CS474: Human Computer Interaction - Final Project (100 Points)

Assignment Goals

The goals of this assignment are:
  1. To demonstrate the fundamental concepts of human-computer interaction in a unified project
  2. To work effectively as a member of a small group using collaborative tools for software development

The Assignment

In this project, you will propose a topic of your choosing and a group of at least 2 and up to 3 total members. The project must be approved by the instructor before it may commence, but the topic is entirely up to you. Multidisciplinary projects with a broader impact are encouraged, and you are welcome to collaborate with a stakeholder outside the department for inspiration on potential projects (this person is not to contribute code, only disciplinary context). Regardless, your design should be carefully considered prior to the implementation, and should be regarded as at least as meaningful as the implementation itself. Specifically, you should engage with a variety of diverse external stakeholders, and thoroughly document their engagement in the design process.

You should use git or another version control system to coordinate between your team. Each student shall contribute by checking in meaningful contributions to the project on the version control system.

Finally, prepare as a team a project presentation that you will present live to the class for final presentations. Each student must have a speaking role at the presentation.

In addition to your implementation, be sure to include a LaTeX design report in academic journal format (you can use Overleaf for this purpose) that describes your initial design, rationale, stakeholder evaluation, and any subsequent revisions you made from your stakeholder input.

Group Formation and Proposal (10 Points)

To form a group, students should draft a text document including the names of all students in the group, a summary of the proposed project, and a breakdown of each student’s responsibilities on the team. Each student should send this identical document to me for approval via e-mail. I will respond via e-mail to the entire group notifying them that the project has been approved, and which members are on the team. If I add or remove members from the team, I will notify the entire group via e-mail. This shall constitute agreement of the project responsibilities by all members of the team.

Students who do not submit the proposal document described above (even if they are named in another group’s proposal) within 3 days of the project hand-out date will be assigned to a group and notified via e-mail. Students will not receive credit for the proposal in this situation.

Should a member of the team fail to participate to the standards set in the proposal document described above, one or more members of the group shall notify that student via e-mail of specific tasks from the proposal document that have been agreed to, along with a deadline to communicate with the group (copy me on the e-mail message). If the student does not respond within 2 days of that message, the group should notify me via e-mail, and I will investigate and, if appropriate, I may re-organize the team by moving one or more members to other groups (whom I will notify via e-mail), or by removing the student from the group (whom I will notify via e-mail).

Design Plan (25 Points)

Before you begin, create a design plan in LaTeX that documents the requirements, UI/UX workflow, affordances and signifiers, modalities, design testing, based on stakeholder input obtained and documented for the report. Include a figma or lucid chart wireframe to describe your user interface. Show that interface and project prototype implementation to a stakeholder and document the feedback that you receive from them. Also document how you revise your project based on this feedback (be sure that you do so!).

Version Control

See this video for more information on using Git as a version control system to synchronize your project with your partners. You might consider creating a project website using Github Pages; this is free, and I strongly encourage you to do so! You could link to this from your LinkedIn profile or resume.

Submission

In your submission, please include answers to any questions asked on the assignment page in your README file. If you wrote code as part of this assignment, please describe your design, approach, and implementation in your README file as well. Finally, include answers to the following questions:
  • Describe what you did, how you did it, what challenges you encountered, and how you solved them.
  • Please answer any questions found throughout the narrative of this assignment.
  • If collaboration with a buddy was permitted, did you work with a buddy on this assignment? If so, who? If not, do you certify that this submission represents your own original work?
  • Please identify any and all portions of your submission that were not originally written by you (for example, code originally written by your buddy, or anything taken or adapted from a non-classroom resource). It is always OK to use your textbook and instructor notes; however, you are certifying that any portions not designated as coming from an outside person or source are your own original work.
  • Approximately how many hours it took you to finish this assignment (I will not judge you for this at all...I am simply using it to gauge if the assignments are too easy or hard)?
  • Your overall impression of the assignment. Did you love it, hate it, or were you neutral? One word answers are fine, but if you have any suggestions for the future let me know.
  • Using the grading specifications on this page, discuss briefly the grade you would give yourself and why. Discuss each item in the grading specification.
  • Any other concerns that you have. For instance, if you have a bug that you were unable to solve but you made progress, write that here. The more you articulate the problem the more partial credit you will receive (it is fine to leave this blank).

Contract Grading

To Receive an A

  • Each item required for a grade of B is included
  • The group consists of at least 2 and no more than 3 members
  • The project submitted was substantially consistent with the project proposed to and approved by the Professor
  • The project includes revisions based on user stakeholder feedback of the design and/or prototype, and includes a report of those revisions

To Receive a B

  • Each item required for a grade of C is included
  • A substantial design report is included in the submission which documents the affordances and signifiers, modalities, design testing and feedback obtained during the project

To Receive a C

  • Each item required for a grade of D is included
  • Each member of the group has a speaking role during the presentation
  • The project implementation is substantially correct and of reasonable human-centric design
  • A substantial design plan is included in the submission which documents the requirements, UI/UX workflow, affordances and signifiers, modalities, design testing, based on stakeholder input obtained and documented for the report

To Receive a D

  • Each member of the group makes meaningful contributions to the implementation of the project, demonstrated through version control commits or comments in the code

Please refer to the Style Guide for code quality examples and guidelines.