Computer-Human Interaction
CPSC 436-500

This is a group project, to be carried out in self-formed groups of 5 members.

The CHI area is very broad and there are many subareas. This assignment, in a nutshell, is for you to pick one of the currently active ones, figure out what's going on on it, and present your findings to the class. There are two main components to the assignment:

1. A set of Web pages (1) describing the area succinctly and (2) pointing out some of the main activities.
2. A class presentation, 15 minutes in length, describing the problem area and the activities. Focus on the user interface issues in this presentation. If your topic is describing the current state of a technology-related area, the presenation should introduce the technology as necessary to understand the context but not focus only on the technological aspects. Answer questions in your presentation such as: What is included in the area? Why is it important? What's going on that is interesting here?

• Introduction to the topic. Explain what the area of study is, why it is of current interest, and how it relates to HCI.
• Current work: what is being done and who is doing it?
• Predictions of what will happen in the future.
• Resources for additional information (include pointers to Web sites when available). What academic groups are working on the topic. What professional and academic conferences are held in the area (generally ACM or IEEE will have at least one conference in these areas). What companies are involved?

Groups will select presentation slots on Tuesday, February 3.

Ideas for major presentation topics follow. Feel free to suggest others if you prefer.

• Audio input/output interfaces
• Computer assistance for the physically handicapped
• Digital libraries
• Hypertext/hypermedia
• Intelligent user interfaces
• Interfaces/applications for large-sized displays
• Interfaces/applications for small-sized displays; UI issues for PDAs and other mobile devices
• UI design guidelines
• Usability testing
• User interface toolkits and other implementation-level support
• Virtual reality interfaces/augmented reality
• Visualization
• Visual programming
• Wearable computers