodology, and make informed choices for their own projects. Benefits - participants will learn:
HCI 2009 Tutorial Coordinators
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