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In India: October 2003 Seminars

Overview of the events

In October 2003 we have organised three separate 'one-day workshops' in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Each had a distinct focus (relating to the IESUP themes) and meet the needs of key groups.

Overall we provided a range of activities, ranging from analysing business processes focusing on embedding UCD into the software development process (for software engineers and managers), to general HCI curriculum development activities (for educationalists), to a prospective activity looking at new directions and perspectives and their implications within the Indian context over the coming years (for industrial / interactive designers - practitioners and academics).

These three 'one day' participative workshops were

The future for Human Centred Computing - new perspectives in HCI and interaction design

facilitated by Professor Liam Bannon and Professor David Benyon.

Target Audience:

Industrial and interaction designers. All those interested in the future of human centred technology - both commercial practitioners and academics.

Overview:
The fields of interaction design, industrial design, ergonomics and HCI are being merged into a new arena of activity, sometimes called human-centred computing. It is in this context that the shift to ubiquitous computing applications and strategic design comes to the fore, and here there are interesting new possibilities for companies to target new markets.
Within Europe, this emerging field is linking design companies (such as Philips Design), design institutes (such as the RCA, London, Interaction Design Institute, Italy) and universities involved in HCI-related matters. What is happening here is a fundamental re-appraisal of new technologies in society, which will have a large impact on ICT businesses in the next 5-10 years.

Outputs:
A "prospective" view, looking at the future...and also hopefully instigating certain activities in India.
Examining where the field of HCI (understood in its most general sense) is headed.
Identifying issues this raises for companies in India, and for educational institutions.

User Centred Design: adapting established approaches for the Indian software industry

facilitated by Dr Jan Gulliksen and Bengt Göransson

Target Audience:
Commercial software development managers. Project Managers. Marketing people - those responsible for developing off shore contracts.

Overview:
User centred design is all about making the user and their needs the focus of the design process, on the basis that this is the way to build usable systems. We believe that there are further opportunities for the Indian IT industry to offer competitive advantage in a global market. For many of India's 'off-shoring' projects the end-user is remote from the development team. But this may not mean that user centred design is impossible.
This workshop will seek to explore how the concept of 'remote UCD' could enhance both the range and quality of India's off-shoring IT services.

Output:
Review current state of play in Europe for UCD.
Explore implications for UCD in Indian off-shoring model.
How do you develop systems with an active user focus when the users are thousands of miles away?
How to organize usability expertise given the offshore conditions…

HCI in the Curriculum: developing the Indian model

facilitated by Dr Gerrit van der Veer, Professor Liam Bannon and Professor David Benyon.

Target Audience:
University personnel - Heads of Department of Computing, Design, Psychology etc, Course managers and curriculum designers, especially those involved in e-learning . Other educationalists.

Overview:
Here we are seeking to analyse the integration of the disciplines of human-computer interaction (HCI) and usability within both the university curriculum and wider educational and training programmes. These subjects are relatively well covered in European university courses, but not so in India. There are examples of 'best practice', but we believe that much more need to be achieved. HCI should be a common element in all Computing courses as well as a specialist area for others.
If, as we believe, the development of HCI and usability is critical for the Indian IT industry, there is no more important a place to start than by addressing the next generation of IT professionals.

Output:
Explore the role of HCI in international computing curricula.
Review case study evidence in EU and India (NID).
Explore linkage with India curricula in computing, design, psychology etc.
Begin to shape the Indian HCI curriculum.