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Designing for Conversation: Theories, Models, and Making

Course Information

Course Number

HCI Undergraduate: n/a
HCI Graduate: 05-897

Course Description

Want to make a better chatbot? 
Learn how conversation works? 
Design interactions that are more ethical?
 
This 6-week course comprises 3 modules: a swift review of theories of conversation; a focus on a practical theory whose formal models help in the design of Conversational UIs and Voice UIs; and a project of making a working chatbot (for example, uploading prototypes to Alexa).
 
Course activities comprise in-class lectures, critical readings, studio time, and online discussions. Students will learn how to characterize the limitations of today’s chatbots compared to the power of human conversation. Applying a formal model of conversation gives direction for designing interfaces in any modality (voice, txt, prose, gesture, movement) and in any technology (screens, VUIs, immersive environments, and gallery works).
 
The 3 modules of the course (theories, models, and making) are richly overlapping in time. The third module explores tools for building a voice agent early in the course in order to give ample practice. The final project pushes students to break new ground in human-machine interaction.

Semester Offered and Units

Semester: Intermittent
Graduate: 9 units