This web page is intended to be a general source of information concerning the Human Computer Interface Design class that will be taught beginning in the fall of 1999 at three participating universities.
This course, designed for Electrical Engineers and Computer
Scientists, is an introduction to the rapidly expanding area of human-computer
interface design. This includes topics ranging from cutting-edge computer
controllers and 3D audio and video displays to real-time signal mapping
from computer input to output. The course will be taught over
the Internet (VBNS and Internet 2), allowing students to learn about and
participate in the virtual reality / multimedia research of
many different universities and research labs.
Demonstration applications will be used throughout all the lectures
in the course to provide an opportunity for the students to see the principles
discussed in the lectures. For example:
The field of human computer interaction (HCI) covers all aspects of how people communicate and interact with computer systems. It encompasses many disciplines including engineering, computer science, social science, human factors, and psychology. This course teaches students about a subset of HCI known as the human computer interface. Its focus is on how information about the human is delivered to the computer (computer controllers), how information about the computer is delivered to the human (computer displays), and how these inputs and outputs can be customized to an individual user or application.
The Participating Professors:
Participating and Supporting Companies and Organizations:
Lectures will incorporate cutting-edge material from the participating
professors' research in addition to the fundamentals of human computer
interfacing. The following schedule covers the lectures shared by all universities.
Links to additional materials for the individual schools are listed
below the table.
Each university may have special schedule additions:
You can find the homework assignments via the following links:
Due dates are university specific:
You can find the examinations via the following links:
The equipment used for the experiments is based on Pentium PCs. All
Universities supply the following hardware peripherals and software. Individual
sites may have additional equipment, depending upon the interests of the
instructors.
Hardware (P6 PC):
Software
Equipment information for each university is linked:
All Universities: The course will be taught on Mondays and Wednesdays
at 10:30AM - Noon Pacific Time, 1:30PM - 3:00PM Eastern Time,
beginning on September 22 and ending on December 1.
In addition, each university has additional time considerations:
The grading in this course will be based on the evaluation of the following:
The exact grading percentages may vary among universities:
The goal of this course is for the students, working in teams, to propose
a new human computer interface or an improvement to an existing interface
to solve a particular problem. Inter-University teams are encouraged. Applications
include interfaces for persons with disabilities, musical controllers, sports
monitors and improved interfaces, and interfaces for virtual environments.
It is expected that most projects
will lead to a completed (though rough in most cases) prototype.
University specific:
All Universities: Advanced undergrad or beginning Masters
student in Electrical/Computer
Engineering or Computer Science or equivalent background.
In addition, review the following specifics:
Webmaster: Knapp
Last updated: 09/03/99