Computer Science and Software Engineering 371

Software Requirements and Specification

Fall 2005

Exam 3 Review

       Exam 3 (to be given on Thursday, November 3 in class) will cover the reading material (the Interaction Design text, Chapters 1-8); Homework #6; and lectures and discussion from Thursday, October 20 (Interaction Design part only), and Monday, October 24 through Monday, October 31, inclusive; and the example problems below plus the corresponding solution.  The exam will be closed book and closed notes, except for a single 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper, with which you can put info on both the front and the back.  Up to 10% of the exam could come directly from the reading material (without having been covered otherwise).

Below is a set of example problems, one for each chapter from 1-8 of the Interaction Design text, from Steve Chenoweth’s exams from his CSSE 490 from last spring. (It is noted that much of this material has not been directly addressed by me until now.)

1. There are four activities to the basic process of Interaction Design, the first being “Identifying needs and establishing requirements.” What are the other three activities?

2. The four conceptual models based on activities are instructing, conversing, manipulating-and-navigating, and exploring-and-browsing. Which one of these activity models is the “direct manipulation” (DM) interface based upon, and what are three of the benefits of DM?

3. A strategic question in building an ID conceptual framework is this: “How much transparency should the designer provide for the user, and what kind?” An equivalent question for program design would lead us to think about how we approach “transparency” in object-oriented design and programming. Suppose we applied the same “transparency” rules as we do in OO, but to interaction design. Let’s say you are building an interface for people to fix their own software problems on their home PC. Using OO rules about transparency, describe how that software maintenance interface might look, and how the result compares with using ID-style “transparency”:

4 What are key problems with the synchronous type of computer-mediated communications?

5. Ideally what should error messages be like?

6. The software development model for interaction design (ID) feels “close” to the extreme programming (XP) model, where users can watch the progress of the system almost continuously. To proponents of other software development models, that involvement sounds like a real bother for the programmers, because users will continue to flood developers with ideas as they try to get something done. First argue that the “full immersion of the users” recommended by both ID and XP really is a good thing, giving at least two reasons for that:

7. Describe the conundrum (a paradoxical, insoluble, or difficult problem) you will find yourself in as an interaction designer for a new system, if you work closely with fussy users and, at the same time your developers, who are far away, are demanding a stable set of requirements. Include in your description at least two possible ways you might resolve this conundrum.

8. Steve asked mapsonus.com for a map of Rose-Hulman, and here’s what he got – a dancing pig advertising home mortgages!

Take a look at the design of this web page. Then describe what you think is the intent of the interaction designers, and invent a metaphor for the user interaction you believe is being delivered.

If you were doing such a site yourself, how would you use “Wizard of Oz” prototyping to discover user needs and interests?