Chapter 8
In my opinion, most of chapter 8 should be omitted from the book. Although, that's a heavily biased opinion. I've already taken statistics and many cognitive science courses, so I've heard data analysis techniques many times over. What I haven't heard about before are the theories, like the grounded theory or active theory. I had heard of distributed cognition before. It was interesting reading about them, as they were something practical that data analysis could be applied to - something more than just pouring over qualitative and quantitative data.
Something else I found interesting were the examples used in the book, such as the MMORPG example. It's interesting to read about other people's findings, and to see the book use what they're teaching in a real world application.
A section I thought they could have made longer is the one where they mentioned tools to support data analysis. There are many tools out there, and to only cover a few of them seems like a shame.
Chapter 9
Chapter 9 really just seemed like a recap of everything that was discussed in the previous eight chapters. Only instead of discussing each part of interaction design in detail, the authors brought all of the previous ideas together into one big idea of how interaction design actually takes place. I suppose it's useful to see the bigger picture, although the chapter does seem a big redundant already having seen all of the finer details previously. What was useful were the new models that were discussed, and also seeing the practical applications of interaction design, such as the Microsoft XP example.
In-Class Discussions
Chumby is awesome! Except for the pricetag...
This week's technology overview was very interesting. Probably due to the fact that I had seen a lot of it before, and was already interested in it (the wii remote, chumby, having a tablet pc myself, etc). What was really interesting was SOAP. I'm actually considering building one when I get the chance. They're inexpensive, and look like a lot of fun to use. Plus, having a mouse you can use as a "pointer" from almost anywhere is awesome.
Assignment 2
For Assignment 2 we decided to do the self-checkout lanes at the Ralphs in La Jolla.
Assignment 2 turned out very well, considering there are only two of us in the group. The other members dropped after the midterm, and the students that Professor Hollan emailed about not having a group seemed uninterested in joining, so we were rather stuck. However, it turned out for the better, because it created plenty of brain-storming time for the two of us.
As far as specific contributions, I interviewed two of the four people used in our project. The two of us also spent a significant amount of time meeting out of class, and exchanging emails full of ideas - so many of the ideas developed in our project were a joint effort. However, one of the design improvements in the project was mine, which I thought was rather clever. All in all it was a very joint effort, from deciding on what we were going to examine, to conducting interviews, to examining data, and to brainstorming over design issues. The actual essay almost wrote itself near the end.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Friday, November 9, 2007
Week 6
Chapter 7
This chapter provided some useful information in getting the Assignment 2 wheels churning. It helped to see some sample questions, how to design them, and what types of questions to avoid.
I think most importantly it showed how many types of interviews there are, and how many ways those interviews can be conducted. The interview type to be used is dependant on what the interview situation is going to be like. However, I think using multiple methods is probably always the best idea. For example, doing audio recording and writing, or video taping and writing, etc etc. The more ways information is recorded, the more likely nothing is going to be missed. I also think that questionnaires would be highly useful in many situations. It would allow the interviewee some additional comments that may have not been covered in the interview. It would also ease some of the cognitive strain on the interviewer by not having to worry about forgetting important questions.
As an interesting thought in regards to the book's design, I wonder which is better - Presenting all the information on interaction design in chapters 1-6 first, as an introduction to how to conduct interviews, or presenting interview techniques first, so readers can think about them while learning about interaction design. I think that learning about interviews first would be more beneficial... But that's just my opinion.
Update on Assignment 2
We had a solid group, but it's inevitable that people drop after a midterm, and our group kinda fell apart. We're trying to find new members at the moment. On the bright side, before the midterm the group was able to meet several times, and came up with a pretty solid idea for the assignment, along with some preliminary questions to ask interviewees. I think we're pretty ahead of the game thus far. We have a solid idea and some ideas for interviewing already - things seem to be coming together nicely.
This chapter provided some useful information in getting the Assignment 2 wheels churning. It helped to see some sample questions, how to design them, and what types of questions to avoid.
I think most importantly it showed how many types of interviews there are, and how many ways those interviews can be conducted. The interview type to be used is dependant on what the interview situation is going to be like. However, I think using multiple methods is probably always the best idea. For example, doing audio recording and writing, or video taping and writing, etc etc. The more ways information is recorded, the more likely nothing is going to be missed. I also think that questionnaires would be highly useful in many situations. It would allow the interviewee some additional comments that may have not been covered in the interview. It would also ease some of the cognitive strain on the interviewer by not having to worry about forgetting important questions.
As an interesting thought in regards to the book's design, I wonder which is better - Presenting all the information on interaction design in chapters 1-6 first, as an introduction to how to conduct interviews, or presenting interview techniques first, so readers can think about them while learning about interaction design. I think that learning about interviews first would be more beneficial... But that's just my opinion.
Update on Assignment 2
We had a solid group, but it's inevitable that people drop after a midterm, and our group kinda fell apart. We're trying to find new members at the moment. On the bright side, before the midterm the group was able to meet several times, and came up with a pretty solid idea for the assignment, along with some preliminary questions to ask interviewees. I think we're pretty ahead of the game thus far. We have a solid idea and some ideas for interviewing already - things seem to be coming together nicely.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Week 5
No readings this week. Midterm review was on Tuesday and midterm was on Thursday.
So far Assignment 2 is coming along nicely. Our group already has an idea of what we want to do, and already coming up ideas of how to go about running interviews and collecting data.
So far Assignment 2 is coming along nicely. Our group already has an idea of what we want to do, and already coming up ideas of how to go about running interviews and collecting data.
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