For the summer of 2011, I propose working on deep academia research revolving around the human compute interaction and interface domain. Because of the increasing importance of interfaces in modern day computers, it is critical to have a resource for understanding where research points towards the greatest advantages. Being a Information Technology / Computer Science student at a very good Institute I still find myself unaware of any sort of standards on the matter. I, also, have found it incredibly hard to find someone / somewhere to get reliable information or source code on the matter. Having thorough examination of where the research is being done will bring to light many common human behavioral trends along with the general ideas that formulate successful interaction with computers.
The proposal is to gather this available information in any form possible. Determine the validity of each research paper based upon the author and other criteria that could deem their opinion/research more valuable. Taking different papers and noting their core direction can give numerous data points for the common underlying laws of interfaces. Having all people save a tremendous amount of time by having easily accessible examples, academic papers and one’s own summary of the noted will make sure that anyone who learns computer science can apply these same techniques to ensure a seamless interaction. Just as understanding engineering is critical to design an effective, powerful algorithm it is also critical to know how to portray this to the user in a powerful way. If the user cannot understand the system, the system has not achieved what is possible.
Developing sample code base that precisely defines examples that are found contrasting this with past thoughts or common mistakes will provide not only a visual feedback mechanism but will elaborate via the code that certain dynamics, such as direct text input, rely on general laws for easy interaction. Having highlighted comments within the source code will give some substance but the bulk of the work will be research plus examples that visually show the lessons learned. This will be worked into the RCOS website so an easy to find link is publicly available, not just on a subversion hosting, letting many people benefit from its existence.
Schedule (Revised):
Following a more academic development route because of the needed information gathering.
May 27-31: Research and find at least 5 scholarly papers.
June 1-14: Research, Read Papers + Current Mock-up and Examples of my interpretation of an interface + common examples of interfaces. Hypotheses where I believe pitfalls are and general consensus on pitfalls.
June 15-30: Research + Determination of avenue for interface mock-ups.
July 1-14: Concentrate on mock-up creation versus research
July 14-30: Evaluate current research found and mock-ups devised. Iterate.
August 1-14: Revise research and refine code base
August 14-30: Deliverable of all goals listed below on Google Code and discuss how to get this information easily available on RCOS website
Goals:
- To research and discover, at least, 15 prominent papers/book by, at least, 10 various authors revolving around the current paradigms of human computer interaction / interfaces.
- Accurately reference these authors in an open-source documentation.
- List and show the evolution of interfaces over the rise of computing (last 50 years)
- Develop several, 2-3, mock-ups of web apps/ web sites / mobile apps that describe
- Concisely document via the app interface and internal code, key practices that encapsulate the understanding from the research
- 5 page write-up specifying the research conclusions compared against initial hypothesis
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