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Meeting time: Tu., Th., 10-11:30
Location: MD 221
Instructor: Krzysztof Gajos
Teaching Fellow: Bernd Huber
Prerequisites: None for CS graduate students; for undergrads CS 179 is strongly recommended and permission of the instructor is required. Basic web hacking ability is required to implement and deploy web-based experiments.
The course covers major areas of inquiry and core research methods in Human-Computer Interaction including experimental design, statistical data analysis, and qualitative methods. Activities will include discussion of primary literature, a small number of lectures, assignments (design, execution and analysis of both lab-based and on-line experiments), and a research project.
Special focus this year is on social computing and crowd-powered systems. Specifically, we will look at the design and analysis of systems, in which crowds of intrinsically motivated volunteers contribute to meaningful and non-trivial human computation tasks as a byproduct of doing something that they are motivated to do anyway.
Designed for first year grads from all areas. Advanced undergraduates welcome, particularly those who wish to do research (or write a thesis) in an area related to Human-Computer Interaction.
This course will introduce you to the current research topics in Human-Computer Interaction and it will give you opportunity to learn and practice some of the fundamental research methods (experiment design, data analysis). The final research project (usually done in pairs) will give you a chance to generate your own novel HCI research contribution. The focus this year is on social computing and crowd-powered systems, but we will visit many other major topics in HCI. For final projects, you will be encouraged to engage this year's theme, but well motivated requests to do something different will be considered (though not always granted).
After taking this class:
This is a seminar-style course. During most meetings, we will discuss research papers (which you will have read and provided written feedback on prior to class). There will also be occasional lectures, in-class presentation and discussion of project proposals, and some in-class design activities.
There will be a small number of formal homework assignments and a substantial final research project (typically done in teams of 2 or 3).
This is a seminar-style course. All students are expected to:
Grading will be based on:
Email the class list (not just the instructor or the TF) prior to missing the class and offer your apologies. In this class, we learn from each other so your absence will have a negative impact on the learning experience of others. You do not have to divulge the reason for your absence if it is something personal that you would prefer to keep private.
It is unlikely, but possible, that some piece of technology we use in the course breaks. For example, we may forget to upload the paper you are supposed to read, the Canvas site may go dead, etc. If you detect a problem, please follow these steps:
We have collectively agreed that digital devices can be used in class for class-related activities (paper reading, note taking, looking up relevant info). People with bright upright screens will take care to sit at a location where their screens are not visible to others so as not to distract them. If a person engages in distracting off-topic activities on their digital device, it is OK to give them a gentle nudge.
In this class, as in research, learning from others is key --- you are free to discuss any aspect of most assignments or projects with others. But you must acknowledge any source of substantial help. We will provide more specific collaboration policies for each of the assignments and for the project.