Week 13: Best of Georgia Tech HCI

Distributed cognition as a theoretical framework for information visualization

Notes Source
Liu, Z., Nersessian, N., & Stasko, J. (2008). Distributed cognition as a theoretical framework for information visualization. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 14(6). (pp. 1173-1180).

Topic: authors argue that cognition is more of a property of interaction than a property of the human mind and that reductionist approaches to examine human minds are not as informative for information visualization design.

InfoVis: the use of computer-supported, interactive, visual representations of abstract data to amplify cognition

Important dimensions: representation, interaction (both well studied), and cognition (less studied)

Distributed cognition:

tools amplify cognition

fundamental assumption is that cognition is information processing inside the brain

research is primarily based on a framework that models human information processing as a three-stage perception-cognition-action process

Hutchins argues memory isn’t amplified instead we use a different set of cognitive skills

It’s a mistake to isolate a human from the environment while looking for cognitive properties.

The aware home: A living laboratory for ubiquitous computing research

Notes Source
Kidd, C., Orr, R., Abowd, G., Atkeson, C., Essa, I., MacIntyre, B., Mynatt, E., Starner, T. & Newstetter, W. (1999). The aware home: A living laboratory for ubiquitous computing research. In N. Streitz, S. Konomi, & H. Burkhardt (Eds.) Cooperative Buildings: Integrating Information, Organizations, and Architecture (pp. 191-198).

Topic: ubiquitous computing at home using HCI principles.

Hu, A., Chancellor, S., & De Choudhury, M. (2019). Characterizing Homelessness Discourse on Social Media. In Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-6).

Spaces and Traces: Implications of Smart Technology in Public Housing

Notes Source
Kozubaev, S., Rochaix, F., DiSalvo, C., & Le Dantec, C. (2019). Spaces and Traces: Implications of Smart Technology in Public Housing. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM.

Topic: investigating smart home technologies in the context of public housing as well as complex issues which arise (e.g., privacy and autonomy).

Understanding Law Enforcement Strategies and Needs for Combating Human Trafficking

Notes Source
Deeb-Swihart, J., Endert, A., & Bruckman, A. (2019). Understanding Law Enforcement Strategies and Needs for Combating Human Trafficking. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM.

Topic: interviewing officers who are combating human trafficking to understand how data can help. Author highlights key areas where HCI could help to improve:

Visualization of geospatial data
Usable security and privacy for unified databases
Archaic information systems used by law enforcement

Serpentine: A Self-Powered Reversibly Deformable Cord Sensor for Human Input

Notes Source
Shahmiri, F., Chen, C., Waghmare, A., Zhang, D., Mittal, S., Zhang, S., Wang, Y., Wang, Z., Starner, T., & Abowd, G. (2019). Serpentine: A Self-Powered Reversibly Deformable Cord Sensor for Human Input. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM.

Topic: self-powered sensor that can sense a variety of human input. Successful test results (97.7%) accuracy suggests that this sensor facilitate ubiquitous computing applications.

The Parenting Actor-Network of Latino Immigrants in the United States

Notes Source
Wong-Villacres, M., Kumar, N., & DiSalvo, B. (2019). The Parenting Actor-Network of Latino Immigrants in the United States. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM.

Topic: HCI (via Actor-Network Theory or ANT) to support parenting initiatives, particularly in education.

The CHI of Teaching Online: Blurring the Lines Between User Interfaces and Learner Interfaces

Notes Source
Joyner, D. (2019). The CHI of Teaching Online: Blurring the Lines Between User Interfaces and Learner Interfaces. In E. Kapros & M. Koutsombogera (Eds.) Designing for the User Experience in Learning Systems, Human-Computer Interaction Series. Springer.

Topic: the intersection of interface design and learning design.

learning technology is affected by UI design
UI is now
- at center of student and teacher experience
  - instead of complementary
classroom is a UI
Synch vs async learning envs.
Specify student (user) activities/actions when appropriate
Similar: valued in UI design and learning design
- rapid feedback
Different:
- learning could suffer if UI design is prioritized
Two design paradigms support
- immediate interaction
- long-term learning gains

Case study on a grad class at major public University (OMSCS?)
- MOOC-based (Online Master of Science in Computer Science)
- Focus on high-level design
  - transfer of principles of HCI into realm of learning design
    - as much as online can
  - Four design principles
    - flexibility
      - geographic
      - temporal
      - preference
    - equity
      - through flexibility (more students can enter program)
      - through admissions (more capacity, less competition)
      - through anonyminity (less identity, gender, race discrimination)
    - consistency
      - assignment cadence (each week assignments due)
      - announcement cadence (bi-weekly threads (monday, friday) replicates teacher walking in on monday morning)
      - administrative decisions (smallest unit of time is 1 week, no in-between week deadlines except for peer review; anywhere on earth time)
    - distributed cognition
      - offloading through announcements (splits up student cognitive load into smaller threads and chunks; converts the online “pull” system into an in-person “push” event system)
      - offloading through documentation (student to student forum posts; rely on documentation and students to argue about it amongst themselves (RTFM))
      - offloading through assessment design (open-book tests designed for rapid question solving; encourage note organization)
  - Other principles
    - Structure (pre-recorded videos afford visible structure; students can consume content around the actual structure of the content)
    - Perceptability (students can see their current grades for immediate perceptibility of the state of their status in the class)
    - Tolerance (Two-hour grace window for assignments for admin and student mistakes; grade for navigating submission ui or time zone conversion error)
    - Feedback
      - scale of course dictates heavy organization; Assembly line approach for assignments and grading workflows; Batch processing.
      - Incentives for rapid peer feedback
        
        58% peer reviews submitted within 3 days; 69% within one week.
- Course Evaluation (surveys)
  - online students have higher standards than in-class counterparts
- Survey types
- Institutional (institute makes questions; apply to all courses)
- Course (class-specific questions)