| Assigments
LIS 450IIL Interfaces to Information Systems
Your grade for this course will be determined by class participation
and three large projects, two of which will be divided into a series
of shorter assignments and worked on in teams. I’ll intentionally
be organizing teams based on diversity (both in interests and background)
for all our assignments. Because interface design encompasses multiple
disciplines, a diverse set of people work together on the majority of
interface projects. Working in teams will facilitate the need to resolve
multiple viewpoints and address various design constraints. This is
very much a real world scenario. There are no perfect designs, only
informed decisions and judicious trade-offs.
Project 1
While we are learning the interface design process in class and through
our readings, we will concurrently work in teams on the design of a
Web-based information resource. This will be a multi-step process that
spans several weeks and includes the creation of: project definition
documents, organizational schematics, workflow diagrams, screen mock-ups,
and possibly an HTML prototype. Upon completion of this project, we
will conduct informal “reviews” and usability testing of
your designs. Each team will be required to turn in a condensed report
outlining their design process and final solution.
Project 1 Overview
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Project 2
Throughout the second half of the course we will review and improve
upon multiple existing interface designs. We’ll draw on the information
we have accumulated in the first half of the class to make informed
observations and detailed improvements to a wide range of information
interface designs. This will become a weekly activity and I will reorganize
the teams you work with repeatedly. We will spend class time each week
reviewing (both in small groups and as a class) the decisions teams
make. Each student will need to turn in a condensed report outlining
problems they have observed in the examples we analyze and recommendations
for how they can be addressed. This report can be specialized (dealing
with a small subset of issues such as layout) or general and will take
the form of a set of guidelines (I prefer considerations) or a “top
mistakes” list. I highly recommend you take detailed notes during
our in-class "reviews" to help you keep track of your observations.
Project 2 Overview
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Project 3
While our first and second projects will mostly benefit those in our
class, the third project is designed to be meaningful and useful to
people outside of the classroom. That means your work will be up for
review by the outside design community. The third project will be an
article or research paper on a specific topic we cover in class. The
choice of topics is up to you and I will adjust my talks during the
second half of the course to address specific areas of interest selected
by students. I’ll meet individually with each student to discuss
his or her ideas. At that point, we’ll decide whether to pursue
a research paper or an article. The final paper will be due during finals
and will be published for outside review.
Project 3 Overview
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