Human Computer Interaction Assignment English Language Essay

Human Computer Interaction Assignment English Language Essay Technology has had a big impact on society, as it has made many drastic improvements to the way life in general has changed and improved so much. For instance, technology has improved usability of software and hardware in society. In addition specialised interfaces have helped people with disabilities enabling diversity to take place. Describe the impact of HCI on society, the economy and culture, providing 5 (five) examples of each topic. Society Touch screen phones, using phones is now easier because of the touch screens Input/output Game controllers, game controls allow you to play a game and connect with others by sending messages or attaching a microphone to it to talk Remote control, allows you to remotely control something without being right next to the thing you want to control Head up Display, would be good for drivers since they wont have to look away from the road to see how fast theyre going Economy Text readers, also known as text to speech Voice input, example telling a lamp to switch off and it switches off Thought input, wheel chair users will have the ability to control their wheel chair by just thinking about it Mobile communication, ability to call or text anyone world wide Reduced complexity of input, everything is simple and requires no more than 2-3 options of input Culture Games, allow people to connect with each other allowing one another to have an open mind and talk to different people with different opinions and thoughts Deskilling work, androids/robots will replace the easy things humans do, e.g. at tesco and a few other places you can serve yourself and self-checkout Mobile entertainment, youre now able to watch videos about different cultures with your mobile Laptops, ability to search the internet, interact with others, watch videos Domestic appliances, things like microwaves diswashers Task 2 (P2) Considering that the HCI design principles create a big impact on a users experience of a hardware and software product, explain the Schneiderman (eight rules) and Nielsens ten usability heuristics principles. Remember to explain perception, behaviour models and information processing. Schneiderman Strive for consistency: either it be the consistent same lay out or colours, or the identical terminology used in menus, prompts and help screens, if it is in a similar situation it should all be the same or somewhat similar. Enable frequent users to use shortcuts: A regular user of a device or a certain type of application should have the ability to have a shortcut to things they use the most; this would speed up the work flow. Offer informative feedback: When a user is interacting with their device or application, they should receive feedback that gives them a clear representation and is also understandable. Design dialog to yield closure: A users gets a good feeling when they know there is a flow to what ever theyre doing, that everything is in a chain, one thing has to happen in order for another. For example, sending a message on an application such as whatsapp first you need to add the contact, then the message its self, and then after youve sent the message it shows a D letting you know its been delivered. Offer simple error handling: If something goes wrong with a device, a simple type of hint should pop up to help the user with the problem that occurred. If a certain app crashes it should ask the user if theyd like a error report to be sent. Permit easy reversal of actions: In other words undo this is needed in a HCI because it would prevent any permanent mistakes. Support internal locus of control: a user should receive some what a type of display letting the user know that something is actually happening. Lets say a user attempts to open a app and the app is taking a few seconds to get ready and open up, the user would instinctually think the app didnt respond to his/her touch so he/she will attempt to reopen the app multiple times until the app malfunctions. Reduce short-term memory load: When a user is using a device they shouldnt be thinking about the amount of times theyll need to push a button or what not, it should be a simple click of a button, and with menus it shouldnt require a button push to go up or down it should be a simple scroll bar. Nielsens ten usability heuristics principles Visibility of System Status: The system should have a certain type of way to let the user know what is happening and with a good time. Match between system and the real world: The system should be able to speak the users language, with the correct words and the right concepts and with the right time, so it is communicating clearly with the user User control and freedom: Sometimes when youre using a device in a rush you tend to open random applications and then you have the ability to instantly abort the application, without having to go through the process of the extended dialogue. Consistency and standards: The system should always have continuity across the platform. Error prevention: The better the design is the one with the better error recovery, but also prevents users from making the same errors twice. Recognition rather than recall: The user shouldnt have to remember the information from dialogue to another, it should all be recognisable and visible to the user. Flexibility and efficiency of use: The system should have accelerators, which are unseen to the regular user but they allow the expert user to do things and navigate faster with more frequent actions. Aesthetic and minimalist design: Dialogues shouldnt contain information that is not needed in that specific area, you should always make sure your system is efficiently composed. Help users recognise, diagnose and recover from errors: Error messages and error prompt boxes should explain the problem in plain language without code, and should also precisely indicate whatever the problem may be and also give advice to the user on a solution. Help and documentation: Although a system is better without documentation, it might be necessary to provide the help and documentation, so that any such information should be easily searched for and found. It should also be focused on what the users task is and list the steps to be carried out. Task 3 (P3) McCann Phones a small and up and coming new mobile phone producer has decided to develop a new mobile phone interface for its next series of mobile phones to replace its highly successful first range. The developers have come up with three possible interfaces and they need to decide which one to use. It has been decided to carry out an investigation on the alternatives prior to production. You have the support of the software engineers and production manager so prototypes will be made available to you. As you are the resident usability evaluator it is your task to carry out any necessary survey work and to come up with proposal. Here are the three possible interfaces: The convention qwerty keyboard as used in most computer systems. An alphabetical keyboard (a, b, c, d, e,,z) A keyboard based on frequency of character us (e, t, a, o, n, rz) Design the input and output of your mobile prototype. Choose one of the suggested interfaces and explain why. F:Unit 23 HCITemplate of phone design.jpg Clicking either one of these buttons will open up a certain app/webpage, depending on the one you click, for instance if you click on the one with f will open up a Facebook app or webpage. Reason why Ive added this to my mobile prototype is because people now use these two to communicate with each other, with the button input being there, itll allow you to get in contact faster and easier considering all youd have to do is click a button. Task 4 (P4) The knob in the centre of this washing machine system controls the different fabric washing systems and the settings for rinse and spin. The control does not have a stop in either direction; in other words it continues to go all the way round to the next cycle. Create input and output for this machine which would be best for adjusting the cycle according to the fabric, temperature, speed and timer. You could draw a picture to help you explain the reasons. Provide two new ideas that are not available in the industry. img_0193.jpg Below is what my design would look like and I will be explaining the two things that Ive implemented into my design that havent been used in the industry. 2. Touch screen, everything you input will be touch done via the new sleek touch screen design. Child lock passcode, this will be programmed in a way that it will be child proof, for example if you want to lock your machine after it has started and keep every button locked, youll enter the child lock. It is designed in a way so that no matter what you push nothing will be happening but to deactivate the lock youll first have to enter the first 2 digits right, this will then enable you to see what youre inputting and then you enter the rest of your passlock to unlock the machine. G:Unit 23 HCITask 4 Design 1.png Task 5 (P5) Based on the case scenario before, explain how you would test your system according to its functionality. Comment on the usefulness of such system and point out any drawbacks. Testing the system child lock To test the system youll first have to enter a child lock pass lock and then attempt to push any of the touch screen buttons and see if anything happens, and nothing should happen if the system is correctly made. This will be useful considering little children love to stand beside the washing machine when its spinning and tend to push buttons, but with the child lock they wont be able to push any buttons. The downside to this system is that the password is 4 digits long and to have half access to the system youll have to correctly enter the first 2 digits otherwise youd just be pushing the keys and nothing would be happening, so the drawback would be if you forgot the passcode you would have to end up calling the company to come and reset your password. Testing the touch screen To test this youll have to push what you want, for example, cotton, with 50 degrees Celsius and then on high spin, if the system is working properly it would input the material first and then the temperature and then lastly the amount of spins it will be doing. The touch screen with the options is useful because its simple to use and you can adjust it to the way you want it and wont have to clock the washing machine knob to the way you want it, you just have to input the things you want with a touch of a button. The big drawback to having a touch screen is that if it is dented or broken it will be not be operating properly, it probably wont even be operating at all, so you wont be able to input anything. Task 6 (P6) Bionic vision was once the preserve of futuristic technology shows. However, those Tomorrows World days could soon be reality with a pair of glasses linked to a computer offering hope to thousands of visually impaired people in Britain. Current technology that can give profoundly visually impaired people a form of sight through a retinal implant is expensive and invasive, so developing an affordable, non-invasive alternative would be a welcome improvement. And this is exactly what scientists at the University of Oxford are working on. The technology works by having a tiny video camera mounted on to a pair of glasses, which relays information to a small computer in the users pocket. The computer recognises objects or people and relays the information to the lenses via tiny LED lights. (Light-emitting diode). People would see a bright light within the lenses themselves to indicate an object. The brightness of the light would then indicate how close, or how far away the object was and that may be enough for the wearer to navigate their way around. Using a computer to interpret the world on behalf of the wearer means we could use different coloured lights in the lenses to allow different types of information to be fed back to the wearer explains Dr. Stephen Hicks, research associate in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford. The advances in mobile phone and computer game technology, such as face recognition, tracking software and depth sensors enable the visually impaired to access a whole new host of possibilities. (Extract from Metro, September 19, 2001) Explain how you would design the device and document how you would consider the input, output, the quantitative measures and qualitative measures of effectiveness of your product. This would be designed on a pair of glasses with a lens that is 5cm thick, it would need to be sort of thick to fit in a pair of small LCD screen into each of the lens. The input and out put would work in a way with different bright colours, for example if the area is clear of objects and people it would be a black light with a blue light highlighting the walls so that the user of the glasses doesnt bump into the walls, and if the user is near people it would be a black light with green light highlighting approximately where the object or person is so that the user doesnt bump into them. If its dark at night instead of the backgrounds being black they would be white and objects, people and walls would be highlighted with purple. The glasses would also be implemented with a vibrator and a sound card to make beeping noises when someone gets close to an object within a close radius of 50 centre meters, and depending on how low/high the object is, it will make a beep vibrate, the user has the ability to switch one of these of. Each beep and vibrate will have a different meaning for example if a object is really close to the person and they can walk over it, it would simple beep twice and vibrate twice, just in case they didnt hear the beep. C:Usershijh0736Pictures48416_1 copy.jpg Ear piece attached to the glasses that goes into the users ear, it sends beeping signals depending on the diameter of how close they are to a object, they can get the settings changed from where they where given the product, just in case the beeping gets annoying or they want to change the frequency of the beeping. LCD screen projecting lights, black background, with green to represent a object. If the person that is vision impaired isnt impaired badly, then they can ask someone to change the settings of the screen so that the black background is taken away and it is just see through but it would still highlight objects as green. If the person that is vision impaired is badly impaired, no need to worry their is a ear piece that also helps, with beeping when coming in close contact to a object. Submission Date: Week commencing, 22nd October 2012 in class Failure to submit on time is a serious concern. Please read your Rules Regulations. Any request for EXTENSION needs to be made in writing to the subject lecturer and copy to Tutor. GUIDE LINES FOR COMPLETING THE ASSIGNMENT Please attach the complete cover sheet with your coursework. Make sure your read all of the tasks in this assignment before you start. Create your assignment in one Word document. Please write in your own words. Proof read and spell check your work. Reference your work by providing bibliography/source table on a separate sheet in the same document of all the books, websites, notes, etc. Ensure the assignment presentation is clear and that the tasks are identified with the appropriate task numbers and the grading criterion. Include your name in the header, unit no, title, appropriate file name and path, page numbers in the footer. Submit on time via Moodle (final submission). Save a copy of your work on the WKC server this is important and a requirement. Presentation of your Assignment The work will use correct paragraphing, formal grammar, tenses and spelling. The pages of the assignment will be consecutively numbered. The correct cover sheet must be submitted with your assignment. Assessment Policy BTEC Courses Students will be permitted to go through a draft with the lecturer during a workshop determined by the lecturer. If you do not attend this workshop, your draft will not be checked. They will then be expected to hand in the assignment on the due date and time as specified on the assessment brief and the AR1 (assessment plan). Late submissions are capped at a Pass unless you have extenuating circumstances and have explained these to the tutor prior to the submission date. You are entitled to one resubmission with the Pass criteria in the closed book assessment For the Merit and Distinction criteria, anybody who is unable to achieve on first submission will be require to sit a closed book assessment at the end of the semester. REFERENCING and BIBLIOGRAPHY The Harvard Referencing System will be used conventionally to identify all secondary research A conventional and complete Bibliography using the Harvard Referencing System will be included. Please note that you are NOT allowed to include any reference from the Wikipedia website your assessment may be adversely graded if Wikipedia features in the referencing or Bibliography. Please see the example below for how a Bibliography should be formatted: Example Bibliography Books Grbich, C. (2007). Qualitative Data Analysis: an introduction. London, Sage Publications Ltd. Hart, C. (2005). Doing your Masters Dissertation. London, Sage Publications Ltd. Journal Articles Abdullah, F. (2006). Measuring Service Quality in higher education: HEdPERF versus SERVPERF. Marketing Intelligence and Planning 24(1): 31-47. Bignold, D. (2006). Schooled and Tooled. Caterer Hotelkeeper 10th August 2006: 23-26.

product innovation Essay -- essays research papers

Marketing Principles PRODUCT INNOVATION AND PROMOTION PROJECT   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Our assignment is to create and promote an innovative product. In developing a new product, we started with an idea generation. This is a systematic search for new-product ideas. Companies go through many ideas before they come to find some good ones. We had to do the same thing. We thought of many ideas on our own. It was more of an internal idea source as opposed to going outside of our partnership for ideas. Our first idea was a restaurant with half of it an actual restaurant and the other half an automobile tuner shop. The next idea was a new energy drink that would be less costly and better tasting. Our next idea came up when we were sitting there gathering ideas for the project. We were looking in chapter ten of the marketing principles book and reading about the Heinz EZ Squirt ketchup bottles. It popped up that one of the greatest American snacks of all time has not been put into a squeeze bottle like a lot of other products have. That product is peanut bu tter. This was going to be the idea of our project until we went to the store to buy some peanut butter for our package and we found a bottle of squeeze peanut butter already out. This led us to finding a new product last minute. We thought of what we are interested in. Cars, music, and liquor immediately came to mind.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The next step was to screen the ideas to separate the good ideas from the bad. Every product or service had good points and bad. The half restaurant half auto tuner shop was a very different concept, and with some fine-tuning could catch the interest of some people. The bad thing is that it probably would not catch enough people. It was not a promising idea. The idea of a new energy drink was okay, but there are various kinds of energy drinks already out on the market. To create one that all the other ones do not already say they can do is hard. It did not look that it was a good idea either. The peanut butter idea sparked our interests more than any of the ideas we had come up with. It is a very simple idea and it would not be too complicated or technical to create. Peanut butter is used in many snacks and it would be easy to prove why a squeeze bottle could make a lasting improvement from a regular jar. Peanut butter in a squeeze bottle was the final decision... ...ference and funding to them will help them out financially. Even though we are concentrated on stopping underage drinking, we want to be active in the lives of the drinkers of age. This is why we will sponsor local softball league teams for older men and women. It is a good way to keep alcohol drinkers active and doing something. Our company is all about creating a good image to the public for all ages of people alcoholic drinkers or not.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The bartender workers as well as the store clerks will be well trained in personal selling. They will have a very friendly face-to-face presentation as well as attitude. They will also take friendly telephone calls to questions to opinions on drinks. Our store also offers an email address for requests, suggestions, opinions, or just questions for our in-store bartenders. They will reply within the day as soon as possible. Again, we pride ourselves on quality and presence. â€Å"Barstop Mixes† is for alcoholic drinkers of all kinds. The only way to experience our store and service the best is to come and visit. We promise it will be worth your while and hopefully an â€Å"incredible† experience.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Earthquake Preparedness Press Release Essay

How can my family be prepared for an earthquake? This question haunts countless residents in the Los Angeles area every day. Hopefully we here at the Earthquake Preparedness Center can shed some light on how you can protect your family. My name is Darin Fort and I am the Director of Earthquake Preparedness for Los Angeles. As with any danger, knowledge of the event is of upmost importance. Some questions that should be asked by anyone who wants to defend their home against earthquakes are: What are the origins and causes of earthquakes and what is the relation of earthquakes to plate tectonics and faults in Los Angeles? What are some historical disasters associated with earthquakes? What are the hazards associated with earthquakes? What is the potential for future earthquakes in the Los Angeles area? Earthquakes are started at the Earth’s crust. Our planet is made up of different plates which float on a layer of molten material or magma much like potato chips would float on top of a bowl of water. Scientists believe there could be as many as 12 plates that make up Earth’s crust. These plates move freely like bumper cars: pulling away from each other, moving side to side or laterally, and even smashing into each other. The proof behind plate tectonics lies in mountain ranges and island chains like the Hawaiian Islands, both are products of plate tectonics. Earthquakes originate from plate boundaries called faults. The tension and movement between the conflicting faults is what causes the shock waves referred to as an earthquake. When the pressure between two conflicting plates is too much for the rock material to support, they can shift or break dramatically. The exact underground point where this occurs is the focus. Many people are familiar with the above ground ve rsion of the focus called the epicenter. When the plates crack or shift, shock waves are sent out from the focus. These waves come in three forms: Primary, Secondary, and Surface. The surface wave is the one which causes damage to our cities and homes. Unfortunately, Los Angeles is located over an earthquake hot bed. There are two different kinds of plate boundaries located under the Los Angeles area. The first is called a transform plate boundary. In a transform boundary, such as the San Andres Fault, plates move in a lateral motion. Imagine taking two pieces of rough cut wood and sliding them against one another. When the force applied exceeds the ability of the splinters holding them together, they slip and then catch again when it meets new, stronger material. This is called strike-slip affect which is produced by transform plate boundaries. The other type of boundary located in the Los Angeles area is called a convergent boundary. Convergent boundaries are located where two plates are colliding into each other. The grinding and crushing action of the two converging plates send shock waves out just as the transform boundary does. Los Angeles has been battling the effects of plate tectonics for centuries. The Los Angeles area has suffered several major events in recent history. The Fort Tejon Earthquake took place in 1857 and tremors from this quake were felt over 350,000 square kilometers (USGS, 2012). The Fort Tejon Earthquake was one of the largest in California history and originated at a strike-slip boundary. The Parkfield Earthquake of 1901 was an event we all hope never happens again. Over 700 people lost their lives that day due to the tremors which originated from the San Andres Fault (USGS, 2012). In 1994 a major event struck which killed many, injured thousands, and destroyed billions of dollars’ worth of property. There were also major events which took place in 1881, 1922, 1934, 1966, and most recently 2004 where property was damaged and even worse lives were lost. The hazards involved in an earthquake are countless. As stated earlier, the major damage causing force of an earthquake is the surface wave. The surface wave causes ground tremors that can knock building off their foundations and bring bridges crumbling down. If you are inside, either find the strongest area of the room or get under a table or desk and stay there. If you are caught outdoors get into the open, as far away from buildings, power lines, or any other type of tall or overhead structures. Another major hazard brought about by an earthquake is fire. Many times tremors from earthquakes can bring down power lines and rupture gas mains. In an event where you witness fallen power lines or leaking gas main, please move as far away from them as possible and contact rescue personnel as soon as possible. Crumbling dams and levees can also lead to flooding in some areas. Stresses in certain structures like dams and levees tend to not present themselves until it is too late to escape the rising water. You should evacuate the area until safety and rescue personnel have had time to clear the area and inspect the affected structure. We can say, without hesitation, the earthquake activity in the Los Angeles is here to stay. Since we are located directly over plate boundaries, we will continue to see seismic events. Plate tectonics, the driving force of earthquakes, is a natural process which has formed the ever-changing world we live in today. Science Daily, a leading publisher of science news, recently published an article titled â€Å"California Has More Than 99% Chance of a Big Earthquake within 30 Years, Report Shows† (Science Daily, 2008). While the actual statistic is a 49% chance of a 7.5 or greater earthquake striking in the next 30 years, we are certain that seismic events will continue to plaque the city (Science Daily, 2008). Unfortunately, many of the lives lost in earthquake events could be prevented by taking precautionary steps in our everyday lives. However, due to an increased population and congested city centers it is possible there could be more lives lost today if a major event were to strike. Please take all precautionary measures to keep you and your family safe during an earthquake. For a full list of ways to keep safe before, during, and after an earthquake, please visit www.consrv.ca.gov , click on â€Å"Earthquakes† and follow the link to â€Å"What to do if an earthquake strikes†. Remember, being prepared may save your life. Reference Page California Department of Conservation. (2007). What to do in an Earthquake. Retrieved from http://www.consrv.ca.gov/index/Earthquakes/Pages/qh_earthquakes_what.aspx ScienceDaily. (Apr. 15, 2008). California Has More Than 99% Chance Of A Big Earthquake Within 30 Years, Report Shows. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080414203459.htm USGS. (2012). California Earthquake History. Retrieved from http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/california/history.php USGS. (2012). 1857 Fort Tejon Earthquake. Retrieved from http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/parkfield/1857.php USGS. (2012). 1901 Parkfield Earthquake. Retrieved from http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/parkfield/1901.php

Physics Of A Simple Wave Simulator - 1941 Words

Physics in the Classroom The activity that I chose, Simple Wave Simulator, covers the ideas of what the properties of a simple wave are. This simulator enables the student to choose whether they want to make a rope wave, simulating a transverse wave, or a longitudinal wave, which simulates a sound wave. The student is also able to change certain properties of the wave, such as frequency, amplitude, and the speed at which the wave is traveling. While using the simulator, students are able to track data such as values of wave speed, frequency, amplitude, wavelength, and period. The interactive activity found on the link, pictured below, is something that I found to be very useful. It gives you the opportunity to visually see the differences within the waves when you change the different aspects of them. You can change one component at a time, or all at once and have the ability to compare and contrast what each of them visually look like. The core ideas for this activity is to, one, show that the wavelength and frequency are related by how fast the wave travels. This will depend on what type of wave we are looking at, and through what type of circumstances (medium), it is traveling. As stated before, the simulator shows the change in structure of each of the waves created as its frequency or amplitude is changed. It also, as stated before, shows how the wavelength and wave speed are related to each other. One of the main cross cutting concepts is patterns. PatternsShow MoreRelatedModeling Of Fractal Antenna Using Artificial Neural Network3245 Words   |  13 Pagesof iteration as 0 iteration,1st iteration,2nd iteration etc. For fulfilling all the requirement introduced above fractal microstrip patch antennas are designed.As the number of iteration increases the time consume for solving matrix generated in simulator based on method of moment(IE3D) increases. Due to this reason we are designing an artificial neural network for microstrip fractal antenna. 2.1 Fractal Antenna:- Fractal as a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be subdivided into partsRead MoreSensing And Manipulation Through Touch2835 Words   |  12 Pageslibrary. †¢ Application programming interface (API) and often a haptic effect authoring tool. When a human uses his hands to explore the environment around him, then that human receive two types of feedback - kinesthetic and tactile. Fig. 3 shows a simple block diagram of haptic system [7]. Fig. 3 Haptic System Block Diagram Reaction forces are normally perceived through a combination of these two feedbacks. Tactile feedback refers the information acquired by the sensors which are actually connectedRead MoreProject Managment Case Studies214937 Words   |  860 Pagesdemand immediate personnel development training. The first situation is when personnel are required to perform in an organizational structure that has gone from the relatively simple, pure structure to a complex, partial matrix structure. This is what has happened to us. The second situation is when the task changes from simple to complex. With either situation by itself, there is usually some slack time. But when both occur almost instantaneously, as is our case, immediate training should be undertaken