Overview

Assigned readings are worth 5% of your overall course grade.

We expect to assign approximately four readings over the length of the quarter. Each assigned reading has a corresponding open-ended question that will be submitted and graded. We have tried to 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 several 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 for students as interested.

Assigned Readings (Individual assignments)

Reading 1: Empathy on the Edge

Due: Uploaded Thursday, April 13, 2017 (before section on Friday, April 14, 2017).

Read:

• Empathy on the Edge

After reading, consider how you might apply this approach to your proposed project.

Submit a one page text reflecting on how you will establish empathy for the particular population that you chose to design for with two questions:

(1) What would be the ideal way of learning about the particular population that you chose to design for?

(2) What is a feasible way of learning about the particular population that you chose to design for?

No more than one page of text in PDF format.

Submit via Canvas here:

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1138137/files?preview=41599091

Reading 2: Storyboarding and Video Prototyping

Due: Uploaded Tuesday, May 2, 2017.

Read these storyboarding resources:

• Colville-Hyde (2016). UX Comics: Visually Communicating User Experiences.
• Excerpts from Greenberg et al. (2012). Sketching User Experiences: The Workbook

Specifically, that is these videos:

• Mackay Stop Motion
• Mackay Stop Motion Result
• Document Interaction on Microsoft Surface
• Context Lens on Microsoft Surface
• Don’t Forget 1
• Don’t Forget 2
• Don’t Forget 3
• Buddy Map Backcountry
• Consumester
• Pickup
• Graffiti Karma
• ParkSmart
• Plantr

Optionally, check out these additional storyboarding resources:

• Greenberg et al. (2012). Sketching User Experiences: The Workbook.
• Truong, Hayes, and Abowd. (2006). Storyboarding: An Empirical Determination of Best Practices and Effective Guidelines.
• Quesenbery and Brooks. (2010). Storytelling for User Experience.
• McCloud (1993). Understanding Comics.

Optionally, check out these high-production “vision of the future” video prototypes:

• Starfire
• Knowledge Navigator
• A Day Made of Glass

The Starfire video prototype is notable for including a ‘bug’, where the system behaves in a manner counter to the person’s wishes, but consistent with how we might expect such technology to work. For fun, see if you can spot this ‘bug’ in the video.

After viewing and considering these examples, think about what approaches were more or less effective.

• In one paragraph, describe a technique you saw in these examples that was highly effective (i.e., in either storyboarding or video prototyping, in the readings or the videos), which you might therefore want to apply in your storyboarding or video prototyping. Be specific, such that it is clear you considered the examples. Discuss why it was effective.
• In one paragraph, describe a technique you saw that was ineffective (i.e., in either storyboarding or video prototyping, in the readings or the videos), which you might therefore want to be mindful of in your storyboarding or video prototyping. Be specific, such that it is clear you considered the examples. Discuss why it was ineffective.

These examples thus support your reflection on how to effectively convey a design. Techniques in these and other examples will also directly apply as you prepare your storyboards and video prototypes.

No more than one page of text in PDF format.

Submit via Canvas here:

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1138137/assignments/3728281

Reading 3: Usability Testing

Due: Uploaded Friday, May 12, 2017.

Read:

• Usability Testing - Research Methods in Human-Computer Interaction

Then write one paragraph answering the following two questions:

• What are the different kinds of usability tests and what advantages do they each offer?
• In what stages of the project can these tests be performed?

Write another paragraph that answers this third question:

• Applying what you’ve learned from the reading to your group project, how would you select quantitative measurements for your usability tests? What are the key metrics for your project? Justify your choices.

Note that even though we ask you to think about your group project, this is an individual assignment.

No more than one page of text in PDF format.

Submit via Canvas here:

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1138137/assignments/3735329