Whitman College Magazine Winter 2021

SYLLABUS
CS 267
Human-
Computer
Interaction
4 CREDITS | DAVIS
For the Fall 2020 semester,
Davis kept it relevant. Her
students developed digital
interfaces that would solve a
problem posed by COVID-19
restrictions (such as extensions
for video conferencing).
Pixel Peppercorn
Toshi
WHAT IS HCI? Human-Computer Interaction studies center on
the interaction between human users and computer technology
in work and life. HCI first emerged in the 1980s—when personal
computing machines like the IBM PC 5150 and the Apple Macintosh
were debuting in offices and homes. It has since expanded to include
web and mobile applications, smart appliances and voice assistants.
The Course: How do people interact with computers?
And how can we design computer systems
that make people’s lives better? Students
learn to critique, create and test user interfaces
using principles based on psychological theories of
perception, memory, attention, planning and learning.
KEY TERMS
Prototype A design
hypothesis. Through
prototyping and testing,
you learn the ways in
which your hypothesis
is wrong and needs
to be improved.
Paper prototyping
A helpful early development
tool to observe the
HCI, where designers
plot concepts on paper
and have others simulate
how they would
interact with it. “It might
sound surprising that
computer scientists
use paper as a tool,
but paper is the most
recommended medium
for first interactive prototypes
of a computing
system,” Davis says.
Digital wireframing
A digital schematic or
blueprint, useful for programmers
and designers
to think and communicate
about the structure
of what they are building.
ABOUT THE PROFESSOR
Janet Davis is an associate
professor and department
chair of computer science
(CS). HCI was the first
course she taught when
she arrived at Whitman in
2015. Davis hopes to inspire
more women to join her in
the field. In her article “Five
Ways to Welcome Women to
Computer Science,” published
in The Chronicle of Higher
Education, Davis wrote, “many
of our students don’t see
themselves as ‘tech people.’”
“WE HAVE TO
KINDLE THEIR
INTEREST
IN SOLVING
PROBLEMS VIA
TECHNOLOGY,
AN INTEREST
THAT WOMEN
MIGHT NOT KNOW
THEY HAVE.”
48 / WHITMAN MAGAZINE