Thanks for this, Chauncey. I am probably one of those people who would struggle when asked the question you mention, but I've been trying to keep it front of mind for the past little while. (I believe you wrote on the subject in another thread not long ago and it hit home.)
It's particularly relevant in terms of teaching the kids though, you're absolutely right. The ideal activity does seem to be a) "let's come up with some things that don't work well in this example" and b) "can you design something that fixes those problems?" You mention that you've seen sessions where kids are asked to critique systems -- where was this? Was it part of a program of some kind or something more informal? How old were the kids, out of curiosity? Meredith > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:discuss- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Chauncey Wilson > Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 1:30 PM > To: Elizabeth > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] teaching young people about usability > > In teaching HCI to the young, it is important to highlight good > designu as well as teach people how to find design and usability > problems. I've seen some sessions where children are asked to > critique or evaluate systems which is fine, but there is often a lack > of discussion about what "good design" is. Actually the same is true > of our interaction with people outside the field. We can show what > bad design is, but examples of good design are harder to come by. > Exercises where people redesign something to eliminate problems would > seem to be critical so in ideas about exercises, consider a cycling > through evaluation, design, review several times. As a field we love > to find fault, but finding what is good with a product or service is a > bit harder. A question that I like to ask designers and usability > colleagues is "What artifacts (online or real) have inspired your > work?". People could give many answers, but I am often presented with > a long pause and an interviewee struggling to think of examples of > good design. > > Chauncey > > On Sun, Apr 20, 2008 at 8:22 AM, Elizabeth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Interestingly enough I was just reading a report I was sent yesterday: > > > > Being Human: Human-Computer Interaction in the Year 2020 > > http://research.microsoft.com/hci2020/download.html > > which makes various recommendations, including number 4 which is > > summarised in the reader%u2019s guide as: > > > > "Teach HCI to the young. > > The report argues that changes in computers and computing have a > > significant impact on all our lives. Consequently, the study of HCI > > should be introduced to the young as soon as possible. This goes > > beyond traditional educational concepts of %u2018computer > > science%u2019 %u2013 not just teaching children about how computers > > and applications work, but about their wider impact." > > > > -so sorry, it's not really helpful to you, Meredith, but I was just > > excited to see that people are already on it and thought it might be > > of interest and encouragement! > > > > > > . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . > > Posted from the new ixda.org > > http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=28169 > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > > > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
