HCI 7) Engineering Flashcards
Aspects of Engineering - Building the right thing
Clarifying the task, including arriving at a solution-neutral problem statement.
Solution-neutral problem statement
Statement that specifies the problem, leaving the solution completely open.
Aspects of Engineering - Building the thing right
Understanding requirements and managing changes throughout a project.
Aspects of Engineering -
Verification and validation
Ensuring requirement are met and that a system is fit for purpose.
Aspects of Engineering -
Systems
Understanding how interactive systems interact with other systems.
Aspects of Engineering -
Understanding risks
Ensuring risks are understood and managed, and users are protected from harm.
Aspects of Engineering -
Managing the process
Following a systematic design engineering process.
Aspects of Engineering -
Approaches to HCI design problems
Modelling interaction using some formal model to allow for inference, optimization, and verification.
Example:
Door handle system components
Fittings, screws, a plate, a handle, and its interaction with another system, the door, which interacts with various other systems.
Properties of systems -
Complexity
They have many dependencies with other systems and entities.
Properties of systems -
Multiple levels
Ranging from low-level hardware interaction to interfacing with software libraries.
Properties of systems -
Coupled
They depend and rely on each other in various ways.
Properties of systems -
Emergent properties
They give rise to effects that are more than the sum of their parts.
Interactive Systems -
Functions
- Receive and respond to input events via its sensors
- Perform computations
- Maintain and update its state
- Display its output
Interactive Systems -
Properties
- Coupled system connecting the user with a compute
- Reliant on subsystems including sensors, displays and computations
- Embedded within a wider system providing context for interaction
Systems approach
A systems approach allows designers to reason about systems.
Considers design across the entire life cycle of the system: design, implementation, management, maintenance, and disposal.
Systems approach principles -
Define, revise and pursue the purpose
Refine the problem and identify the cost, performance, timescale and risk involved when designing the system.
Systems approach principles -
Think holistic
Systems have boundaries. They are embedded within other systems and integrate multiple systems.
Systems approach principles -
Follow a systematic procedure
Systems are planned, designed, and built.
Systems approach principles -
Be creative
Use innovative and conventional thinking to understand what the system must achieve.
Systems approach principles -
Take account of the people
People are part of the systems, and they are critical for the success of systems.
Systems approach principles -
Manage the project and relationships
Systems need to be designed to take all relevant factors into consideration.
Systems Approach - Failures
- Consider the environment the system operates in
- Understand the non-technical factors (organizational, political, economic)
- Address planned and unplanned interactions between system components
- Part of wider user experience system
Task Diagram
Hierarchical representation of tasks and the necessary conditions for carrying out the tasks.
Information Diagram
Hierarchical representation of documentation (e.g. instructions, dependencies and procedures)
Organizational Diagram
Hierarchical representation of people and their roles in an organisation.