Syllabus for IST 331: The User

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 theories, models, and analytic techniques regarding how users interact with information, and with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Basic concepts of use, tied to how humans process information, are developed through projects, cases studies, examples, 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. It is now a required course for incoming IST students.

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

To provide an introduction to the idea that people are a core component in technical systems, and to provide real, descriptive information about those aspects of human behavior that influence the development, use, and accidents that will arise in such systems due to having people as part of the system. 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. 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.

Students in IST will benefit by being able to differentiate themselves from the traditional view in computer science of only focusing on computers, and MIS's rather "user-less" orientation. The IST degree is "not the technology itself, not the million bit per second router ... , but rather the effect that that will have on society, on ... individual[s], and on groups making decisions in an organization."

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

• Define in a quantitative and qualitative way some of the most relavent aspects of user's behavior.
  
• Be familiar with theories, problems, and terms in the area of human-computer interaction.
• Be able to gather data in several ways to explore how people individually and as a group use an interface.
• Be able to prepare a report assessing a web site or other system providing concrete, objective support for good and bad aspects of the system.

3. COURSE ORGANIZATION

3.1 The IST 331 Web Site. This course has an active web page 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, and later will be available through links from the IST home page via course listings.

3.2 Mailing list. We will have a mailing list, l-ist331-1-fa09@lists.psu.edu, for the class. Please include "IST331" in the subject, as this will help a filter bring it to our attention.

3.3 Required Texts

(ABCS) The ABCS of HCI. Ritter, F. E., Churchill, E., & Baxter, G. D. (2009). Available from Kinko's (on the corner of Atherton and College, ph. 238-2679) at cost, for about $35, approximately 330 pages.

Papers and online references are available as supplements.
  List of errata for all readings

Material on APA Style, such as Research Style & Usage: APA/MLA (SparkCharts), or a nice APA summary from Wisconsin.

3.4 Required readings (available 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, and available from Ritter or the TA.

3.5 Optional Texts and Interesting Resources

• The Publication Manual of the APA as a guide to referencing, citing, and the formating of papers and manuscripts in general. Also see APA guide to online references, available online.
  
• Agre on "Learning how to write"
  
• How to write an abstract by Mary-Claire Van Leunen (password protected)
  
• The ACM HCI Special Interest Group (SIGCHI) is a good general site. www.acm.org/sigchi and CHI Jobs, an archive of HCI- related jobs.
  
• The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society hfes.org
  
• An HCI portal: www.hcibib.org/education
  
• usableweb.com
  
• ergo.human.cornell.edu
  
• Usability First web site
• Bobby (www.cast.org/bobby) a tool that assessed the utility of web pages for people with disabilities
• A private company web site including an ergonomics news item panel on the home page. www.ergoweb.com
• Norman, D. (1988). The psychology of everyday things. NY: Basic Books. (also available as The design of everyday things).
  
• A better web: Web of Science

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.)

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 Notes on writing and doing labs Marking scheme Document and website to help set up team meetings	25%	You will do a variety of labs. Each lab writeup is normally 10 points, 43 points total. 40 points will be taken to be the maximum lab grade (i.e., you can miss several points and get a perfect score). This score may be modified/moderated/adjusted by self and team evaluations. (10 points x 4 labs, 2 points x 1 lab, 1 point for project 1-pager). Can also have 1 point for completing IRB training, send the certificate in via email and a printed copy. Two copies required, one for TA/Teacher, one for peer comments. Each lab/project needs this form included or a contract on file. [notes on generating a contract]	Typically Thursday, as below
Resource talk	(up to 5 points added to lab grade)	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 the study is approved.	Once, varies by group
Mid-Term Exam	25%	Taken individually	October 2009
Project Comments on writing reports Example template: RTF	30%	Final web site analysis, including a table of suggestions. 5 points is from plan, turned in earlier.	Dec 2009
Second Exam	20%	This will be an exam on TA and social effects, taken individually.	Dec 2009
Total	100%

A grade calculator is available. It assumes that you know Excel fairly well, and is subject to all known limitations of spreadsheets, that is, it may have bugs.

5. IST 331 CLASS SCHEDULE (subject to revision)

IST 331 Fall 2009 Calender

Each semester each group does a useful project. There must be the possibility that your report can have impact, and most do (see examples). Here are several examples of places that will have impact. My connection or interest is shown in (). You should do a project on this list, or a better project.

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.

The role of class reading lists at Downing Library at the U. of Cambridge (contact from Ritter)

The RSC and/or The New Globe (user)

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

www.gnu.org/directory, the GNU Free Software Foundation website or open source tool (user, supportor of FSF)

AISB and Cognitive Science web sites (member)

Emacs speaks statistics

ACLU of PA

Taaable A cuisine website that proposes reciepes based on a case-based-reasoning algorithm (contact from Olivier Georgeon)

Reverse engineering case studies

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. Ritter, F. E., Freed, A., & Haskett, O. (2005). User information needs: The case of university department web sites. ACM interactions. 12(5). 19-27.

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. 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) just 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

• Classes will start on time and end as scheduled. Please take your seat prior to the start of class.
• You should attend each class and actively participate in the discussions during class. University policy on class attendance is applied.
• If you are uncomfortable with public speaking, or if English is not your native language, we must meet in the first two weeks of school to establish ways to make you more comfortable in speaking and interacting with your peers. I am happy to do this, as I have been in this situation as well.
• For every hour of lecture, I anticipate that you will need to budget about 3 hours of out-of-class time. This implies that you need to budget about 140 hours of out-of-class time over the course of the semester. This time estimate is a guide and you may need to budget more or less. For example, if the material is new to you or difficult to comprehend, it will require more of your time. 
• You are responsible for all the readings, even if the material is not explicitly covered in class. You should read the class materials prior to class and be prepared to discuss and ask questions about the readings and assignments. You should also re-read the material after class as not every topic will be covered during class time. Some passages may need to be read several times to gain clarity. Also, taking notes on the material you are reading and reflecting on the reading and these notes will help you better understand the issues, concepts and techniques that are being presented.
• All work must be completed and turned in at the start of class on the assigned date. No late work will be accepted. Late means after the class has begun. Note that a computer's failure is not an excuse (it represents poor planning on your part). If you miss a deadline, a written explanation of a university recognized excuse and written request must be handed to me at the end of a lecture.
  Assignments that are simply late are very welcome to be turned in for feedback but 0 marks.
• All assignment must be double-spaced or 1.5, on 8.5"x 11" or A4 paper. All pages must have 1" margins. Papers should be stapled and collated. Please do not use report covers; they will not be returned. Your group number and names, date, and lab title must be on the cover, as well as an abstract (where appropriate).
• Proofread your work. Mistakes include spelling, grammatical errors, and other typos. You should assume that your reader is about as smart as you, not smarter.
• I expect group work should be just that -- from all of the group. If I become aware that you are not contributing to your group equally, I will intervene. I expect individual work should be just that -- it should be done by you, alone. For more help, see this site and university policy.
• Students who participate in University-sanctioned events (such as athletics) must make prior arrangements and give ample notice, but will be supported.
• Requests for regrading must be turned in with this form.

8. Relevant University Policies