HCI 545: Embodied Interaction

This course covers the history, theory and philosophy behind embodied interaction (including cognitive, physiological, and social aspects), and discusses some of the best current examples of embodied interaction in digital interfaces. The course leverages students knowledge of User-Centered Interaction Design (UCID) from HCI 440 and their exposure to the psychological and physiological theories and experimental findings from HCI 450 and extends these into embodied interaction in three dimensions. It does this by exposing students to post-WIMP (windows, icons, menus, pointer) and blended/ubiquitous computing interfaces. Coursework includes a series of individual assignments that results in an embodied interaction prototype suitable for evaluation by real users; critical review and discussion of current research and development in embodied interaction; and critical review of other students' work. The sequence of assignments require students to identify an opportunity or need for application of embodied interaction; perform user research; create appropriate models as precursors to design; perform conceptual design; and design and create an embodied interaction prototype in a medium of their choice. They must then evaluate their prototype in tests with real users. Students are expected to share their application proposal, elements of other assignments, and reading summaries with the rest of the class.