Course Outline & Assignments - Fall 2000
Date
Topics
Readings/Assignments
Introduction to Performance Centered Design
The Business Case
Underpinnings
Definition
Examples
What it's not
Gery, Attributes and Behaviors of Performance-Centered Systems, http://cpt.fsu.edu/PIQContents/Gery.pdf
Dickelman, Performance Support in Internet Time, http://www.pcd-innovations.com/PSinInternetTime/index.htm
9/4
LABOR DAY - no class
Bannan-Rittland et. al., Literary Explorer (an example by GMU students), http://www.pcd-innovations.com/pijuly2000/LiteraryExplorerGMU.pdf
Banerji, Performance Support in Perspective, http://www.pcd-innovations.com/piaug99/PSinPerspective.pdf
9/11
Performance-Centered Systems Engineering
Overview
Underpinnings
Process
Disciplines and Competencies
Exercises
Raybould (1995), Performance Support Engineering:  An Emerging Development Methodology for Enabling Organizational Learning, http://cpt.fsu.edu/PIQContents/Raybould.pdf
Raybould (2000), Performance Support Engineering: Building Performance-Centered Web-Based Systems, Information Systems and KnowledgeManagement Systems in the 21 st Century, http://www.pcd-innovations.com/pijuly2000/Raybould2000.pdf
Dickelman, Gershom's Law, http://www.pcd-innovations.com/law/
Huber, et. al., Teaming Up for Performance Support http://www.pcd-innovations.com/piaug99/TeamingUp.pdf
9/18
The Compelling Business Need
Examples
VMPA and the Action Planning Process
Analytic Tools:  AHP
Appropriateness
Risk assessment & management
When to take the next step
Exercises
Gery, Chapters 1 - 4
Gery, Cases chapter

9/25
No Class
10/2
Process Modeling and Simulation
Examples and Exercises
The Role of Dynamics in PCD
Processes and Procedures
Enabling Software
Analytic Tools
Exercises
10/9
Columbus Day - No class BUT this class is rescheduled to 10/11 by the university.
10/11
Diversity Modeling
Interests, values, skills, learning style, personal style, risk tolerance
Relationships between diversity, PCD attributes, and business parameters
The role of personas in PCD
Examples
Exercises
Cooper, Alan (1999) The inmates are running the asylum: why high tech products drive us crazy and how to restore the sanity. Indianapolis,IN:SAMS (ISBN: 0672316498 )  
 Chapter 9 - See me for a paper copy.

Norman, Donald A. (1998)  The invisible computer: Why products can fail,the personal computer is so complex, and information appliances are the solution, Cambridge, MA:  MIT Press  
Chapter 9 - See me for a paper copy.
10/16
Hypermedia Engineering & Knowledge Management
The role of hypertext in PCD
Infobases and knowledge bases versus databases
Content objects, units, and nodes
Reachability
Currency
Converting between media
Tools and technologies
Exercises
Knowledge Management for the New World of Business by Yogesh Malhotra:  http://www.brint.com/km/whatis.htm
Suggested Reading:  Does KM=IT?  http://www.cio.com/archive/enterprise/091599_ic.html
The history of hypertext as Ted Nelson created it:  Xanalogical Structure, Needed Now More than Ever: Parallel Documents, Deep Links to Content, Deep Versioning and Deep Re-Use at http://www.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~ted/XUsurvey/xuDation.html
About Ted Nelson's Literary Machines:  http://www.feedmag.com/html/document/98.02nelson/intro.html
Ted Nelson's One-Liners:  
Suggested Reading: Reading, Scholarship, and Hypertext Editions http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/03-01/reading.html
10/23
Representations
The role of representations in PCD
Examples
Underpinnings
The Power of Constraints
The Power of Redirection
Exercises
Norman, Donald A. (1993), Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes in the Age of the Machine, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company:    Chapters 3 & 4 - will be distributed in class.
10/30
Interaction Design
Business performance through human performance revisited
Performance-centered usability
Personas versus elastic users
Things that make us smart
Things that make us powerful
Things that bring us pleasure
When the inmates run the asylum
Process
Examples
Exercises
Complete the quiz and exercises of the 10/30/2000 lecture notes.
11/6
Interface Design
Business focus
Performance-centered usability goals
Icons and buttons and mice (Oh, my!)
Interactions revisited
Objects and actions
Low-, medium-, and high-fidelity representations
Testing usability of the interface
Examples
Exercises
Chapters 11 and 12 of Cooper, Alan (1999) The inmates are running the asylum: why high tech products drive us crazy and how to restore the sanity. Indianapolis,IN:SAMS (ISBN: 0672316498 )

Excerpts of the above will be distributed in class.

pp. 168 - 178 of Gery, Gloria (1991), Electronic performance support systems. Tolland,MA:  Gery Associates; ISBN: 0964622300.  

Question:  How prophetic was the Directions for Education table on page 171?

Also, skim chapter 8: Development and Implementation.  How does this chapter compare with our PCS development lifecycle?
11/13
Performance-Centered Usability Evaluations
Purpose
Techniques
Test sites
Evaluators
Scenarios, briefings, and debriefings
Scheduling
Observing
Drawing conclusions
Iteration
Examples
Exercises
Fear and Loathing on the Keyboard: Why we should hate software that's smarter than we are, and what to do about it. This article addresses Usability Engineering for performance centered design.

Usability PS: Performance support for conducting usability evaluations is a set of performance support tools and guidelines (i.e., a self-help guide) for conducting usability evaluations.  The reading is available via this link and will also be distributed in class on *gasp!* paper!

Review Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox.
11/20
Technologies and related infrastructure
Spheres of influence and domains of control
The myths of intrinsic, extrinsic, and external support
Bandages
Source code
Agents, events, and messages
Distribution and deployment
Dynamics revisited
Currency, synchronicity, and business dynamics
Examples
Exercises
We will NOT have class tonight as I am stuck out of town, but I will conduct an on-line chat at 7:30.  If you have internet access from home, then stay home.  If you need internet access, you can come to class as usual and log on as follows:
To attend our on-line chat for EDIT797, go to www.egroups.com and log on with your e-mail address and the password that was sent to you when I first registered you for this e-group.  

If you have forgotten your password, just go directly to the login
link, enter your e-mail address (the one with which I registered you) and click "I forgot my password."

You will be mailed a password directly.

Once you log on, you will connect to the GMU-EDIT797 group. Then go to the CHAT link (near the bottom of the list of options on the left)
and join the chat.

I will start the chat promptly at 7:30 EST and we will proceed for at
least 1.5 hours and I will continue to answer questions until 10PM.
 11/27
Barriers, tradeoffs, and compromise
Philosophy, politics, and engineering
The pain model
Measuring success
Marketing and sales
Tips and tricks
Examples
Exercises
Since our discussion last week was on the topic of barriers, tradeoffs, etc., we will discuss the technology issues tonight.  Here are some URLs that we will review:

http://www.epiance.com  (epiplex / gps suite)
http://java.sun.com/  (java...javabeans)
http://worldwidemart.com/scripts/  (Matt Wright's Scripts)
12/4
Project presentations
Research papers due.

I will be available in class to answer your questions concerning the projects.  Remember, we meet at 5PM next week.
12/11
Project presentations
This is a reminder that we will meet at 5PM on Monday, December
11th. The schedule of presentations:

5:00 PM VR Project...Cynthia & Alesha
5:35 PM Auto EPSS ...Colby
6:10 PM HFARM...Joe, Nechele, Tiana, Zeena, Paulette
6:45 PM JEJIT...Dick, Jennifer, Courtney
7:20 PM 10 minute break
7:30 PM Gloria Gery teleconference
8:00 PM ATLARGE...Margie, Sunghye
8:35 PM IDXelerator...Johathan, Kathy, Bethany
9:10 PM Teacher Tool...Cheryl
9:45 PM Network Ops ...Beth, Susan
Class concludes at 10:25.

The project is worth 350 of the 500 course points. Projects will be
evaluated as follows:

(1) PCD focus:150 points
(2) Accurately and
adequately addressed
relevant portion of
PCD lifecycle: 100 points
(3) Stated objective met: 50 points
(4) Quality of presentation: 50 points

As we have discussed, there is no requirement to hand in your project because you will be evaluated on the basis of the presentation. If you feel that further examination or scrutiny is necessary to evaluate your project fairly and completely, then you may turn in your deliverable.

You have the option of turning in the deliverable for posting on the
course site. I will leave the site up for at least another semester
following the course.