• Offered for Year: 2025/26

• Module Leader(s): Dr Vasilis Vlachokyriakos
• Lecturer: Dr Nick Taylor

• Owning School: Computing
• Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus

Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Aims

This module aims to provide an overview of digital technologies and core data analysis methods, as they are
required for the field of HCI. Thereby focusing on ubiquitous, physical and social computing.

The module aims:

• To introduce students to relevant digital technologies that build the technical foundation of HCI research,
thereby focusing on physical and social computing.

• To introduce students to key aspects of practical deployments of digital technologies in HCI research, incl.
privacy related considerations.

• To explore methods of sensor data analysis for real-world deployments of HCI and Ubiquitous Computing
technology.

• To support students in critically evaluating and selecting appropriate technological means for HCI research.

• To provide students with hands-on experience of using digital technologies in HCI research.

Outline Of Syllabus

Conceptual foundations and contemporary topics of Technologies for Human Computer Interaction:

1. Introduction to Social Computing and Collaborative Technologies; including:
a) Behaviour change and personal informatics.
b) Information seeking, assessment and misinformation.
c) Crowdsourcing and Participatory Media.
d) Civic participation through technologies.
e) Social media and Platform-enabled social services.
f) Citizen science.

2. Introduction to Ubiquitous Computing and Internet of Things (IoT); including:
a) Foundations to Ubiquitous computing compared with other paradigm shifting imaginaries.
b) Privacy considerations of embedded and smart technologies.
c) Tangible interaction in smart environments and surfaces.
d) Context-aware computing.
e) Human-Building Interaction.
f) Interaction with smart agents (e.g. voice interaction, interacting with smart bots etc).

3. Mobile, wearable and embodied interaction; including:
a) Embodiment as an imaginary and vision for the relationship between human and artificial.
b) Technologies for ageing, wellbeing and the body.
c) Personal informatics through life-logging wearable technologies.
d) Fashion design through interactive textiles.
e) Sports and healthcare technologies.

4. Immersive Technologies; including:
a) Foundations of VR/AR/XR; contemporary challenges and interactions.
b) Virtual Reality.
c) Augmented Reality.
d) Mixed Reality.
e) Tangible interactions and haptics for immersion.

5.Introduction to Human-AI interaction; including:
a) Why HAII is particularly difficult and important to design for.
b) Contemporary topics in HAII and prototyping for HAII.
c) Designing safe, interpretable (e.g. model feature important), trustworthy (e.g. through verifiable
explanations) interfaces.


The module will also deliver hands-on tutorials that will introduce students to developing prototypes for HCI. More specifically the technical content includes:

• Programming basics (numbers, files, command line, and speaking to electronics).

• Web development basics (front end and back end basics, server-side Web APIs, reactive frameworks, databases,
web sessions, tools for development and deployment).

• Physical prototyping (e.g. developing with Raspberry Pi and connected sensors and modules, sensing and
display, signal processing, context-aware applications).

• Mobile and VR/AR development.

• Prototyping for Human-AI Interaction.

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Topic-specific lecture/seminars will require student to undertake substantial prior reading to enable a collective exploration (e.g. through flipped classroom sessions and workshops) of students' understanding of the technical agendas, opportunities and complexities in HCI. The seminars will also provide an opportunity for peer learning that will be extended through the conduct of group-based practical sessions in which students will collaboratively engage in exercises that emphasise practical skills appraising and critically evaluating HCI technologies.

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment

Formative Assessments

Formative Assessment is an assessment which develops your skills in being assessed, allows for you to receive feedback, and prepares you for being assessed. However, it does not count to your final mark.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Given that the emphasis of the module is on the development of abilities to select and critically appraise HCI technologies, the group project assessment requires students to put these knowledge and skills into practice by collaborating in the design, development and evaluation of a system that incorporates elements of ubicomp, physical and social computing.

By working in small groups (4-5) students will have the opportunity to engage in a project of an appropriate scale and complexity, but this also affords the opportunity for further peer-learning (thereby leveraging the likely multiple disciplinary backgrounds of the students them-selves).

The formative assessment will allow students to experiment with interactive media technologies, while also giving them feedback for their group projects.

Reading Lists

• CSC8604's Reading List

Timetable

• Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
• CSC8604's Timetable