Week Eleven: Case study and finished coursework

This is the first week back from the Christmas holidays and it was taking me a while to get back into the correct mind-set for work, however by the end of the week I felt like I hadn’t even had a break! In the lab this week we went over what to include in a discussion, the tutor then looked at my presentation and blog for coursework two and three respectively. In the lecture we continued with the foundations of interaction design including good and bad design. Over the holidays I completed the case study and the majority of the write up for coursework two.

I learnt that good design should focus on simplicity and understanding of what users really want from a product. It involves creating user experiences that enhance and extends what a user can do. Design should focus on simplicity and understanding of what users really want from a product to develop usable products. Usability is defined as easy to learn, effective and providing an enjoyable experience. I also learnt that there are a number of questions to think about when designing a product, including: who are the intended users? What activities are they likely to perform? And what interaction method is taking place?

Over the Christmas holidays I had my first opportunity to conduct a case study. It was an interesting experiment and enjoyable to conduct, I felt like I was conducting my first proper piece of research. Next week I have to present my findings to the class and this will be my first presentation at university. In a way I’m looking forward to it and in another I can’t wait until it’s over!

These eleven weeks studying interaction design have consisted of many ups and downs. I have thoroughly enjoyed learning the foundations of this vast subject, carrying out my first proper research project, and designing an interactive TV. Before beginning the course I was apprehensive to say the least, I believed that this module wouldn't be much use to me in any future carer. After studying the module for eleven weeks, my view has completely changed. This module is one of my favourites and I have enjoyed completing the work that has been set and learning all I can about the facets of interaction design. I am also greatly looking forward to continuing studying this subject and it may become not only relevant to any future carer but the basis of any future job decisions.

Week Ten: New Course Leader

During this lecture we found out that we have new course leaders, at least three of them! This will result in a “shake up” of the current module and will hopefully benefit us as students. We spent the first half of the lecture going over certain rules that we should all abide by, I believe this talk was essential because lectures are currently too noisy. The second half of the lecture we went over the foundations of interaction and iterative design.

The first thing I learnt this week was that I have to give a presentation about my research project, this wasn’t welcome news but acceptable especially when taking into consideration the extension we were given. Important principles of interaction design include: the target audience (needs and requirements), usability, user experience, and evaluation of design faults. I also learnt that the iterative design is used to develop understanding, creating design ideas, and testing out ideas. The “faces” of iterative design are shown in the diagram below.

This week I have been thinking about the type of research method I should use because a questionnaire is no longer applicable to my current research. After speaking to my tutor during the laboratory session, I have decided to use an experiment within a case study. I will have a single participant that will carry out an emotion matching test (match faces showing emotions to the words of those emotion), an intervention (playing the FaceSay game) and will finally take the emotion matching tests again to see if there is any improvement in their results.

Week Nine: New Tutor

This week as I entered the classroom I was not greeted by the usual tutor but a new one called Marian. Our new tutor started the lesson by explaining to everyone that there is an extension to our research coursework which, to be honest, made my week! She then went on to explain what to put into the appendix and what to write in a conclusion. Outside of class I was part of a research project conducted by the lecturer's aid, it was interesting to see the process from the participant’s view-point.

The new tutor helped everyone individually with their research coursework, and in doing so, taught me what to put into my appendix (full results, completed questionnaire) and what to write in my conclusion (what reasonable conclusions can I draw from my work? And how can I support those claims?). I also learnt how to design and implement a good questionnaire; this may prove useful for my project.

I have been researching different pieces of interactive software designed to aid individuals with autism in a variety of ways. I have decided I would like to base my research project on this software, in particular FaceSay, an interactive video game by Symbionica. Therefore my new question will be: “Can FaceSay, an interactive video game, be used to aid an individual with a moderate ASD to develop their understanding of human emotion?”

FaceSay, designed to improve emotion recognition and social interaction in individuals with autism

Week Eight: New Research Topic

We began this week’s laboratory session by discussing a petition that had been created and signed by some of the students. I don't believe the details of petition should be spoken about online and are therefore not going to discuss that any further. We then went on to speak about the scores we had received for coursework one, and why certain people had received certain scores. I was given more feedback on this blog and lastly, we looked to the future and went through our research proposals and decided the best way to move forward with our research and designing the final document.

This week I learnt about designing a blog and that it is best to use a simple template rather than a cluttered, over-stimulating template. Luckily my blog has always had a simple template, although I do want to add a few extra features in the not too distant future. Whilst, I was doing well on one piece of coursework it turned out that my research question for coursework two is too broad; ambient intelligence is a large subject, possibly too large for my first research project. This is a shame because I had already conducted the questionnaire; however I can use everything I learnt to improve my new project.

For the next week I need to concentrate on deciding a new research topic. It will most likely still include some aspect of autistic spectrum disorder, as this interest me greatly, however it will no longer include ambient intelligence. I could possibly review an interactive piece of software that has been designed to aid people with autism.

Week Seven: Reading Week

I did not need to attend class this week, as it was a pseudo reading week for our interaction design laboratory. I used the time gained to conduct a questionnaire for my research project. My research project is based on the question: “Can ambient intelligence technology be designed and employed in an office environment to aid an individual with a moderate autistic spectrum disorder?” This subject interests me greatly and I have been enjoying the tasks thoroughly.

In the lecture we went through different methods of finding research material online. This should prove useful for researching ambient intelligence and autistic spectrum disorder. I also learnt about the evolution of the television and the increasingly prevalent use of second screens. The use of a second screen allows viewers to interact with the content they're viewing in real-time. Lastly, I received my coursework results; I managed to get 88% and am happy with that result.

Whilst I have been studying human-computer interaction, I have stumbled upon a variant of this study called human-environment interaction. This involves ambient intelligent devices and a principle called the ‘disappearing computer’. The computer is hidden from the user and integrated into ‘smart’ environments. One way to achieve this would be to study existing physical objects and to augment their physical properties with computers that extend their functions.

Week Six: My blog

As I entered the lab this week I was given a sheet of paper with comments about my blog. I was initially happy with my comments as their weren't too many negative statements; however it was a trap of sorts. My blog was used as an example for the rest of the class, where it was their job to find the faults. Although it was an ordeal, it did help me discover all of the mistakes I have made with this blog. After that we went through the research and design coursework and we found out that we do not have a lab next week.

With the help of the class, the faults with my blog have been exposed, these included: too much writing for each post, the lack of titles, and the absence of ‘home’ and ‘about me’ pages. I now intend to edit the design and content of this blog to take on board everything I have now learnt. In the lecture we compared dedicated devices with multi-purpose devices such as smart phones. I learnt that while most multi-purpose devices can perform their jobs admirably, they don’t normally compare favourably with devices built for a specific purpose.

It’s interesting to think about user's requirements and how they’ve evolved as time has passed. This shows that individuals don’t really know what is possible. Just under ten years ago, individuals would not have wanted portable music players, but now a large majority owns them. As a designer, it is important to realise that user requirements are forever evolving and what was once so important to individuals can one day become undesirable.

Week Five: Research proposal

In the lab this week we began by discussing the blog we have been asked to create. We examined what constitutes good and bad design and how we can incorporate this into our blog. Coursework two, a research and design project, was also briefly discussed. As I have already decided on my question, the overview of the different topics within Interaction design was not needed, but interesting nonetheless.

There are many different mistakes that individuals make when creating a blog, the most common include having inconsistent and confusing menus, unreadable text, and spelling and grammatical errors. Over the following weeks I hope to improve the design and content of my blog to make sure that it does not contain any of these common mistakes; I will also be improving the design so that the blog is more aesthetically pleasing and unique.

This week I have to been reading through many books on Interaction Design and I’ve come across a particular field that interests me. I spoke about it briefly last week, and that is Ambient Intelligence. If these devices were wide spread, then we could have a world that learns and adapts to how we live our public (and possibly private) life. This is an immensely fascinating prospect but also equally terrifying, important questions would need to be answered before such a system could exist, including:

• Who would have access to these systems and the data they collect?
• What limits would be placed on that data?
• What security measures would be in place to protect our most sensitive data?