Course Schedule: Spring 2001

Three hours of lecture per week. User interface design and human-computer interaction. Examination of alternative design. Tools and methods for design and development. Human- computer interaction. Methods for measuring and evaluating interface quality.

This course covers the design, prototyping, and evaluation of user interfaces to computers which is often called Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). It is loosely based on course CS1 described in the ACM SIGCHI Curricula for Human-Computer Interaction (Association for Computing Machinery, 1992).

HCI covers many topics including:

1. Human capabilities (e.g., visual and auditory perception, memory, mental models, and interface metaphors);
2. Interface technology (e.g., input and output devices, interaction styles, and common interface paradigms); and,
3. Interface design methods (e.g., user-centered design, prototyping, and design principles and rules), and interface evaluation (e.g., software logging, user observation, benchmarks and experiments).

This material is covered through lectures, reading, discussions, homework assignments, and a course project. This course differs from CS 160 primarily in two ways:

1. There is an emphasis on interfaces for information technology applications; and,
2. There is less emphasis on programming and system development, although some simple prototyping (for example, in visual basic or using JAVA GUI development tools) may be required. (CS 160 has a big programming project.)

Three hours of lecture per week. This course provides both a general introduction to management and management science with a focus on issues in complex information organizations. The course is useful to those who will work in organizations and will be involved in the analysis, design, or delivery of information services and systems, especially those in management positions. The specific topics are chosen to complement the topics in INFOSYS 208. The course is designed for students who do not have a degree in management.

One focus is on both the internal and external issues and practices of management. Internal issues include organizational behavior, organizational theory, personnel, budgeting, and planning. External issues include organizational environments, politics, marketing, funding sources, and strategic planning.

The other focus is on management science tools, such as optimization, game theory, and queuing theory (the study of throughput and waiting lines).

Assignments will be on both an individual and group basis.

Standards and practices for organization and description of bibliographic, textual, and non-textual collections. Design, selection, maintenance and evaluation of cataloging, classification, indexing and thesaurus systems for specific settings. Codes, formats, and standards for representation and transfer of data.

A continuation and expansion of the introductory core course 202. Organization of Information with emphasis on organization of and access to textual and non-textual materials in paper-based and digital collections. A project-oriented course designed to provide theoretical foundations for current practices and for exploration of new methodologies for effective retrieval of information content. Emphasis on implementation and evaluation of organization and retrieval systems. Designed for Master's students expecting to manage paper-based and digital collections of information resources. Includes application of standard cataloging rules and indexing methods.

Outline of Topics

1. Systems for organization of paper-based and digital bibliographic and textual collections of information.
   • Use and evaluation of classification systems, including those employed in the organization of bibliographic collections; organization of abstracting and indexing services.
   • Use and evaluation of standardized codes and formats for the organization and cataloging of textual and bibliographic collections.
2. Systems for organization of non-textual collections of information (objects, images, sound, numerical and digital formats).
   • Use and evaluation of systems.
   • Use and evaluation of standards.
3. Design and evaluation of collections management systems, including criteria for systems design.

Course requirements will include: readings on theoretical framework and evaluation criteria for development of collections management systems; assignments in the form of projects that require use and evaluation of a variety of organizational schemes and systems; evaluative papers that require analysis of the readings, combined with evaluation of existing systems; a final project that replaces a final examination and requires design, implementation and evaluation of an organizational system for a given setting.

Computing and information technology are dramatically changing peoples' lives, and more change is to come. The promise of ubiquitous computing is that people will be assisted by computers in many new ways, and will interact with them naturally, on the human's rather than the machine's terms. Computing research today is about new ways of connecting people to computers, people to knowledge, people to the physical world, and people to people. Computers must function in human contexts, rather than requiring people to learn and follow the machine's rules. That requires a thorough understanding of those contexts. HCC is an interdisciplinary program involving sociology, psychology, and education theory as well as computer science and engineering. Its goal is to study social contexts and human behavior, to design and evaluate computer applications in those contexts. HCC can be viewed as an evolution of HCI (Human-Computer Interaction), but represents a shift in perspective. HCC is not an area within computer science, but represents a theme that impacts all areas of CS. It coincides with the transition of computing from tools built for and by professionals to tools for everyday tasks for "every citizen". Understanding the complexity and diversity of human behavior will be an important first step in building the future "killer applications" of computing.

The course includes talks by leading researchers from on and off campus on HCC-related topics. The talks are about current research, but are colloquium-style and accessible to a broad audience. The goal is to allow graduate students from one of the participating areas to undertake research that cuts across the HCC areas, or to partner with students from other HCC fields.

An in-depth introduction to the theory and practice of subject classification systems, representation of intellectual responsibility, and document representation. 245 (Organization of Information in Collections) is broadly concerned with the representation of objects, metadata, and indexing across all fields MIMS students are likely to be concerned with and is a suitable course for all MIMS students. The challenge in 245 is to achieve breadth. This experimental Special Topics offering, meeting just one class hour a week, is intended to supplement 245 with a more detailed treatment of classification systems and of principles of bibliographic description and cataloging as applied to objects of any kind. This more advanced treatment is intended for students who want go beyond 245 and is needed by those who want an option on bibliographic or library work.

Approach: There is a required textbook, Wynar's Introduction to Cataloging and Classification, 9th ed., by Arlene Taylor (Libraries Unlimited, 2000). We will work through the textbook week by week, with discussion and exercises. I have a copy of the textbook in my office in case anyone wants to look at it. Also, I will place a copy of an older edition (1992), which is out-dated but can give you a sense of what will be covered, in the Computing Lab.

This seminar prepares students for graduate research in information management and systems. Organized in a workshop format, we discuss the research process, tools for effective research, written and oral communication. Through readings, discussion, writing, presentation, and peer review, the course assists students in their preparation of a research manuscript (for a journal, conference, or qualifying exam) or a thesis or grant proposal.

This course examines electronic commerce from a computer science perspective. We explore recent work and open problems in payment protocols, auction protocols, measurement, and other aspects related to electronic commerce. Students do a project and read recent literature in the area. Students should be comfortable talking about distributed computing concepts.