Recap class (Week 10)

Today was the last class for the course, it was bittersweet but I can happily say I enjoyed the course and I learnt a lot of new things
We had a recap of all the various topics explaining their usefulness and also talking about the relation of the various topics with one another. We also discussed various questions in under the various topics.
I believe the usefulness of all this topics cannot be denied but the challenges arise when trying to define where they cross the line and when they become unethical.

We further discussed various areas of HCCS and its divisions;

•  Methods: 

1. Participatory Design
2. HCI in the wild

• Application areas:

1. Technology Enhanced Learning
2. Interactive Systems for health

• Approaches:

1. Ubiquitous Computing
2. Affective Computing
3. User Experience

Katie also explained the outline for our mini-projects which has resulted in me looking for more participants for my surveys, to enable me get tangible data.
The steps for writing the mini-project were explained, particularly in the gathering of data which entails the following steps;

• Setting Goals
• Identification of participants
• Choosing Methods

 The various methods that can be used for collection of data include;

• Interviews: This could be either structured or semi-structured.
• Questionnaires/Surveys
• User Diaries
• Observation
• Biometric Measures : An example is use of Eye tracking using webcam for observation 

I would be starting the writing of my report soon as I am still collecting my data, and I have to increase the number of my participants , which is going to be really difficult as I have to start looking for people to help out while also remembering to get their informed consent.
This course has enabled me understand the need to keep the user in mind when working on my designs and ensuring that the user experience is equally made as important as the usability of the design.

HCI "in the wild" (Week 9)

This is simply research done in a naturalistic or "real world" settings. This is particularly good for researches because it allows the observation of people in real situations and using the influence of time and location as a means to understand the actual reactions of people. The participant's response to events as they occur, enables researches to fully understand peoples' wants, needs, desires and frustrations in real time.
This is particularly important for researchers, to enable the development of products or services based on the actual needs of the client which are discovered through observation.
This is made of two parts:

• Collection of data through observation of people( which could include asking people questions formally or informally).
• Analyzing the patterns that emerge during the observations and using the data in a broader retrospect.

 Here is a video explaining the concept of observational research;

This particularly good for design processes, this is to enable the provision of solutions for actual needs of users and not what the users say they need.
Here is an example of the use of observational research;

Observations can lead to the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. The methods used include;

• Concurrent Ethnography : This is the simultaneous research done with the design of a new system and usually a prototype is designed and improved upon based on the observations made.
• Evaluative Ethnography:  This is done to evaluate a new model or product.
• Quick and Dirty Method: This is usually used before other ethnographic research methods.
• Rapid Ethnography: This is the use a constrained focus, key informants, and multiple ethnographic observers to provide a useful understanding of people.
• Reexamining previous studies

HCI "in the wild" methods should be used in early stages of design to enable minimal waste of both design time and resources of  impractical designs.

The links for the key papers for this topic are;
https://studydirect.sussex.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=335542
https://studydirect.sussex.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=331479

Here is the link for the presentation;
https://studydirect.sussex.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=360190

Affective Computing (Week 8)

Affective computing is that aspect of computing that deals with the recognition, interpretation, processing and simulation of human emotions. It encompasses the use of computer science, psychology and cognitive science. This is the creation of machines that understand human emotions  and gives the right response to these emotions by the adaptation of its characteristics to suit the situation.

Professor Rosalind Picard, the author of one of the key papers explains Affective computing in the video below;


From the explanation above, I deduced that the major usefulness of Affective computing will be in the medical field, particularly for challenged individuals. I, personally think any other use out of this context could be very creepy and weird.

Affective computing for now has 2 classifications of usage;

• Sensors that detect and record various emotions for various uses.
• Emotional robots.

Below is an example of an emotional robot and description of its abilities;



Some of the challenges faced in this aspect of computing are;

• Sensing and recognizing emotions: How does a machine know what exact emotion one is feeling?"
• Affect modelling: How to create valid models of emotional processing?
• Emotion expression: How to make computers (robots) reliably and believably express emotion?
• Ethics: How to ensure that the user's privacy is not invaded and there is no breach of ethics?
• Utility of considering Affect in HCI: Is this aspect really useful in our everyday activities?

I believe balance is required for this area of computing and strict laws have to be enforced to enable Affective computing be only used where needed (health) because if publicly used, this could lead to lack of privacy and bad consequences.

I conclude with this question "will building smart self-aware robots endanger our existence in the future?".

Key Papers
https://studydirect.sussex.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=336747
https://studydirect.sussex.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=336750

Interactive Systems for Health (Week 7)

This is the topic I have been patiently waiting for as my major area of specialisation is Health Informatics and I am particularly interested in seeing the trends in this are.
After going through the key papers, I had a good idea of the meaning and usefulness of this topic but I was looking forward to listening to the presenters as well as seeing new inventions in this area.
The presenters started by explaining the various relationships between Information Technology and medicine, which includes;

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Informatics
• Ubiquitous computing

I found great interest in the Bridge project which was said to be a project for poor families to teach them how to eat right and providing them with various classes.
The various types of technologies in medicine were grouped and explained as follows;

• Healthcare technologies at home: These are essentially used to do things which are difficult for people to do as well as monitor the health state of patients. They are also used to generate data for patients and these data are used to find cures for illnesses by the doctors that retrieve these data.
• Emergency Detection sensors: These monitor temperature,nutrition,fever,cardiac activities,stroke, diabetic coma, asthmatic attack and so on; and ensures that if there is a change in these parameters, the health personnels are alerted.
• Assistive Robots: This is the use of smart robots to relate with humans and also to analyse any change in the user's environment or health. An example was shown of a robot doing house chores.
• Technology at Hospitals: The use of technology in hospitals has led to a reduction in death by 17%. The NHS is an avid user of technology as shown in the video during the presentation. They also use technology to ensure patients' get their drugs.

Health related technologies can be useful from the patient's perspective (iphone app, Telemedicine, interactive TV, dummy simulators) and from the health providers' perspective. The major challenges of such technologies include high cost while its major advantage is the provision of better health care.
Below are the links for the key papers for this topic;
https://studydirect.sussex.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=336740
https://studydirect.sussex.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=336744

Here are some really useful health technologies I discovered;
http://www.life-recovery.com/site/video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlYe1VvE_Uo&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27QNiz8iDb0&feature=player_embedded

Participatory Design (Week 6)

Today was my presentation and my topic was "Participatory Design". After the period of research, I was ready for the presentation although I was a little nervous. We got to the class early to set up but the sound was not working properly but we eventually started and it went on great.

I was particularly excited to share my case study with the class because it was really interesting and intriguing. I was particularly happy to have gotten this case study from Google Scholar because it encompasses the total aim of Participatory Design. 
The case study was basically 

The question session was quite long and more hands were being raised to ask more questions. I feel because of the clarity of our presentation, people could relate and ask meaningful questions. I was so proud of my team for answering all the questions appropriately and making sure that our topic was fully understood.

After the presentation, Katie explained our coursework to us and how we should go about doing it; whether using the design procedure or understanding procedure. After her explanation, we were asked to discuss with our neighbours how we intended doing our coursework and she later went round asking questions pertaining the coursework as a whole.

Today was quite fun and educative and I am so happy my presentation went as good as I hoped.

Listed below are the links for the key papers for my topic; 

https://studydirect.sussex.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=340311

https://studydirect.sussex.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=336603

I have attached the link for my presentation also;

https://studydirect.sussex.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=354206

                         

Here is a video that sums up what my topic was about;