Computer Science Perspectives in HCI

Course Information

Course Number

HCI Undergraduate: n/a
HCI Graduate: 05-773

Program Requirement

This is a required course for
HCI PhD

Course Description

One of a series of four, seminar style mini-courses, to expose researchers to the breadth of classic and cutting edge research in four distinct traditions in Human-Computer Interaction—computer science, cognitive science, social science, and design. Although no project is required for this course, there wil be significant reading and writing. The four courses are:

05-772 Social Perspectives in HCI
05-773 Computer Science Perspectives in HCI
05-774 Cognitive Science Perspectives in HCI
05-775 Design Perspectives in HCI.

We will explore the innovations and challenges that have been tackled by the pioneers of our field over the past 60 years. The intersection of humans and computation has reflected dramatic changes in technology over time, from the vision of Vannevar Bush to the ability to predict human interruptibility with sensors.

The material in this class would be of value to anyone interested in classic and cutting edge work representing the history and future of computational innovation in the service of humans.

Each week, we will discuss one or two important areas. In the class itself, there will be reviews of readings, discussions and exercises in proposing new topics. You'll read six to eight articles to prepare for the class session. Papers will be selected either because they frame a sub area, are the first best paper in the area, represent different approaches to the a subarea and so on. While we cannot possibly cover every important paper that has been published in the last four decades, we will try to focus on pioneering work, and we will try to cover enough areas to give a sense of the breadth of HCI.

Semester Offered and Units

Semester: Intermittent
Graduate: 6 units