CPSC 532E
– Reports
A report
is due from each student at the end of the term (April 29 – noon). The
purpose of the report is to examine a visualization or interface system and
determine whether it is designed optimally from the point of view of perceptual
mechanisms, and if not, what guidelines might help with its redesign.
In
brief, imagine that you have been hired by Company X as a consultant to
evaluate their interface, and to suggest ways that this interface can be
improved, either by modifications of existing functionality, or by new functionality
outright. Your job is to carry out
a study and prepare a report which will help them do this.
Three
kinds of report are possible:
The
goal here is to focus on one particular aspect of visual interface design (ie.,
one of the seminar topics) of an existing system. Requirements will be:
1. Obtain the source code for an existing visualization
or interface system. (Ideally,
this would be the implementation of a project in another CS course, such as
CPSC 533C).
2. Choose an aspect to investigate.
3. For this aspect:
a) investigate the current state of psychological
research on this aspect. (This
should include all relevant sections of Ware and of Palmer; other papers can also
be included, but no more than 5.) Write a comprehensive summary. [Approx. 2000 words].
b) draw up a list of appropriate guidelines that this
supports. Suggestions can be
either for a possible improvement to the system or a completely new function.
c) Design an experiment to investigate a major issue not
covered by the current psychological literature. Carry out this experiment on the implementation of the
visualization or interface system.
Analyze the data and write up the results. [Approx. 3000 words.]
4. End the report with a General Conclusions section
that combines the highlights of the review and experimental sections.
Here,
the goal is to focus on one aspect of visual interface design (ie., one of the
seminar topics), and to design and carry out an experiment that will provide
information that will constrain guidelines about the general use of this aspect. Requirements will be:
1. Choose an aspect to investigate.
2. For this aspect:
a) investigate the current state of psychological
research on this aspect. (This
should include all relevant sections of Ware and of Palmer; other papers can also
be included, but no more than 5.) Write a comprehensive summary. [Approx. 2000 words].
b) draw up a list of appropriate guidelines that this
supports. Suggestions can be
either for a possible improvement to the system or a completely new function.
c) design an experiment to investigate a major issue not
covered by the current psychological literature. Implement an experimental platform on which to run the
tests, and then run an appropriate number of observers. Analyze the data and write up the
results. [Approx. 3000 words.]
3. End the report with a General Conclusions section
that combines the highlights of the review and experimental sections.
Here,
the goal will be to focus on one system, and consider it in the light of the
various seminar topics covered.
Requirements will be:
1. Find an existing visualization or interface
system. (This system should be
sufficiently interesting that it can be analyzed in terms of several different
psychological mechanisms).
2. Choose six aspects to investigate.
3. For each aspect:
a) investigate the current state of psychological
research. (This should include all
relevant sections of Ware and of Palmer; other papers can also be included, but
no more than 5.) Write a
comprehensive summary. [Approx. 750
words.]
b) draw up a list of appropriate guidelines for the
target system, using this summary as justification. Suggestions can be either for a possible improvement to the
system or a completely new function.
c) outline an experiment to investigate a major issue
not covered by the current psychological literature. This experiment should have the appropriate methodology
(e.g. controls). [Approx. 500
words.]
4. End the report with a General Conclusions section
that combines the highlights of the review and experimental sections.