Syllabus for IST 331: The User

(Full title: Organization and Design of Information Systems: User and System Principles)
Spring 2012 [press release on ist331]

Section 1: M 4:15PM - 5:30PM, 113 IST (room 260?)
W 4:15AM - 5:30PM, 113 IST
(room 260?)

3 credits

Frank Ritter
316g Building IST
865-4453
College of IST
frank.ritter@psu.edu
Office hours: Monday 1730-1830 PM (260), Tuesday 1400-1500 (316g),
Wednesday 1730-1800 (260 and Reese's Cafe), and by appointment

Teaching Assistant: Changkun Zhao
(blayer30@gmail.com, (814) 321-4896, 319 IST)
Office hours: Fridays 1200-1400 and by appointment

Learning Assistant: Kurt Heslop
(kwh5172@psu.edu, (570) 789-4475
Office hours: Monday/Wednesday 1515-1610, Tuesday 1000-1100 Hansen Lounge, and by appointment

Updated 25apr2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Course Overview
2. Course Objectives
3. Course Organization
4. Evaluation
5. IST 331 Class Schedule/Syllabus
6. Labs
7. Course Conduct
8.
Relevant University Policies

Please note, this is a live document. Changes announced in class and on the list server will be incorporated from time to time. Announcements in class and their mirror here are the definitive version.

1. COURSE OVERVIEW

This course provides students with data, theories, models, and analytic techniques regarding how users interact with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Basic concepts of use, tied to how humans process information, are developed through projects, cases studies, examples, reading, and discussion. The course also covers aspects of how small groups process and share information, use ICT, and interact. The course serves as a focused introduction to the concept that people are important in technology systems and has become either a co-requisite or prerequisite to all other 300 and 400 level IST courses.

We will explore these topics through in-class presentations, discussions, readings (from both text and on-line sources), exercises (done in groups assigned the first week), and exams.  

2. COURSE OBJECTIVES

This course provides a balance between theory and practice, which are tightly intertwined in this area. Basic and more advanced readings will introduce the student to current thinking about facts, theories, and ways to gather new data. The course objectives are:

A small group project, drawing on the different backgrounds students bring to the program, will support integrating these various types of knowledge and applying them to an illustrative interface or system. The teaching philosophy includes working in groups and presentations.

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

3. COURSE ORGANIZATION

3.1 The IST 331 Web Site.

This page. This is the active web page of the course that contains the syllabus, assignments, links to useful sites, and other valuable material (such as how to correctly prepare assignments, citation templates, and other academic and recreational information). This page can currently be found at acs.ist.psu.edu/ist331.

3.2 Mailing list.

Use L-ist331-1-SP12@lists.psu.edu to contact class members or to send grouped emails.

Please include "IST331" in the subject, as this will help filters bring your email to our attention.

3.3 Required Texts

(ABCS) Ritter, F. E., Churchill, E. F, & Baxter, G. D. (2012). The basics of human-system interaction: What system designers really need to know about people. Approx. 400 pages. Available from Lulu.com at cost, for less than $20 including shipping. These may also be available in class, at cost.

also see: www.frankritter.com/abcs for a draft web site to support the book.

3.4 Required readings (handed out in class or online)

The readings are linked below by class period. Some of these are password protected. The password will be sent out to the mailing list (save that email!), announced in class several times, and available from the instructor, TA, and LA(s).

The slides used in class mostly repeat what is covered in the book and readings, but do include material that is newer or that reacts to problems and queries that arise in class. They will be/are available in the slides directory.

3.5 Optional Texts and Interesting

Resources about writing, for reports and web sites:

Communities, professional organizations, and information portals:

Another interesting book that gathers basic concepts of psychology for designing:

4. EVALUATION

You earn your grade but it will be assigned by me. The criteria for each assignment will be discussed in detail, as will the grading scheme. Each written assignment will be evaluated on how well it addresses the questions posed, the clarity of thinking, the organization and presentation of the material, the quality of writing, and its timeliness. 

Your grade will be based on 100 possible points. You earn points with each assignment (see below). As a maximum scale (i.e., cutoffs may be lowered): A: [100-94], A-: (93-90], B+ (89-87], B: (86-84], B-: (83-80], C+: (79-77], C: (76-70], D: (69-60], F: (59-0].  (The cutoffs for each grade is the lower number, without rounding.)

Class attendance is expected, or a valid justification for absence should be sent to me or the TA the day before. Points for attendance are noted below.

Your learning will be assessed in several ways. Please consult the schedule to see when papers / assignments are due and exams scheduled. You will receive more written instructions for each assignment well in advance of the due date. Here is a brief summary of each:
   

Assignment

Weight

Due Date

Labs

Marking scheme

Comments on writing up labs

Ethics in running participants

30% 

You will do 5 labs. Each lab writeup is worth 10 points, making a total of 50 points,

There will be several extra credit points and the initial 1 point project writeup, making the total available at least 56. 50 points is the maximum lab grade (i.e., you can miss 6 points and get a perfect score). This score may be modified/moderated/adjusted by Ritter based on team evaluations.

Two paper copies required of each lab, one for TA/Teacher, one for peer comments. Print them before coming to class. Each section must have an author or authors.

Each lab/project needs this form included or a contract on file. [notes on generating a contract]

Each lab needs an introduction, the method, the results, and a discussion. There should be at least 2 relevant references (examples and example uses in the book). It should include authors, group, page numbers, and date. Figures and tables should be prepared correctly but be inline. It is useful to read and follow the APA guidelines. Examples on the web site are approximate. There is an example report as an appendix in the book.

Typically Mondays, as below

Lab extra credit

(up to 6 points added to lab grade)

Resource talk Your group may find an additional resource that addresses or relies upon topics covered that week in class. In one page or less, you will comment on how that resource relates to the class.

You may be offered an opportunity for participating in a study for extra credit; details will be announced after studies are approved.

If you become IRB qualified, you can have a bonus point. Search the PSU web and learn the background to it. It takes about an hour.

Once, varies by group

Varies

 

Mid-Term Exam

20% 

In class, taken individually

b4 break

Project

Marking scheme

Comments on writing

Example RTF template:

30%

Final web site analysis, including a table of suggestions

Example projects (26 of them, password protected)

April

Second Exam

10% 

This will be an exam on social effects, taken individually.

April

Class participation 10% Based on attendance and in-class quizes.

 

Total 100%    

 

Allowed interfaces/web sites to analyse

Each semester each group does a useful project. There must be the possibility that your report can have impact, and most reports will (see the examples). Here are several examples of places that will have impact but have not been done or could be done again. My connection or interest is (shown). You should do a project on this list, or a better project. Local social clubs usually will not have enough impact, PSU clubs have enough but you can usually do better. You are expected to share your results with the target site in compensation for your interations with them.

ITS systems at Penn State: faculty research portal + 3 others (Gindhart, user, faculty member)

The computer science Department at the University of Iowa (contact there)

Apple iPhone Application development Kit Build an application for the iPhone, using the iPhone emulator if you don't have an iPhone.

http://grey.colorado.edu/shortgut/index.php/Main_Page (colleague)

AISB and Cognitive Science web sites (member)

Emacs speaks statistics (former developer of this software, user)

ACLU of PA (advocate for constitutional rights)

www.psu.edu (user)

Numbering of rooms in the IST building

Virtualtrials.com (online patient help system for brain tumors)

System for notifying teachers when students drop a PSU course (so teams can be informed) (teacher)

Instructional Stategies storehouse (collaborator with author)

Examples are available, and a larger example of this type of work is available in the following report:

Ritter, F. E., Freed, A. R., & Haskett, O. L. (2002). Discovering user information needs: The case of university department websites (Tech. Report No. 2002-3). Applied Cognitive Science Lab, School of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State. acs.ist.psu.edu/acs-lab/reports/ritterFH02.pdf. Later published as: Ritter, F. E., Freed, A., & Haskett, O. (2005). User information needs: The case of university department web sites. ACM interactions. 12(5). 19-27.

 

5. IST 331 CLASS SCHEDULE (subject to revision)

IST 331-1 Spring 2012 Calender

s

Date

In Class

Read/Prepare for this class

Due

Part I: Why

1

9/Jan/12

Introduction

Kegworth disaster
BBC on Kegworth

 

2

11/Jan/12

In class pub game

ABCS-preface

Part II: Human information behavior

3

18/Jan/12

Overview of the areas

Project step I - choice
1 point

Paragraph 6.2.2 (PQ4R)

ABCS 1, 2

4

23/Jan/12

Intro to information behaviour

Start IS lab in class
10 points

Data

Example report (NB needs references)

Example report 2

Barnes et al. 1996

ABCS 7.5

Optional: Spink & Cole, 2001

5

25/Jan/12

Further information behaviour

ABCS-Apdx3 Byrne et al, 1999

Project Step I due

Part III: Individual behavior

6

30/Jan/12

Overview of Individuals

Change blindness

More on change blindness and vision

ABCS 3, 4

7

1/Feb/12

Learning Lab
10 points

background paper
example report (NB still missing refs)
Ethics of running participants
Online stopwatch

ABCS 6

IS Lab due BoC

8

6/Feb/12

More on individuals

Elderly kits

ABCS 7

9

8/Feb/12

Decision making by individuals


ABCS 8

 

10

13/Feb/12

Perceptual Interaction Lab
10 points

This or similar approach

example old style report [still! missing references]


ABCS 5

Learning Lab due

11

15/Feb/12

Perception

Eye-tracking video

ABCS 5  

12

20/Feb/12

More on individuals

Color perception

ColorJack

Colour wheel (local copy)

Brain Memory

Popout applet

Fovea applet

Colorblindness 1

Colorblindness 2


 

13  22/Feb/12

Errors

ABCS 11

 

14 

27/Feb/12

Review for exam, 2012 [ppt] [pdf]

Review for exam, 2010 [ppt]

Review for exam, 2005 or so [html]


Perceptual Interaction Lab due

15

29/Feb/12

** In Class Midterm Exam **

Example midterms

Group feedback due, handed out with exam

 

 


 

 

Spring break

 

16

12/Mar/12

Task analysis - Intro (Slides)

ABCS 12


17

14/Mar/12

More on task analysis

Project II - draft plan

ABCS 12.7 (The KLM)

18 

19/Mar/12

Task analysis Lab

(KLM slides)

KLM paper

Example lab report

ABCS Appendix2

 

19

21/Mar/12

Yet more on Task analysis

 

20

26/Mar/12

GOMS (GOMS slides)

GOMS papers

Local GOMS Guide

Example full analysis

 

21 

28/Mar/12

Non-goal-driven activities (ActivityTheory.pdf)

 

 

 

 

Part IV: Group behavior

 

 

 

     

22

2/Apr/12

Group Lab

Agre on networking

ABCS 9

Task analysis due

23

4/Apr/12

Group behavior (Slides)

Appendix 3

Project plan due

24

9/Apr/12

Social Media

 

 

25

11/Apr/12

Mulu presentation

Group Lab due

26

16/Apr/12

Interface evaluation post-hoc

ABCS 13

 

27 18/Apr/12

Project - work/review

Project - Presentations

 

In class project presentations

28

23/Apr/12 Review session for exam ABCS 16  
  24/Apr/12 Office hours, 316G BIST, 130-230 pm    
29 25/Apr/12

** In class exam: Social & task analysis **

Example midterms

   
 

27/Apr/12

 

Project reports due
1 May 2012
17:00, email or paper

Project report form

6. Labs for IST 331

The laboratory portion of IST 331 provides students with the chance to become familiar with using the concepts and data about how people behave with respect to computers. It is absolutely essential for understanding the material and will be useful for passing the exams.

You have been put into small groups to do your labs because we believe this generally leads to better learning. Just one example, it leads to clearer writing and presumably clearer thinking [Murphy, 2000]. That means that you must turn in one lab report per group, that in this case conferring within your group is not a violation of academic policy or of ethics on the lab section of this course, and that conferring with other groups *is* a violation of academic policy and ethics if it results in reports that are noticeably similar without citation.

The best way is to work on the lab and then meet to discuss and proofread the report. The worst way is to have each member of the group do (and thus learn) one of the sections. This will result in a noticeably inferior product. We suggest that you trade who leads the preparation of each write-up.

As we explore these topics, we will also practice skills in working together, analytical skills, and information problem-solving approaches. 

7. COURSE CONDUCT

8. Relevant University Policies