Class Notes for Th, 04.17.2007

All,

I’ve posted notes from today’s lecture. You can find the notes using either of the two links below:

• Freemind Format (open in Freemind)
• XHTML Format

Regards,

-Bob
rmolnar[at]indiana[dot]edu

Class Notes for Tu, 25 Mar 2008

All,

I’ve posted notes from today’s lecture. You can find the notes using either of the two links below:

• Freemind Format (open in Freemind)
• XHTML Format

Regards,

-Bob
rmolnar[at]indiana[dot]edu

Class Notes for Tu, 18 Mar 2008

All,I’m so happy to back among friends. Thanks to everyone for your kind words and messages in the past four weeks — it meant a lot.

I’ve posted notes from today’s lecture. You can find the notes using either of the two links below:

• Freemind Format (open in Freemind)
• XHTML Format

Regards,

-Bob
rmolnar[at]indiana[dot]edu

Lecuture Live Blog 03.18.2008

Now the course will shift with emphasis on skills and prototyping in a variety of dimensions (e.g. paper, lo/hi-fi, experience..). We will still be connecting this portion of the course to our earlier discussions on theories (e.g. hermeneutics,  phenomenology, etc..).

Examples of Prototyping (that is, particular portions of these phenomena):

• processes
• sequences
• conceptual models/frameworks
• interfaces
• products
• experiences

We’re not just designing an interface, but rather an ecosystem and prototyping can help flesh out some of the complex issues surrounding your design and its impact on direct and indirect stakeholders.

• when you make a prototype focus in on a core question–this helps design the process through which you’ll create your prototype
• we can use theory to take old methodologies (which have certain assumption that don’t really apply any longer) and create new (and more relevant) approaches (e.g. transition to experience prototyping)

Notion of triangulation

• concept taken from ethnography
• a professional observer joins a particular community
• strategy is to get three independent streams of data (e.g. survey, interview, observation) & then look for patterns emerging among all three
• Contextual Inquiry has pracitioners creating 5 types data in order to see patterns emerging among them

Take home points:

• We must distinguish between formulating vs. evaluating ideas
  • formulating = not good idea, needs iteration (good for low fidelity)
  • evaluating = think you are pretty close and testing to see how well it (i.e. the idea) works (good for high fidelity)
• Distinguish between things (e.g. interfaces), logic, and processes
  • aspects of products (e.g. experiential dimensions of interaction)
  • logic (e.g. IA, organizational structure)
  • sequences of tasks
• Low vs. High Technology Prototypes
  • do not assume a correlation between low/high tech & low/high fidelity

Facebook in-class design assignment for Thursday’s class.

Lecture Live Blog 03.06.08

Humans become accessories to the machine

Four problems with rationalism in HCI

1. idealizes computing, not seen in use
2. users become accessories t othe machine
   1. (nbearers of mental models, informaiton processing devices)
3. Computers in use is what we care about, rather than computers in the abstract. Rationalist approaches are not always good at getting at this.
4. If a computer system is universal and abstract, it is something. But what about emergent use (e.g. appropriation of technology for new uses).

Ontology–the theory of what is

Winograd & Flores’ book Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design bring up the notion of ontological design–that is, recognizing that we design technology and technology designs us.

Technology designs (and how they affect us) are always moving targets and, interpretation and criticism are necessary to shed light on these effects.

Ethnography is thick description often interpretive of social discourse (discourse meaning a collection of expressions (in Dilthey’s sense)). Writing ethnography is a process of writing people’s sense-making processes in ways that other (from outside the group) can understand. The notion of thick description largely comes from Clifford Geertz’s classic book Interpretation of Cultures.

Key features to take away from McCarthy & Wright, ch. 2

Unconcealment–deliberately try to expose things that are hidden, reveal hidden assumptions (e.g. design is often driven by management, which has political implications)

Imagining Futures (and the notion of bliss)–interaction design has serious implications and transforms society. computing needs to start bringing us true happiness (e.g. if we’re computers all day now, they must go beyond just being usable)

Political Considerations–social justice, sustainability

Emphasis on local meaning (rather than objective truth)–what does this mean for the intersubjective group that I’m studying?

Desire to find what will enlighten people, rather than solve a particular business problem–what would make me a more skilled professional

Concern over longterm sociocultural effects

Post your questions for the final project on the blog!
Jeff quote for today: “Watch your head–dongles everywhere!”

Lecture Live Blog 03.04.2008

Kengo Kuma, Tea room building as a critical act

• the construction of the building out of paper is a critique of human spaces and the effect of these spaces on human interaction and condition
  • tea space is built according to the scale of a human (rather than scale of a car, etc..)
  • a notion of temporality, social arrangement, and ritual are in mind when tea houses are constructed
  • material dimensions of tea house connect to the context it is situated in (i.e. natural surroundings)
• How has this aesthetic been translated from exteriors to modern interiors?
  •  make buildings harmonize with their environments, even when those environments aren’t always natural
  • the construction of an artificial garden might be reflected in the tea shelter that it is constructed within
  • might use natural outside light as a means of lighting the minimalist interior surroundings
  • the material of wood is helps construct a warm aesthetic (particularly when paired with incoming natural light)
    • opposed to cold color of concrete
  • use of glass to pull the outside in (in a natural, bucolic setting)
    • achieving a natural aesthetic instead of paneling with wood
  • tea house geometry is incorporated throughout interior design
    when you do design, you intentional intervene in the world to make it a better place and as you engage in any type of design you are acting as a critic
• when you do design, you intentionally intervene in the world to make it a better place and as you engage in any type of design you are acting as a critic
  • to design is to critique

Experience design: is it a change in title, or is it an underlying change in methodology?

Interesting shift in the history of Western philosophy
(in medias res)

•  Nietzsche declared “god is dead”
  • what he did not mean: there was once a god and it died
  • what he meant: there never was a god and we’re finally acknowledging it as a civilization
    • if it is the case  that god is dead, then what is the foundation of philosophy?
• Anselm declared “I believe in order to understand”
  • thus, believing in god was the grounds of scientific reasoning
  • Nietzche’s statement completely upends this perspective
• Camus and the idea of the “absurd”
  • no god and no purpose for our existence and everything that tells us what we should and shouldn’t do no longer holds any weight
  • in this world, can we live ethically
  • can their be an atheist saint?
• In HCI, we are the Camus
  • HCI historically has been a rationalist field
  • many movements over the past several years have rejected this perspective (e.g. McCarthy & Wright)
• Rationalism 101
  • separation of the mind and body (mind-body dualism)
  • Mind = thinking & knowing
    • truth | understanding | intention
    • abstract symbolic representations & systems of truth (e.g. Nielsen’s heuristic)
    • think first (i.e. form an intention) and then we act
  • Body = material things in the world
    • acting | bodies | the world

Take home question: If god were to come up with a usability framework, what would it look like?

02.28.2008 Lecture–Critical Review

The critique assignment is due by midnight, February 29 (thank leap year!).

• make your writing concise and don’t go too much over the word limit
• iterate on your ideas throughout the process from constructing your outline to written drafts
• use the writing tutorial services , number = 812-855-6738

Critical reflection on the course:
We began the course by drawing on perspectives (e.g. Dilthey, Dewey, Turner, etc..) to understand what experience is (and the distinction between experience and an experience). This month we’ve been focusing on critical approaches to interpreting experience and how this can help inform design practice. The course will soon shift to applying this collective knowledge to experience design projects. The critique assignment gives you an opportunity to apply the dense theoretical work we’ve been talking about to specific phenomena (in the form of critical judgment–not a mere opinion!).

All of the works we’ve read this month have certain underlying themes in common:

Criticism / Judgment

• differs greatly from opinion–they are analytical and oftentimes explicit about criteria (for criticism)
• involves taking an explicit stance
  • case example: universal accessibility (e.g. universal design)

Hermeneutics

Remediation

How do you establish critical competence? How do you yourself distinguish the validity or viability of your own thoughts and emerging critical perspectives of phenomena? There’s no framework or cookbook for doing this, however the following can play an important role in helping you along the way:

Theoretical vocabularies–help you think about phenomena and use a language to engage in productive (and thus critical) discussions

Many examples-encountering and examining a wide scope of related phenomena in the world

Many experiences–drawing on a wealth of experiences of acting (and reflecting on these interactions) in the world

Critical self-reflection–reflection, or meta-analysis, is an important part of the process to constructing a critical argument (ties closely with Donald Schon’s theorizing in the Reflective Practitioner

*These elements are constitutive of cultivating critical discourse. Feel free to use this blog to engage in critical exercises.

Also, for those interested, there’s an interesting discussion of critical design featured on designobserver..

Class Notes for Th, 14 Feb 2008

All,

I’ve posted notes from today’s lecture. You can find the notes using either of the two links below:

• Freemind Format (open in Freemind)
• XHTML Format

Regards,

-Bob
rmolnar[at]indiana[dot]edu

All,

Class Notes for Tu, 12 Feb 2008

All,I’ve posted notes from today’s lecture. You can find the notes using either of the two links below:

• Freemind Format (open in Freemind)
• XHTML Format

Regards,

-Bob
rmolnar[at]indiana[dot]edu

Class Notes for Th, 31 Jan 2008

All,Finally, here are the notes from last Thursday, 31 January 2008:

• Freemind Format (open in Freemind)
• XHTML Format

Regards,

-Bob
rmolnar[at]indiana[dot]edu