Lecture+8

 •   What are you trying to uncover?  •   Who are you trying to involve in the process?  •   What is your time frame, budget?  •   What is complementary to what’s already done/proposed?  •   Privacy and confidentiality  •   Situations where research impacts context  •   Concerns and how to resolve them  •   What technologies may get more complex to use when more people are involved?  •   Designing for lots of simultaneous users can be daunting (e.g., scalability in web design)  •   Flowcharting interaction patterns - order of actions, decisions made  •   A good first step for unpacking interaction, but can be arbitrary and acontextual - how things should be done, not necessarily how they are  •   Difficulties in representing multiple actors, especially when actors act at different times (conflict in swimlanes, delays in process)  •   People interact with other people using other tools to realize activity  •   Communication and coordination becomes essential - interaction challenges?  •   Internal representations - individual mental models of reality  •   External representations - anything outside individual that guides activity (e.g., layout, notes, diagrams, etc.) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Shared representations - individuals come together over external representations to create shared understanding (or confusion…) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Treats user interaction as a set of defined plans <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Plans in context - often contingent and less cut and dry than expected <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Humans don’t crash when plans fail - we adapt, create new plans on the fly <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Going through the task analysis as actually performed in context <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Do users actually perform tasks as set out in plans? <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   If not, what problems do they have? <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   “think aloud” strategy - get users to vocalize their decision patterns and their confusion <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Represents complexity of interaction among subjects, objects, artefacts and cultural expectations <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   As a theory, can be hard to use in practice - but also quite powerful
 * __ Class 8: Complex Interaction/Activity Theory  __**
 * __ Research Method Choice  __**
 * __ Ethical concerns  __**
 * __ Complexity and Interaction  __**
 * __ Task Analysis  __**
 * __ Distributed Cognition  __**
 * __ Internal/External/Shared  __**
 * __ Plans and Situated Actions  __**
 * __ Cognitive Walkthrough  __**
 * __ Activity Theory  __**
 * <span style="font-size: 7.5pt; color: #898989; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS PGothic'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> ||


 * <span style="font-size: 7.5pt; color: #898989; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS PGothic'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> ||


 * <span style="font-size: 15pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS PGothic'; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;"> ||

<span style="font-size: 15pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS PGothic'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;">Labour ||
 * <span style="font-size: 15pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS PGothic'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;">Artefact ||
 * <span style="font-size: 15pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS PGothic'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;">Subject ||
 * <span style="font-size: 15pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS PGothic'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;">Object ||
 * <span style="font-size: 15pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS PGothic'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;">Praxis ||
 * <span style="font-size: 15pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS PGothic'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;">Community ||
 * <span style="font-size: 15pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS PGothic'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;">Division of

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Subject - people <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Object - goal, task <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Artefact - tools, technologies <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Community - others affected by activity <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Division of Labour - Power relations <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Praxis - norms governing activity <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Primary - conflict at node (e.g., two people, different notions) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Secondary - conflict between nodes (e.g., power relations frustrating action) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Tertiary - conflicts when activites are redesigned (e.g., new process conflicts with models used in old) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Quarternary - conflicts between simultaneous activities (e.g., one activity diagram contradicts another) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Collaborative virtual environments - VR which embodies user in virtual space <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Affords interaction with other embodied users in real time <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Second Life example <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Interesting way to bridge distance gaps <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Time gaps a problem <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Orientation issues in virtual world - people talking to walls, etc. (and why it doesn’t matter) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Confusing spaces and avatars - fantastic displays but for what purpose? <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Subjects - conference attendees <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Object - engage in collaboration, talk <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Artefacts - virtual conference environment, posters, websites, etc. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Community - attendees, lurkers <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Division of Labour - who is/is not allowed to talk at any given time, access restrictions <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Praxis - expectations of conference environment, turn-taking, etc. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Difficult to analyze as whole - there’s no “right” way to attend a conference <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Specific elements can be analyzed though - e.g., conference registration and payment <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Nested series of tasks possible - in software design, essential - but conflict and error handling becomes an issue <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Hard to map connections – many iterative loops <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> •   Terminology and theory can be dense – hard to describe, hard to engage others in use
 * __ Nodes in Activity Triangle  __**
 * __ Contradictions  __**
 * __ Example: CVEs  __**
 * __ CVEs in Conferences  __**
 * __ Activity Theory Analysis  __**
 * __ Limitations of HTA  __**
 * __ Limitations of Activity Theory  __**