From: riander@well.sf.ca.us (Richard Ivan Anderson)
Subject: Topics in Software Usability Engineering - course starting soon in SF
Keywords:  usability human factors user interface CHI HCI
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
Distribution: ba
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 23:44:52 GMT

                    Topics in Software Usability Engineering

                          UC Berkeley Extension X416.1
         3 semester units in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

                         15 Wednesday evenings, 7-10 pm
                           September 9 - December 16
               UC Extension Downtown, 150 Fourth St., San Francisco
               (near Moscone Center at Howard & 1 block from BART)

What makes a computer-human interface "usable"?  How can software usability be
"engineered"?  When should techniques of usability engineering be applied?
What impacts our approaches to designing user interfaces and our opinions of
user interface quality?  What are the limitations/dangers of various
techniques/approaches?  This course will explore answers to these and related
questions about contemporary approaches to developing or contributing to the
development of usable computer-human interfaces.

Topics to be addressed include: the nature of usability engineering; user
interface types/components; design standards and guidelines; user interface
consistency versus user interface transparency; user testing and other means of
assessing/predicting usability; usability objectives; task analysis; contextual
inquiry; participatory design; simulations and prototypes; design rationale;
integrating usability engineering and system development life cycles;
costs/benefits of usability engineering; cognitive/cultural structures that
impact designer behavior and opinion; organizational interfaces / groupware;
approaching usability engineering within the context of process improvement;
special usability considerations of online help, documentation, and
computer-based training; hypertext and expert systems; getting it done given
real-world constraints; usability engineering's future.

This course is intended for developers/designers of user interfaces,
human-factors/usability specialists, software engineers, programmers, and
anyone else (e.g., managers & marketing personnel) who impacts or is impacted
by computer-human interface development.  Enrollment is limited.

The instructor: Richard Anderson is a San Francisco Bay Area human factors
specialist and is Chair of BayCHI - the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of ACM
SIGCHI.  He has investigated the usability of and (re)designed numerous
computer-human interfaces, has conducted research and made presentations on an
assortment of CHI issues as well as on issues involving computer-based exams
and comprehension processes, has developed an innovative approach to designing
and managing system/process evolution, and has taught classes at the University
of Illinois and Pacific Bell.  Richard did his undergraduate work at Iowa State
University and his masters and doctoral work at the University of Illinois.

Cost: $525 [price includes readings]	(EDP 308320)

To enroll or for further information: contact UC Berkeley Extension at
(510)642-4111.
Newsgroups: ba.seminars,ucb.seminars,ba.general,ucb.general