A course project will be a major component of your work. This will require hands-on experience with HCI, while remaining open to different possibilities.
Because we assume you are new to HCI research, we do not necessarily expect you to produce publishable work. Instead, the expectation is that you will do something interesting. It is then up to you to define interesting according to what you want to accomplish in this project, while seeking appropriate feedback from staff. For example, you might choose to:
We expect most students will do projects in groups of three. We will consider groups of two, and we will generally not allow individual projects due to limited class time and resources. Working in groups is a necessary part of doing research, and it is also important for the logistics of this course.
Some sample project ideas, gathered from faculty and researchers, have been made available here:
You can also use that discussion to identify potential project partners and to post your own ideas.
Project deliverables are defined in terms of a proposal, a survey of recent related research, a pair of self-defined milestones, and a final report.
Your proposal will define your initial plan for this project. You can and should update this plan based on feedback, progress, and findings. The proposal therefore needs to demonstrate a robust initial plan for your project, but your project is expected to evolve as appropriate and necessary.
You are welcome and even encouraged to align your project with your research goals outside this course. However, it is critical to define what you will specifically accomplish in the course project. The course project must stand on its own even if drawn from a larger research context.
Proposals consist of a short document and a short in-class presentation.
Prepare a 1 page document addressing the following points:
What makes the project interesting? What is the problem or research question?
What is the pain point you want to solve, the new capability you want to enable, or the research you want to explore?
What existing understanding of the problem has been developed?
For a research proposal, this will briefly cover the most important related work in the space you are exploring.
For a design proposal, this will introduce existing solutions, why they fall short, and the potential opportunity.
What milestones will the group plan to accomplish?
There are two milestone reports in the quarter, one early and one late. These are opportunities for feedback and guidance from staff and classmates.
Explain what your group will plan to accomplish by each of these milestones. You will be asked to revisit these plans during those milestone reports.
What might the group explicitly decide to omit?
Progress requires compromise, as you cannot accomplish everything. Explain what aspects of the project you might choose to ignore or defer in this course. This is your opportunity to scope the project appropriately for this course.
Prepare a presentation consisting of 3 to 4 slides. Each group will give a short in-class presentation.
This is an opportunity for feedback from staff and classmates. Your presentation should cover the same information as the document. Our primary goal is feedback, not a formal presentation. Please be appropriately candid, thoughtful, and engaged.
Sample project proposals from prior offerings have been made available here:
Course staff will be available to meet and provide early feedback as desired.
Meeting is optional. You can also email to request feedback or to inquire about arranging another time to meet. Sign up for the reserved meeting times here:
Submit your proposal document in PDF format and your proposal presentation in PDF, PPT, or PPTX format.
Be sure to consider guidance on
A survey of recent related research serves to inform and help scope your intended contributions. Reviewing related work can often slip until late in a course project sequence, so this activity structures some early engagement with the literature.
Identify at least 8 papers that can inform or are otherwise related to your group research project. These should be recent papers (e.g., any CHI 2020 paper is obviously appropriate, but you could also identify other recent or upcoming papers).
For each paper, prepare a short summary that includes:
Note that identifying such papers and preparing these summaries does not necessarily require deep engagement with the full details of the papers (e.g., as you would when reviewing a paper, directly building upon a paper, or reading one of the assigned papers for deep in-class discussion). Be sure you understand the papers at a level appropriate for discussing them as related research, but prioritize identifying relevant papers over pre-maturely going in-depth on papers that may ultimately be less relevant.
Also note this intentionally is a group assignment. We do not expect or require that everybody in your group will have read all of the papers you identify.
Submit your survey of recent related research in PDF format:
Two milestone reports serve as a check on the trajectory of your project and an opportunity for feedback and guidance from staff and classmates. Convey the state of your project and your plans for the remainder of the quarter.
Milestone reports consist of a short document and a short in-class presentation.
Prepare a 1 page document addressing the following points:
Prepare a presentation consisting of 3 to 4 slides. Each group will give a short in-class presentation.
This is an opportunity for feedback from staff and classmates. Your presentation should cover the same information as the document. Our primary goal is feedback, not a formal presentation. Please be appropriately candid, thoughtful, and engaged.
Milestone 1
Milestone 2
Submit your milestone document in PDF format and your milestone presentation in PDF, PPT, or PPTX format.
Milestone 1 document and presentation:
Milestone 2 document and presentation:
Be sure to consider guidance on
Prepare a final report that is 4 to 10 pages in length, excluding references.
Your final report should be presented in the same general structure as the papers you read this quarter:
Write according to the content you have. Be appropriately thorough and precise in your presentation, but do not needlessly pad your text.
Format your report according to the current CHI format:
https://chi2020.acm.org/authors/chi-proceedings-format/
Additional guidance regarding effective paper writing can be found in:
Submit your final report document in PDF format: