Administrivia
Instructor Nancy Van House
Email: vanhouse@sims.berkeley.edu
Website: http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~vanhouse/
Office number: (510) 642-0855
Office Hours: Tuesday 4:15am-5:30am Thursday 4:15am-5:00am 307A South Hall
TA Vijay Viswanathan
Email: vijay@sims.berkeley.edu
Course Description
This course addresses concepts and methods of needs and usability assessment. The emphasis will be on understanding users' needs and practices and translating them into design decisions. Topics to be covered include: methods of identifying and describing user needs and requirements; user centered design; and evaluation of information systems. We will practice a number of major usability assessment methods, including heuristic evaluation, surveys and focus groups, and naturalistic/ethnographic methods. Finally, we will discuss methods of bringing needs and usability assessment into the design process.
This course is appropriate for both 1st and 2nd-year MIMS students, and for students from other departments with a strong interest in user-based design and assessment, with the instructor's permission. Students will complete at least one major group project related to needs assessment and evaluation. Second-year MIMS students may use this project to meet their capping project requirement.
This is a MOT related course.
Course Information
School of Information Management and Systems INFOSYS 214
Course Dates: January 18 to May 5, 2004
Lecture Schedule: Tuesday Thursday 2:00am-3:30am in 202 South Hall
Units: 3
Grading Option: Letter Grade or Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory or Pass/Not Pass
Course Text
Required
Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests, Jeffrey Rubin. Wiley, 1994.
Course Work
January 18 : Tuesday
Introduction to User-Centered Design, the Design Lifecycle, and Usability
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
Chapter 1 [Online, Sections 1.1-1.4]
Designing the User Interface : Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, Ben Shneiderman and Catherine Plaisant. Addison-Wesley (2004)
Chapter 2 [Online, Sections 2.1-2.3]
Designing the User Interface : Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, Ben Shneiderman and Catherine Plaisant. Addison-Wesley (2004)
"When Good Things Happen to Bad Products: Where are the benefits of usability in the consumer appliance market?" Timo Jokela [Online]
Interactions (Nov.-Dec. 2004)
IBM Ease of Use [short excerpt]: What is User Centered Design? [Online]
Recommended Readings
Usability basics from usability.gov [Online]
Due on May 13
January 20 : Thursday
Introduction to User-Centered Design, the Design Lifecycle, and Usability
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
Chapter 1 [Online, Sections 1.1-1.4]
Designing the User Interface : Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, Ben Shneiderman and Catherine Plaisant. Addison-Wesley (2004)
Chapter 2 [Online, Sections 2.1-2.3]
Designing the User Interface : Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, Ben Shneiderman and Catherine Plaisant. Addison-Wesley (2004)
"When Good Things Happen to Bad Products: Where are the benefits of usability in the consumer appliance market?" Timo Jokela [Online]
Interactions (Nov.-Dec. 2004)
IBM Ease of Use [short excerpt]: What is User Centered Design? [Online]
Recommended Readings
Usability basics from usability.gov [Online]
January 25 : Tuesday
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
Chapter 3 [Online, Sections 3.1-3.4]
Designing the User Interface : Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, Ben Shneiderman and Catherine Plaisant. Addison-Wesley (2004)
Chapter 3 [Online, Excerpts from Chapter 3]
Web ReDesign 2.0, Kelly Goto and Emily Cotler. New Riders: Berkeley (2005)
Interactive Methods Table from Usability.Net [Online]
usability first: Methods Overview [Online]
Chapter 1 [Online]
User and Task Analysis for Interface Design, JoAnn T. Hackos and Janice C. Redish. Wiley: New York (1998)
January 27 : Thursday
User and Task Analysis; Competitor Analysis
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
Chapter 2 [Online]
User and Task Analysis for Interface Design, JoAnn T. Hackos and Janice C. Redish. Wiley: New York (1998)
Chapter 1 [Online]
Contextual Design, Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt. Morgan-Kaufman: San Francisco (1998)
"Panel: Ethics in HCI" Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems [Online]
CHI 2001
"Usability Testing: Revisiting Informed Consent procedures for testing Internet sites" Oliver K. Burmeister [Online]
Australian Institute of Computer Ethics Conference (11/12/2000)
Chapter 10 [Online, Excerpts from Chapter 3]
Web ReDesign 2.0, Kelly Goto and Emily Cotler. New Riders: Berkeley (2005)
Competitor analysis from Usability.net [Online]
Recommended Readings
February 3 : Thursday
Due on February 15
February 8 : Tuesday
Intro to Ethnographic Methods in HCI
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
"An ethnographic approach to design" J. Blomberg, M. Burrell and G. Guest [Online]
The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook: Fundamentals, Evolving Technologies and Emerging Applications, J.A. Jacko and A. Sears, eds. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc: New Jersey (2003)
"Rapid ethnography: time deepening strategies for HCI field research" David R. Millen [Online]
ACM conference proceedings on Designing interactive systems : processes, practices, methods, and techniques (2000)
February 10 : Thursday
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
Chapter 3 [Online]
Learning from Strangers - The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies, Robert S. Weiss. The Free Press: New York (1994)
Chapter 4 [Online, Part 1]
Learning from Strangers - The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies, Robert S. Weiss. The Free Press: New York (1994)
Chapter 4 [Online, Part 2 - Examples of Interviewing]
Learning from Strangers - The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies, Robert S. Weiss. The Free Press: New York (1994)
Chapter 5 [Online]
Learning from Strangers - The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies, Robert S. Weiss. The Free Press: New York (1994)
February 15 : Tuesday
February 17 : Thursday
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
Chapters 5-6 [Online, pp. 53-71]
Focus Groups as Qualitative Research, David L. Morgan. Sage (1998)
Chapter 5 [Online, pp. 53-69]
Focus Groups, 2nd ed., Richard A. Krueger. Sage (1994)
"Focus Groups in HCI: Wealth of Information or Waste of Resources" Rosenbaum, et. al. [Online]
CHI 2002
Recommended Readings
February 22 : Tuesday
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
Chapter 11 [Online]
Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User Research, Mike Kuniavsky. Morgan-Kaufman: San Francisco (2003)
Recommended Readings
Computerized Self-Administered Questionnaires on Touchscreen Kiosks: Do They Tell the Truth?, P.J. Blignaut [Online]
February 24 : Thursday
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
Chapter 4 [Online, Section 4.4]
Designing the User Interface : Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, Ben Shneiderman and Catherine Plaisant. Addison-Wesley (2004)
"Survey Mode as a Source of Instability in Responses across Surveys" Don A. Dillman and Leah Melani Christian [Online]
Field Methods (February 2005)
Chapters 2,3,5 [Online]
Mail and Internet Surveys: the Tailored Design Method, 2nd ed., Don A. Dillman. Wiley (2000)
The rest of the book is recommended.
Web-based surveys: The web questionnaire challenge to survey methodologists, Don A. Dillman and Dennis K. Bokwer [Online]
Survey resources from usabilitynet.org [Online]
March 1 : Tuesday
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
"Persona Development for Information-rich Domains" Rashmi Sinha [Online]
CHI 2003
Personas: Practice and Theory, John Pruitt and Jonathan Grudin [Online] (2002)
"The Blind Men and the Elephant: Views of Scenario-Based System Design" Kentaro Go and John M. Carroll [Online]
Interactions (Nov.-Dec. 2004)
Chapter 11 [Online]
The inmates are running the asylum, A. Cooper. SAMS: Indianapolis (1999)
What is a scenario? [Online]
Nokia Personas [Online]
March 3 : Thursday
Principles of Usability Testing and Measurement
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
TBA of Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests [Textbook]
Chapter 5 [Online]
The Practice of Social Research, 9th ed., Earl R. Babbie. Wadsworth (2001)
or equivalent chapter from another social research methods text
"Usability Metrics" Robert Opaluch [Online, p. 101-144]
Human Factors and Web Development, 2nd ed., Julie Ratner, ed. Lawrence Erlbaum (2003)
Recommended Readings
General Concepts of Usability Testing [Online]
March 8 : Tuesday
Usability Testing & Remote Testing
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
Continue with Rubin reading of Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests [Textbook]
"Remote Possibilities: International Usability Testing at a Distance" Susan Dray and David Siegel [Online]
Interactions (Mar.-Apr. 2004)
Remote Online Usability Testing: Why, How, and When to Use It, Dabney Gough and Holly Phillips [Online]
IBM, Experience remote usability testing, Part 1 [Online]
Recommended Readings
Remote Moderated Usability: What, Why, and How [Online]
An Empirical Comparison of Lab and Remote Usability Testing of Web Sites, Tom Tullis et al [Online] (2002)
Chapter 8 [Online]
Web ReDesign 2.0, Kelly Goto and Emily Cotler. New Riders: Berkeley (2005)
Chapter 4 [Online, Section 4.3]
Designing the User Interface : Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, Ben Shneiderman and Catherine Plaisant. Addison-Wesley (2004)
Due on March 17
Due on March 31
March 10 : Thursday
Usability Testing & Remote Testing
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
Continue with Rubin reading of Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests [Textbook]
"Remote Possibilities: International Usability Testing at a Distance" Susan Dray and David Siegel [Online]
Interactions (Mar.-Apr. 2004)
Remote Online Usability Testing: Why, How, and When to Use It, Dabney Gough and Holly Phillips [Online]
IBM, Experience remote usability testing, Part 1 [Online]
Recommended Readings
Remote Moderated Usability: What, Why, and How [Online]
An Empirical Comparison of Lab and Remote Usability Testing of Web Sites, Tom Tullis et al [Online] (2002)
Chapter 8 [Online]
Web ReDesign 2.0, Kelly Goto and Emily Cotler. New Riders: Berkeley (2005)
Chapter 4 [Online, Section 4.3]
Designing the User Interface : Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, Ben Shneiderman and Catherine Plaisant. Addison-Wesley (2004)
March 15 : Tuesday
Expert Inspection: Heuristics Evaluation & Cognitive Walk-thrus
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
"Participatory Heuristic Evaluation" Muller, Matheson, Page, and Gallup [Online]
Interactions (Sep.-Oct., 1998)
Chapter 1 [Handout]
Usability Inspection Methods, Robert Mack and Jakob Nielsen. Wiley and Sons (1994)
Chapter 2 [Handout]
Usability Inspection Methods, Robert Mack and Jakob Nielsen. Wiley and Sons (1994)
Chapter 5 [Handout, pp. 105-118]
Usability Inspection Methods, Robert Mack and Jakob Nielsen. Wiley and Sons (1994)
Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics [Online]
Instone on Site Usability Evaluation [Online]
Instone on Site Usability Heuristics for the Web [Online]
First principles, AskTog [Online]
International standards for HCI and usability [Online]
Recommended Readings
Credibilty & Medical Web Sites: A Literature Review, Helen Constantinides and Jenni Swenson [Online]
March 17 : Thursday
Expert Inspection: Heuristics Evaluation & Cognitive Walk-thrus
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
"Participatory Heuristic Evaluation" Muller, Matheson, Page, and Gallup [Online]
Interactions (Sep.-Oct., 1998)
Chapter 1 [Handout]
Usability Inspection Methods, Robert Mack and Jakob Nielsen. Wiley and Sons (1994)
Chapter 2 [Handout]
Usability Inspection Methods, Robert Mack and Jakob Nielsen. Wiley and Sons (1994)
Chapter 5 [Handout, pp. 105-118]
Usability Inspection Methods, Robert Mack and Jakob Nielsen. Wiley and Sons (1994)
Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics [Online]
Instone on Site Usability Evaluation [Online]
Instone on Site Usability Heuristics for the Web [Online]
First principles, AskTog [Online]
International standards for HCI and usability [Online]
Recommended Readings
Credibilty & Medical Web Sites: A Literature Review, Helen Constantinides and Jenni Swenson [Online]
March 22 : Tuesday : Spring Recess
March 24 : Thursday : Spring Recess
March 29 : Tuesday
Analyzing & Presenting Findings
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
Chapter 17 (excerpt) [Online]
Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User Research, Mike Kuniavsky. ()
Chapter 11 (excerpt) [Online, How to Analyze Survey Responses]
Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User Research, Mike Kuniavsky. ()
Chapter 10 of Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests [Textbook]
AskTog: How to Deliver a Report Without Getting Lynched [Online] (2001)
March 31 : Thursday
Analyzing & Presenting Findings
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
Chapter 17 (excerpt) [Online]
Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User Research, Mike Kuniavsky. ()
Chapter 11 (excerpt) [Online, How to Analyze Survey Responses]
Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User Research, Mike Kuniavsky. ()
Chapter 10 of Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests [Textbook]
AskTog: How to Deliver a Report Without Getting Lynched [Online] (2001)
April 14 : Thursday
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
"How Do Users Evaluate the Credibilty of Web Sites?" B.J. Fogg [Online]
ACM 2003
Credibilty & Medical Web Sites: A Literature Review, Helen Constantinides and Jenni Swenson [Online]
Web credibility: Evaluating Web Pages, UC Berkeley Library [Online]
Web Credbility Guidelines, Stanford Web Credbility Project [Online]
April 19 : Tuesday
Lecturer: Nancy Van House
Required Readings
"Universal, ubiquitous, user-interface design for the disabled and elderly" Aaron Marcus [Online]
Interactions (Mar.-Apr. 2003)
W3C Quick tips [Online]
W3C web accessibility initative [Online]
W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 [Online]
International Web Usability Testing, Jakob Neilsen [Online]
Offshore Usability, Jakob Neilsen [Online]
"Cross-cultural applicability of user evaluation methods: a case study amongst Japanese, North-American, English and Dutch users" Vanessa Evers [Online]
CHI '02
Section 508 standards [Online]
Skim Readings
Design/usability for children [Online]
Usability for young and old: STC Usability SIG [Online]
Resources on accessible web design including LOTS about color/color blindness [Online]
Bobby for testing sites [Online]
Good links on accessibility from usability.gov [Online]
Alliance for technology access, How to design accessible sites [Online]
Screen-readers: Jaws [Online]
Screen-readers: Window-Eyes [Online]
Screen magnifier: ZoomText [Online]
Recommended Readings
Chapter 1 [Online, Section 1.5]
Designing the User Interface : Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, Ben Shneiderman and Catherine Plaisant. Addison-Wesley (2004)
May 13 : Friday
last updated on 2004-01-12 by Carolyn