CHI 96 Workshop: HCI and the Web, Position Papers

Carol Kilpatrick

Computer Science Department, Georgia State University
matcek@gsusgi2.gsu.edu

I find this workshop an excellent match for some of my interests, work and research activity over the past few years. These interests and activities are described below.

I. Interest

Developing complex software involves various disciplines and stakeholders. I am interested in increasing awareness and mutual knowledge-building about issues and research results in HCI among these various groups of stakeholders. The purpose is to increase informed participation among those involved in the software development process. Stakeholders include computer scientists, users, application-area experts, HCI experts, etc. With all these groups, the growing popularity and familiarity with the Web (and the desire to learn more about it) provides a motivating and constructive platform for HCI awareness and knowledge-building. In this "spreading the word" about HCI, I have been using design and development of Web documents and applications along with ideas and techniques from Participatory Design.

In addition, I am interested in the cultural phenomena of the World Wide Web. In particular, I want to consider the expression of information and design techniques evolving on the Web. This means looking at 1) what has been seen as "What's Cool" and by whom and 2) the increase in focus on what is seen as "What's Good" and by whom.

At a more general level, I am interested in the boundary area between HCI and Software Engineering. Typically, this is a place where a meeting occurs between developers with different educational backgrounds and experiences, with different work traditions, having different representation techniques, etc. My experience in Software Engineering and HCI have lead me, over the last few years, to a focus on Participatory Design in my work and in my thinking about these boundary issues.

II. Expertise

Assistant professor. Georgia State University (GSU). Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Assistant Professor, Computer Science. Fall 1990 - current.

Leader of User-Interface group. IBM, Bergen Environmental Sciences and Solutions Center, a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural research centre with a mission to develop various software prototypes to support a number of scientific research efforts related to the environment. Bergen, Norway. Fall 1991- Fall 1993. (On leave of absence from GSU).

Ph.D. Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology. Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Spring 1991. Thesis: Collection and Display of Performance Information for Parallel and Distributed Applications. Focus: systems issues along with issues of user specification and information interpretation related to the collection and display of performance information.

III. Recent research

1. I designed and am currently conducting an Atlanta-based business and community organization Web project in the HCI class I am offering this quarter. A primary purpose of the project is to support research in methodologies and techniques associated with Participatory Design. The project involves eight groups, each made up of two HCI students and two representatives from each Atlanta-based business or organization. Each group will design and generate a Web document for each organization with implementation done by the students. This is proving to be an excellent learning vehicle for the HCI students as well as for organization participants. A primary focus of the project is on consideration of "Good Design" using Web technology.

Lessons learned as relates to the "HCI and the Web" workshop: The Web and ideas from Participatory Design are a powerful way of educating and spreading the word about issues related to HCI and about good design for a particular medium. There is a high level of motivation and interest from both students and business participants. Although there is a continuum of Web and Internet expertise among participants, there are aspects of HTML and HTTP that could make the Web conceptually clearer as well as easier to use for even the more knowledgeable participants.

2. Currently, I am working with two other computer science professors on a Web-based project. The project involves joint development work between Georgia State University, Spelman College and Southern Institute of Technology. It concerns the development of an application incorporating some of the communication ideas and results from the CSCW community. The application is for use in Computer Science courses and involves algorithm animation. The application prototype was designed using PICTIVE, a participatory design technique developed at Bellcore. Current status: ongoing project, prototype design and implementation complete.

Lessons learned as relates to the "HCI and the Web" workshop: The project involves development of a Web application. The prototype development proved useful for exchange of Web skills and knowledge within the GSU, Spelman, Southern Institute of Technology student development team. PICTIVE was an effective vehicle for initial design work.

3. I initiated a multidisciplinary software design workshop based on industry generated workshop models by John Karat of IBM Watson Research Center and Tom Drayton of Bellcore. I was principle architect for a pilot conducted for primarily graduate students at Georgia State University. The work focused on the use of participatory design and discovery learning in HCI education. It resulted in two publications: one at the CHI'95 basic research symposium, and one at Frontiers in Engineering Education'95 given at the Innovative Curriculum Issues session. (Work done in 1994/5)

Lessons learned as relates to the "HCI and the Web" workshop: The pilot project involved design of a Web application concerning the history of the Internet. The pilot led to clearer understanding of the kinds of idea exchange and mutual learning with respect to HCI that is useful for effective multidisciplinary design efforts.

CHI 96 Workshop: HCI and the Web, Position Papers