L578 (7209): User Interface Design for Information Systems (Fall 2000)

Course Description | Grade | Course Outline | Resources

Instructor: Katy Börner | Email: katy@indiana.edu | Office: Main Library 019 | Phone: 855-3256
Assistant Instructor: Brian Horvitz | Email: bhorvitz@indiana.edu
Students:  http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~katy/L578-F00/students/

Lecture:  Thu 9:30a-10:45a LI 503  Lab: 11:00a-12:15p, LI 503
Office hours: Tue 4:00p-5:00p, Main Library 019

Prerequisites: L548 or consent of instructor

Majordomo List: katy_L578@indiana.edu
Webboard: http://www.slis.indiana.edu/webboard/$webb.exe/~katy578 - please register as a new user.
Class Webpage: http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~katy/L578-F00/

Textbook: Tom Negrino, Dori Smith: Javascript for the World Wide Web (Visual Quickstart Guide), Paperback - 292 pages 3rd edition (June 1999), Peachpit Press; ISBN: 0201354632.

Course Description
The explosion of digitally available information is driving the need for more effective, efficient, and natural user interfaces to intelligently support access to information, applications, and people. This course provides an overview about the state of the art in text based, 2-dimensional, and 3-dimensional interface design. It will cover task and user analysis, interface goals & interface design methods, empirical evaluation, and conclude with a discussion of remaining fundamental issues in the field.
Students will be expected to do readings, provide a presentation on specific readings, and participate in discussion. They will extensively use web design tools (e.g., Fireworks), Javascript, and a 3D Virtual Reality Chat & Design Tool to build a number of highly interactive user interfaces in four projects. Students will conduct task and requirement analysis, learn basic interface design principles using JavaScript and 3-D technology through application, and design, develop, implement, and evaluate collaborative 2-D and 3-D environments.

Why should one connect JavaScript and 3D worlds?
Intuitive and efficient user interfaces are a must in today's information society. JavaScript provides the technology to design fast loading, highly interactive webpages with alerts and prompts, rollover buttons, forms, and e-mail, clocks, calendars, calculators, navigation menus, passwords, status bar scripts, slide shows, or interactive texts to name just a few. Consult one of the various JavaScript resources for neat examples.
Using the ActiveWorlds browser, 3-D objects and places can be interlinked with Web pages. It is very easy to design a world in which clicking on an object or walking over or through it triggers a different webpage to be displayed. On the other hand, users can click links on a webpage and they are automatically teleported to the corresponding place in the 3-D world.
This opens a wide and exciting range of possibilities to connect 2-D images, text, forms etc. with 3-D objects and places. In order to arrive at intuitive and efficient user interfaces, a number of questions has to be answered such as

Even though most students will probably not design 3-D interfaces in their near professional future, the exposure to spatial metaphors in 3-D worlds and the fusion of 2-D and 3-D will give them an advantage in the selection of appropriate media and the design of intuitive and efficient user interfaces and prepare them for the things to come.
Last but not least, students may have some fun living and building in 3-D.

The Active Worlds Eduverse Browser is available in all UITS NT Labs now.
Run with 'Start -> Programs -> Departmentally Sponsored -> SLIS -> Eduverse -> Eduverse'.
Try to get a fast machine. Bring headphones.

Course Format
The course utilizes a combination of lectures, discussions, hands-on lab sections, and projects to help students understand theories, design strategies, and assessment techniques in developing 2-D and 3-D environments for learning.

Each class begins promptly at 9:30am and follows the subsequent schedule:

50 min lecture
25 min discussion of readings
15 min break
15 min lab instructions, demonstrations, tutorials
60 min lab assignments and/or project discussions
Students will be encouraged to discuss, question, and clarify course content in lecture and lab and they will improve their collaborative skills by working in topic dependent teams.
Grades
Individual and group work will be evaluated according to how well the course material is understood and implemented into projects, as well as the quality of written and oral presentations. Students are expected to spent about 8h per week outside of class for readings and projects.
The final grade will be based on class participation (10%), presentation of selected readings, projects (60%) and a written final test (20%). Grades are assigned according to the grading standards of SLIS.
On a first come first serve basis, students will be able to decide if they prefer to present readings or to lead a discussion.

Class participation:
The quantity and quality of contributions made to class (especially during the discussion of readings) and electronic discussions via the class webboard counts for 10% of the grade.

Presentation of selected readings:
The 15 min presentation will address a specific topic/question and will be based on readings from the literature or internet. Sources will be provided. If you can find more that's great. See Preparation of Presentations for more details.
You are expected to use the office hours the week in which you will give the presentation to discuss your preparation with the instructor. Prepare your presentation as well as any specific questions you may have in advance.
All students will be expected to study the assigned readings before each class and to participate in class by asking and answering questions. Readings are assigned for study in preparation for class discussion. Thus, class 2 readings should be completed before attending the second week's class.

Projects:

  • There will be four projects. Except for the first project, you will work on them in teams. Submit links to resulting webpages via mail to katy@indiana.edu.

    • Final Test:
    The final written test (open book) primarily tests your knowledge of the material presented in class and the assigned readings.
    Policies
    1. Class attendance: Email the instructor if you can't make it to a class.
    2. Plagiarism: Clearly indicate if you use materials from other sources. Academic and personal misconduct by students in this class are dealt with according to the Student Disciplinary Procedures.
    3. Late Handin Policy: Late assignments or incomplete assignments are allowed only because of an unforeseen emergency that is preceded by diligent work, not for a pattern of weak performance. No individual student will be allowed to do extra work to raise the final grade or to make up missing work. All grades become final one week after the material is returned to you. No claims, however justifiable, will be considered after this deadline. If there is a medical or personal reason requiring you to miss an exam, you must present your excuse in advance and in writing, and we require some physical proof. Course work handed in
  •  within the first 10 min past 8 pm will receive at most 90% of the possible points.
  •  between 8.10 pm  to 9 pm receive at most 50% of the possible points.
  •   past 9 pm receive Z.

    • Make sure you handin in time and your handin is accessible and readable!

    Credits: 3 for L578

    Course Outline
    The class schedule may change as the course progresses. Changes will be posted on the class Webboard.

    Introduction

    Class 1
    Lecture: Course Description & Outline, Class Format, Grades, Resources
    Intelligent user interfaces, affective computing, wearables etc. Why is this course about 2-D & 3-D collaborative desktop spaces?
    Lab: Intro to JavaScript and its relation to Java. Active World welcome party.

    Project 1: Personal Webpage Design a personal webpage that tells about you and your expectations on the course.
    Handin: Day before class 2
    Readings: WebResults Guide to Web Planning: Essentials
    How Users Read on the Web
    End of Web Design
    Comments on Project 1

    Class 2
    Lecture: Setting the context - Human Factors and Usability, Software Development, Computer Graphics, Collaborative Environments
    Material: The Promises and Challenges of Networked Virtual Environments [Singhal & Zyda, chapter 1]
    Origin & Intro to internet networked virtual environments [Singhal & Zyda, chapter 2]
    Readings: From Interface to Interplace: The Spatial Environment as a Medium for Interaction by Thomas Erickson
    Lab: Java Script start up

    Project 2a: Life long learning. Design of web-based teaching material for JavaScript: Rollovers /  Animations / Frames /  Browser windows / Creating a Form /  dynamic webpages - current date / creating a countdown / cookies / playing sounds / Check for plug-ins.  See chapter 3-9 in [Negrino & Smith, 1999]
    Handin: Day before class 4
    Readings: Explore ThinkQuest webpages at http://library.thinkquest.org/19537/
    Comments on Project 2

    Task Analysis and Interface Design

    Class 3
    Lecture: Task Analysis - what do users want? How to build successful worlds.
    Readings: The Geezer brigade - Steps in Studying an Online Group
    Making virtual communities work
    9 Timeless Design Principles for Community-Building
    Design Principles for Online Communities
    Lab: Introduction into Fireworks for animation, rollover, textures etc.

    Project 2b: Study and rank order all project 2 solutions according to their value to complete project 3.
    Handin: Day before class 7

    Class 4:
    Lecture: Interface goals & interface design methods: User-centered design, prototyping, design principles and rules
    Material: Designing the functional model [Olsen et al., 1998, chapter 2]
    Lab:  Navigating in AW. Treasure hunt.

    Class 5:
    Lecture: Interface evaluation: Software logging, user observation, benchmarks and experiments
    Readings: Visit 4 educational online MOO's and report your experiences.
    Lab: Learning how to build. Assignment of building areas. Building a 3D menu.

    Project 3: Examine other worlds - in how far do worlds match their webpage description? What is the secret of their success? What problems do they face?
    Handin: Day before class 7
    Readings: One of us - Participant observation research at the palace
    In the Cyberspace bubble: Full immersion and f2f isolation
    The basic psychological features of cyberspace
    The psychology of avatars and graphical space in multimedia chat communities
    Applying social-psychology to online groups and communities
    Comments on Project 3

    Class 6:
    Lecture: Texture, lighting, 3-D modeling Material: Basic computer graphics [Olsen et al., 1998, chapter 3]
    Geometric Transformations [Olsen et al., 1998, chapter 10]
    Lab: Teleports, Sound, Video Streaming, Linking 2-D and 3-D, etc.

    Class 7:
    Lecture: Basics of event handling and interaction Readings: Basics of event handling [Olsen et al., 1998, chapter 4]
    Lab: Presentation of 'Learning Environment' projects by collaborators.

    Project 4: Real World Project design a 'Learning Environment' in 2-D and 3-D. You will work in close collaboration with assigned partners (Ph.D. students or faculty) from different departments. Besides the teleport to your 'Learning Environment' you will have to handin a written project report.
    Handin: Post your comments for each project to the L578 Webboard by Oct 17th.  Present your project in Lab 10. Finish your project the day before class 12 (test version) and day before class 14 (final version).  Present yur project during the last class.

    Class 8:
    Lecture: Widgets / Visual interaction design: Theories and motivation - direct manipulation and intelligent agents
    Material: Widget Tool kits [Olsen et al., 1998, chapter 6], Interfaces from Widgets [Olsen et al., 1998, chapter 7]
    Lab: Discussion of projects. Go talk with your clients.

    Class 9:
    Lecture & Lab: Cyberspace and the importance of spatial structure
    Presentation of 6 papers [Anders, 1998, p.9-118]
    Space as a Medium for Understanding Our Environment and Relationships (Lilly Lu)
    Spatial Models that Help Us Think  (Maggie Swan)
    The Scale of Abstraction  (Randy Fisher)
    Body Extensions in Space  (Mark Dial)
    Navigating Cyberspace  (Tim Bowman)
    Special Issues in Designing Cyberspace (Kent Holaday)

    Technical Principles

    Class 10:
    Lecture: Threads, level of detail, collision detection Material: System design [Singhal & Zyda, 1999, chapter 6]

    Lab: Presentation of concepts & initial designs for 'Learning Environments'.

    Class 11:
    Lecture life from Super Computing!
    Networking, Scaling, and Complexity Issues Material: Networking primer [Singhal & Zyda, 1999, chapter 3] & Communication architecture [Singhal & Zyda, 1999, chapter 4] & Managing dynamic shared state [Singhal & Zyda, 1999, chapter 5] & Resource management for scalability and performance [Singhal & Zyda, 1999, chapter 7]
    Lab: Showcase & test your 'Learning Environments' - Acquire data about and from your users.

    Margaret Dolinsky will give a CAVE demo of her collaborative piece "Blue Window pane" on Nov 7th, 1:00-1:45p in the CAVE, LH 135.
    I will be on 'the other end' in Dallas, TX. You are welcome to attend.

    Student generated test questions
    Select the 5 main topics of the course and write test questions and exemplary answers. This will give you the opportunity to evaluate the course topics, reflect on what you understood, and what are good test items for the upcoming final exam. Submit result via email to katy@indiana.edu by Friday Nov 10th, 8pm.

    Future Interfaces

    Class 12:
    Lecture & Lab: Katy will be at IU's IT Advisory Retreat There will be no lecture nor lab.
    Please arrange a 1h meeting with Katy to discuss and get feedback to your 'Learning Environment'.
    Additionally, study the comments on your generated test questions for the final test. They will be linked from here on Nov 16th.

    Nov 28th, I will give a guest lecture in Susan Herring's CMC class.
    I plan to show the iUni world and you are more than welcome to be present (3-4p) and collect user data & get feedback.

    Class 13: Have a nice Thanksgiving!

    Class 14:
    Lecture: The Future Material: Perspectives and predictions [Singhal & Zyda, 1999, chapter 9]
    Extending social space to cyberspace & reconciling physical and cyberspaces
    Presentation of 3 papers [Anders, 1998, p. 119-216]
    Territories of the Mind  (Gertrud Peters)
    The Swift and Brutal Society of Gaming  (Hakan Tuzun)
    MUDs: Spatial Communities  (Symiaw Lin)
    Lab: Preparation for iUniverse party.

    Class 15 on Dec 7th:
    Lecture & Lab: iUniverse party.
    Students taking Margaret Dolinsky's Interactive Computer Arts class are coming over to LI 503 to visit iUni (esp. the ArtCafe) 11:15am to 2 pm.

    Final-Test on Mon December 11th @10:15a.m. in LI 001.
    It will be open book - you can use all your notes etc.  You will not be able to use a computer.

    Resources
    This section of the course webpage will frequently be updated. Please suggest links to include.

    Additional Reading (all these books are on reserve in the SLIS library):
    2D User Interfaces:
    Mark T. Maybury (Editor), Wolfgang Wahlster (Editor): Readings in Intelligent User Interfaces, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 1998; ISBN: 1558604448.
    Dan R. Olsen Jr., Dan E. Olsen, Dan R. Olsen: Developing User Interfaces, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 1998; ISBN: 1558604189.
    Jef Raskin: The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems. Addison-Wesley Pub Co, 2000, ISBN: 0201379376.
    Andrew Sather, Ardith Ibanez, Stefan Grunspan: Creating Killer Interactive Web Sites. Unknown, 1997, ISBN: 1568303734.
    David Siegel: Creating Killer Web Sites. Hayden Books, 1997, ISBN: 1568304331.
    Milly R. Sonneman: Beyond Words : A Guide to Drawing Out Ideas. Ten Speed Press, 1997, ISBN: 0898159113.
    Darcy Dinucci, Maria Giudice (Contributor), Lynne Stiles (Contributor): Elements of Web Design: The Designer's Guide to a New Medium. Peachpit Press, 1998, ISBN: 0201696983.

    3D Virtual Environments:
    Peter Anders: Envisioning Cyberspace: Designing 3-D Electronic Spaces, 1998, McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing; ISBN: 0070016321.
    Bruce Damer: Avatars: Exploring and Building Virtual Worlds on the Internet. Peachpit Press, 1998, ISBN: 0201688409.
    Clark Dodsworth (Editor): Digital Illusion: Entertaining the Future With High Technology, 1997, Addison-Wesley Pub Co; ISBN: 0201847809.
    Peter Washer: Digital Space: Designing Virtual Environments, McGraw-Hill, 1998. ISBN: 007069611X.
    Sandeep Singhal & Michael Zyda: Networked Virtual Environments: Design and Implementation, 1999, Addison-Wesley Pub Co; ISBN: 0201325578.

    Usability Issues:
    Jakob Nielsen: Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity. New Riders Publishing, 1999, ISBN: 156205810X.
    Jeff Johnson: GUI Bloopers Don'ts and Do's for Software Developers and Web Designers. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 2000, ISBN: 1558605827.
    Deborah J. Mayhew: The Usability Engineering Lifecycle: A Practitioner's Handbook for User Interface Design. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 1999, ISBN: 1558605614.

    Computing Services:
    University Computing Services Help Online
    Personal Home Pages (Php) at Indiana University
    IUB Tools and Guides

    Design Tools:
    Fireworks Tutorial http://www.macromedia.com/software/fireworks/
    JavaScript Made Easy! http://www.easyjavascript.com/javascript.html
    JavaScript Tutorial Links http://www.pageresource.com/jscript/javlinks.htm
    Webmasters - HTML Authoring - Javascript http://access2.hypermart.net/jscr.html
    JavaScript Guide http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/communicator/jsguide4/index.htm

    Active Worlds http://www.activeworlds.com/

    Code Validators:
    BOBBY http://www.cast.org/bobby/
    W3C HTML Validation Service http://validator.w3.org/

    Related Courses on Campus:
    U539 and T730 Interactive Computer Arts taught by Margaret Dolinsky
    CS-CI B585 Introduction to Virtual Reality and CAVE Programming taught by Eric Wernert
    T452 Human-Computer Interaction Design taught by Martin Siegel
    L574 Communication in Electronic Environments taught by Susan Herring
    T220/S500 Video Art taught by Arthur Liou
    T330/U539 Introduction to Interactive Multimedia (Computer Art II) taught by Arthur Liou
    M 595 Technology and the Customer Interface taught by Raymond R. Burke

    Other Related Courses:
    The Design of Virtual Communities taught by Amy Bruckman at Georgia Tech
    Designing Online Communities taught by Amy Jo Kim at Stanford University.
    The Psychology of Cyberspace taught by John Suler at Rider University
    The Sociology of Cyberspace taught by Peter Kollock at UCLA
    The Virtual Society: Identity, Interaction and Interface Design taught by Judith Donath at The MIT Media Lab


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    Last modified: 08/29/2000