Organisation of the Module

The module consists of eight topics. These are:

You can think of these topics as forming three groups. This topic and the following one motivate the study of human–computer interaction. Human–Computer Interaction is an applied academic discipline whose goal is to assist designers develop usable interactive systems. The Usability topic explores what is meant by the notion of usability.

The second group of topics (Modelling Requirements, Interfaces and Design and Evaluation) develop core HCI material by taking you through the stages of a simplified user-centered design process. In Modelling Requirements we show you how to move from a broad investigation of the context of use of the intended system to an abstract representation of the system. The two key design artefacts (and the associated methods) are Scenarios and User Environment Design (UED). Then, in Interfaces and Design, the devices themselves and the interaction methods and styles associated with them are discussed. We also include an explanation of the role of guidelines. The last topic of this group takes you through the more commonly used evaluation methods that are used in the iterative refinement of the protoype system.

It is important that you recognise that Modelling Requirements takes a novel approach in the way it combines scenarios and UED. Interfaces and Design and Evaluation, on the other hand, cover fairly routine text book material.

The third and final group of topics can be considered as advanced or specialist. User-centred Design in Practice broadens the earlier material on user-centered design and looks at some case study material. Help and Support Systems looks at the design of user-support systems. Finally, Frameworks for HCI introduces three theoretical frameworks which broaden the rather narrow focus of much of the early work in HCI, based as it was on cognitive psychology.