Usability for Linux FDA204, 2006HT Status Archive School Computer and Information Science (CIS) Division HCS Owner Lars Degerstedt

Log in

---

Course plan

Lectures

Introdution lecture + student-lead seminars. Optional development/design project.

Recommended for

Seminars: Recommended for all graduate students at IDA that are interested in usability and/or Linux.

Optional development/design project: for technically or design oriented persons interested in Linux,

The course was last given

New course.

Goals

The student will read, discuss issues of usability for the Linux platform. We will look at what is the same and what differ compaired to the regular What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get platforms of Windows and Mac. There are two principal claims of Unix-like systems: a) that it is only for developers b) gradually moving over to ordinary desktop users through Linux. Both views are investigated, and tradeoffs for different user groups will be discussed. We will also look at and compare what happens when the Unix philosophy meets with the world of usability theory.

The course will make the student aware of new and relevant research questions in on the border between usability and more technical oriented tradition of Unix.

Prerequisites

No prerequistites for the seminar part. For the programming exercise basic programming skills are required.

Organization

Introductionary lecture + weekly student presentations/seminars. The optional project is done individually.

The student that is not technically/design oriented can attain seminars only. Optionally, one can do a smaller UI-related project on Linux (design or development).

Contents

The course will start by looking at usability studies and results for Linux, and related (older) Unix-systems. Then we will continue by closer study of various usability techniques and results related to Linux-like platforms and interfaces.

Literature

Suitable state-of-the-art articles.

Lecturers

Lars Degerstedt

Examiner

Arne Jönsson

Examination

Student presentation and active participation on seminars

Credit

3 (seminar part) + 2 (optional project part)

Comments

Page responsible: Director of Graduate Studies