Human-Machine Interaction

Presentation

The main objective of the Human-Machine Interaction discipline is to provide students with methodological, design, communication and human factors skills, which allow them to design products and services with and for people. In an increasingly digital world, the inclusion of all people/citizens is increasingly necessary. The Humanization of Technology is more than a good User experience. In practice, and applying theoretical knowledge to projects, students should be able to create artefacts (in information technologies) that improve the way people work, communicate and interact in an inclusive society.

Part of this Programme

Computing Engineering

Level of Qualification|Semesters|ECTS

| Semestral | 5

Year | Type of course unit | Language

3 |Mandatory |Português

Code

ULHT260-11047

Recommended complementary curricular units

N/A

Prerequisites and co-requisites

n/a

Professional Internship

Não

Syllabus

• What is Interaction Design? Understand and conceptualize the interaction. The impact of Activity Theory. Design with accessibility in mind. Principles for inclusion.
• The contributions of cognitive psychology in the study of human-machine interaction. Human perception and cognitive functions that influence user performance and satisfaction. Gestalt theory applied to the design of information systems. Particular case of complex forms.
• Development and Evaluation of Initial Prototypes (with interactivity) with users. Method. Heuristic evaluation as appropriating the application and identifying problems. Evaluation with users.
• Presentation of the results of the usability study in scientific poster format. Data treatment and analysis.

Objectives

• To acquire skills in Interaction Design and Inclusive Design.

• To understand how human perception and cognitive function influence the Human-Computer Interaction.

• To understand that different user interfaces correspond to other interactions.

• To understand the impact of heterogeneous audiences and cultural factors on application design.

• To learn design methodologies that facilitate the design of satisfactory experiences for the user.

• To learn how to use prototyping applications.

• To learn how to plan, design and carry out usability evaluation studies throughout the software development cycle. To know how to treat and analyze data, as well as present results succinctly in scientific poster format.

• To apply the acquired skills to the development of information systems.

Teaching methodologies and assessment

The expository and demonstrative method are used to introduce theoretical content with the support of images, videos and examples of applications and active methods for carrying out work. The projects have several moments of evaluation, thus ensuring that the final delivery is the result of a process of continuous improvement. Theoretical Evaluation: Usability Study Group and Scientific Poster 50%; Heuristic Evaluation 20% Individual 30%: Practices: Design and Prototyping of an app; 10% - User stories, navigation map and storyboard; 15% - Prototype 1st version; 30% - Prototype final version; 25% - Individual assessment exercise; 10% - Accessibility exercise; 10% - Participation and attendance. Theoretical and practical with a weight of 50% in the final evaluation.

References

Norman, D. (2003). Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. Basic Books. Kindle Edition.

Norman, D. (2011). Living with Complexity. Basic Books. Kindle Edition.

Davis, G. (2004). Characteristics of attention and visual short-term memory: implications for visual interface design. Philosophical Transactions of a Royal Society: Mathematical Physical Engineering Sciences, 362(1825). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2004.1462

Fennigkoh, L. (2013). Visual, perceptual, and cognitive factors in human-computer interface design and use. Biomedical Instrumental Technology, 18-23. https://doi.org/10.2345/0899-8205-47.s2.18.

Gilbert, R. (2019). Inclusive Design for a Digital World: Design with Accessibility in Mind. Apress.

Preece, J.   Rogers, Y., & Sharp, H. (2015). Interaction design - Beyond human computer interaction (4th ed). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. 

World Wide Web Consortium. (2021). Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3.0. W3C. https://www.w3.org/TR/wcag-3.0/#about-wcag-3-0

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