[Sigia-l] Programming IAs was: Little things an IA MUST know/do

[Donna M. Fritzsche]

Karl said:
When I started I wasn't sure if the point of the course was:
   1. to turn them into interaction designers, OR
   2. to make them aware of HCI issues so they could be better
      programmers

Karl, there is a third option:
3. to make them better programmers, who, as a part of their job, will 
also do some interaction design.

I'm sure that there are some areas where application development is 
being done where "interaction design" is part of the programmer's job 
responsibility.  Probably not so much in the web world, but there 
still are other areas of application work being done.

>
>I recently finished teaching an HCI class to computer science
>students. It was their first introduction to the topic and an
>eye-opening experience.

HCI classes have been part of computer science curriculums for years. 
Additionally, cs curriculums  have  classes that  address users, 
requirements,  business needs, alternative information structures, 
quality assurance, testing, etc.  Some posts that have been made to 
this list (not yours Karl, earlier posts) read as if  every computer 
programmer that was born is a clod who couldn't understand IA or 
interface design issues if it hit them over the head.  This just 
isn't true. It is possible that not every person on this list has had 
the opportunity to meet and work with computer programmers who can 
bridge the gap between interface design issues, IA, and programming. 
I have worked with some amazingly brilliant computer programmers who 
had the ability to understand  and work with their  audience, do 
interface design, etc. And they weren't few and far between.  Before 
IAs and Interface Designers had found their place in the world, there 
was alot of good application, client-server,  CAD, and computer-added 
training work being done - and quite often (not always) the 
programmer did the interface work as well the programming. (This was 
before the day when detailed visual design was a part of the user 
interface).  The interfaces weren't necessarily visually attractive - 
they were usually in black and white with no additional imagery, but 
they were often highly functional in terms of navigation elements, 
layout, interaction, and structure.  I'm sure that people can come up 
with plenty of exceptions to my previous statements - but that 
doesn't change the fact that there was a great deal of good work 
being done also.
(Within the limitations of the technology and business environment's 
of the time.)

>
>My point is that programmers who understand interaction issues (and
>IA issues) will be better programmers. Just as IA and interaction
>designers who understand programming & implementation isues make
>better designers.

I couldn't agree more. 

>Does anyone have any similar experiences (I know George has already
>written nicely about how experience programming has helped him as a
>designer).

Just did! :)

Thanks Karl!

Donna