Assigned readings are worth 5% of your overall course grade. We will assign three readings over the length of the quarter. Each assigned reading has a corresponding open-ended question that will be submitted and graded. We have set reading deadlines that give you the flexibility to read before or after the related lectures. Do whichever is best for your personal learning style.
Responses are expected to be at most a couple paragraphs. Their role is to get you engaged with and thinking about the material. They will be graded according to whether they provide evidence you understood and considered the material in responding.
We will make additional resources available on the Calendar for students to read as interested.
Researchers and designers often re-invent. Instead it is valuable to take advantage of what is already known. To do this, you need to find and understand prior results. Find and read a research paper related to your project. The paper does not necessarily have to describe an app or device. For example, the research paper may describing the results of surveys or interviews on how people currently track something related to your project.
We have discussed a number of research papers in this class from HCI-related conferences such as:
But you might find a research paper in another related field, such as psychology or medicine.
Two sites that work well for finding research papers are Google Scholar and the ACM Digital Library. The search tool for the ACM Digital Library is pretty terrible. Google search of the Digital Library can often help, like this. These resources are easiest to access while on the UW network, but you can also access them off campus using the UW Libraries proxy.
If you wish, you can do this assignment in pairs from your project team. Please have only one person submit, and remember to include both of your names in the submission.
No more than one page of text in PDF format. Also submit a PDF of the research paper you read. Submit via Canvas here:
https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/946041/assignments/2752341
This reading is worth 1.5% of your overall grade.
Read the following chapter of Tom Kelley’s book The Art of Innovation.
Among the ten design principles/lessons outlined in the chapter, identify the ones that are related to the design principles discussed in class (Norman’s principles, Nielsen’s heuristics). Some are obvious, others less so.
Write one paragraph to state and explain these relations.
Write another paragraph to describe the other principles not mentioned in class and explain how these would apply to your class project designs.
This is an individual assignment.
No more than one page of text in PDF format. Submit via Canvas here:
https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/946041/assignments/2762723
This reading is worth 1.5% of your overall grade.
Read the following chapter from Don Norman’s book, The Design of Everyday Things.
Write two to three paragraphs to discuss each of the following topics and questions.
Norman gives a diamond-based depiction of the design process; how is this different from the design diamond discussed in class (i.e. Bill Buxton’s depiction of the design process)? Which depiction do you prefer? How can the class project sequence be improved to better match Norman’s model of the design process?
According to Norman, why is universal design difficult? How can these difficulties be addressed? What is the stigma problem? How can it be addressed?
If you wish, you can do this assignment in groups of two or three people from your project team. Please have only one person submit, and remember to include all of your names in the submission.
No more than 1.5 pages of text in PDF format. You are welcome to include images or drawings. Submit via Canvas here:
https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/946041/assignments/2772004
This reading is worth 2.0% of your overall grade.