17.7. HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION (1.44)

This is a guide for students attempting Human Computer Interaction in digital technologies achievement standard 1.44 (AS91074). In order to fully cover the standard, you will also need to have done projects covering the topics of Algorithms and Programming Languages, and included these in your report. ## 17.7.1\. OVERVIEW[](http://csfieldguide.org.nz/appendices/1.44%20-%20HCI%20-%20Assessment%20Guide.html#overview "Permalink to this headline") Human Computer Interaction has the following bullet points in achievement standard 1.44, which this guide covers. **Achieved**: “describing the role of a user interface and factors that contribute to its usability” **Merit**: “explaining how different factors of a user interface contribute to its usability” **Excellence**: “discussing how different factors of a user interface contribute to its usability by comparing and contrasting related interfaces” As with all externally assessed reports, you should base your explanations around personalised examples. ## 17.7.2\. READING FROM THE COMPUTER SCIENCE FIELD GUIDE[](http://csfieldguide.org.nz/appendices/1.44%20-%20HCI%20-%20Assessment%20Guide.html#reading-from-the-computer-science-field-guide "Permalink to this headline") You should read and work through the interactives in the following sections of the CS Field Guide in order to prepare yourself for the assessed project. Read all of these sections, as they give the necessary introduction of the topic 3.1 - What’s the Big Picture? 3.2 - Users and Tasks Read one (or both if you are keen) of these sections as they will give you some ideas for evaluating an interface in your project. 3.3 - Interface Usability 3.4 - Usability Heuristics ## 17.7.3\. PROJECT[](http://csfieldguide.org.nz/appendices/1.44%20-%20HCI%20-%20Assessment%20Guide.html#project "Permalink to this headline") In this project, you will carry out a usability evaluation carrying out a specific task with a chosen interface. Unless you are good at seeing things from other people’s perspectives, it is best to find a helper who will carry out the task with the interface with you observing them ### 17.7.3.1\. CHOOSING AN INTERFACE[](http://csfieldguide.org.nz/appendices/1.44%20-%20HCI%20-%20Assessment%20Guide.html#choosing-an-interface "Permalink to this headline") The interface you choose should be one your helper is not familiar with, Because you will need to compare related interfaces for excellence, make sure you choose an interface for which you will also be able to find a second related interface to compare with (e.g. two different alarm clocks). The second interface should also be one you are not familiar with (otherwise you will be biased). Your interface should also be specific. By this we mean it should just have one obvious function. e.g. texting capabilities of a cellphone, file chooser on a computer, etc. iPhone vs Samsung Phone, or Windows vs Macintosh are too general as there are thousands of aspects to these interfaces! You would need to pick specific apps or programs within them that typically only need a few steps to complete a task. Some possible pairs of interfaces you could use are: * Online booking systems for two different airlines (e.g. Air NZ vs Jetstar) * Two different friend’s cell phones * Two different email clients you have never used before (don’t forget about the many webmail clients. Even signing up for webmail addresses could prove to be challenging in some cases!) * Try heating something in 2 different microwaves. Cheap microwaves are notorious for being inconsistent and illogical to use. [Note that running a microwave with nothing in it will damage it! You would be best to put something inside it while you are experimenting with its interface. Water in a microwave safe glass is fine] * Find a couple of apps/ programs/ for setting an alarm (many exist). You could choose ones that go on a phone or on your computer, or one of each. A physical alarm clock would be good. * Two different drawing programs you have never used before Note that an interface you designed yourself is unsuitable because you will know how it works in great detail. ### 17.7.3.2\. CHOOSING A TASK WITH THE INTERFACE[](http://csfieldguide.org.nz/appendices/1.44%20-%20HCI%20-%20Assessment%20Guide.html#choosing-a-task-with-the-interface "Permalink to this headline") Once you have chosen an interface, you need to think of one or two common tasks that are carried out with your chosen interface. The tasks should be specific. Some tasks (depending on the interfaces you chose) could be: * Setting an alarm that will ring at 4:25am tomorrow to catch an early flight (or for a more sophisticated interface, at 7:25am on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday i.e. all weekdays except Thursday) * Sending a text to a friend that says “What are you doing at 3pm today? :-)” [Symbols are good to include in the message] * Changing a phone background to a photo you found online * Heating some food or water in a microwave for 1 minute, 20 seconds * Booking the cheapest flight that will arrive before 11 AM in Auckland from Christchurch, on the next Saturday (stop once you get to the part that asks for payment details!) * Draw a smiley face with a drawing program. Put your name below the smiley face. ### 17.7.3.3\. WRITING YOUR REPORT[](http://csfieldguide.org.nz/appendices/1.44%20-%20HCI%20-%20Assessment%20Guide.html#writing-your-report "Permalink to this headline") In order to satisfy the requirements of the standard, you should do the following and include all your answers in your report. A photos and screenshots of your interface and various aspects of it are useful to include. **Achieved** What is the purpose of the interface(s) you have chosen? How will they help the user achieve their task? **Achieved/ Merit (Note that this is needed for achieved, but should also cover merit)** Try carrying out your chosen task with one of the interfaces, or observe a helper carrying out the task. Take notes of every time you or your helper are confused, select an incorrect option (or menu), something happens you didn’t expect (no matter how minor it is), something happens that wastes time, etc. (there is some more detail on doing this here: [http://www.cs4fn.org/usability/cogwalkthrough.php](http://www.cs4fn.org/usability/cogwalkthrough.php)) Think back to sections 3.3 and/or 3.4 of the book. Explain the characteristics of the interface that caused the problems you identified. Which characteristics of the interface made it easy for the user to figure out how to carry out the task? Be sure to briefly describe the context of each characteristic (e.g. what was the user trying to accomplish at the time? What were they expecting to see happen)? You should explain 2 or 3 characteristics (2 is fine if you are attempting excellence, as you will have 4 characteristics between the 2 interfaces which is enough!). **Excellence** Carry out the chosen task with the second interface, and do the same as you did for Achieved/Merit with it (consider similar characteristics to before, and focus on seeing if the second interface has similar issues to the first interface). What was different between the two interfaces? Which interface did you (or your helper) prefer using? Why? If you were designing an interface that could be used for the same task, which ideas would you take from each interface? ## 17.7.4\. HINTS FOR SUCCESS[](http://csfieldguide.org.nz/appendices/1.44%20-%20HCI%20-%20Assessment%20Guide.html#hints-for-success "Permalink to this headline") * Be careful to talk about interface usability rather than just features. For example, a cell phone might have a fancy camera able to take very high resolution photos (a feature), but what we’re interested in is how easy it actually is for somebody to take a photo with the camera (a usability factor), especially how easy it is to go from having the phone in your pocket to getting the photo, or from taking the photo to sharing or printing it. * If your helper struggles to complete the task with the interface, it is likely to be because the interface was not designed well for them. This gives you great material for your project - look for the reasons they had trouble and don’t blame them, as it isn’t their fault. * Choose an interface that you or your helper rarely/ never use, otherwise you may be blind to usability issues because you’ve got used to working with them! * Don’t evaluate an interface you designed yourself. As we said in the book, the designer knows the interface really well, and is the worst person to evaluate it! * The page limit given by NZQA for the length of your report includes your work on algorithms and programming languages. The limit provides enough space to write an excellent report, but to avoid blowing out the page length: * Try to keep photos/ screenshots large enough to see, but not so large they take up needless amounts of space. * If you write concisely and clearly, you may be able to cover all the requirements with a page or less of writing (excluding pictures). This is fine, and in fact desirable for the marker as long as you have covered all the requirements. ## 17.7.5\. RECOMMENDED NUMBER OF PAGES[](http://csfieldguide.org.nz/appendices/1.44%20-%20HCI%20-%20Assessment%20Guide.html#recommended-number-of-pages "Permalink to this headline") Within the 3 pages we recommend for Human Computer Interaction, you should include a few images of your interface, and some explanations of the usability factors. For the project outlined above, a possible breakdown is: * ½ page of text introducing the topic, your chosen interface, and chosen tasks. (**Achieved**) * ½ page of text explaining the usability factors identified in the first observation. (**Achieved/Merit**) * ½ page of text explaining usability factors identified in the second observation (**Excellence**) * ½ page of text discussing comparing the two interfaces (**Excellence**) * Up to 1 page worth of images (mixed with the above); ensure they are shrunk down enough that they are legible but not wasting space. You may decided instead to do a little more writing and include a fewer images. These are *maximums*, not targets! The key to this topic is writing succinctly. Be careful to not ramble. You might not be able to include everything you wanted to; this is okay. Just prioritise and focus on the most interesting 2 or 3 issues for each interface. Note that if you go over 3 or 4 pages for Human Computer Interaction, then you may have to use fewer pages for one of the other two topics, which could be problematic. No other material should be included for Human Computer Interaction. For example, don’t include a list of heuristics explaining each one, or a list of general usability factors. You should only describe factors that directly relate to your chosen user interfaces.