Fall 2025 – Tuesdays 11:45 am- 1:25 pm, Thursdays 2:50 – 4:30 pm
Format: Seminar with discussion, activities, and projects; hybrid attendance option always available
Syllabus: General syllabus for the class is here, expect some adjustments semester-by-semester based on world events, trends in CS/HCC, and student interests
Official Description: Introduces basic and advanced frameworks and methodological tools for understanding and accounting for the characteristics, needs, and attitudes of individual users and user groups. Covers how to better understand users from both a system design and sociotechnical system critique perspective via qualitative, interpretivist, and community-focused methods, as well as how to account for how users themselves understand and adapt to systems via approaches including mental models and folk theorization. Also explores and problematizes the idea of the “user” as compared to alternate approaches such as embedded community/cultural context and post-userism.
Dr. DeVito’s Description: Understanding Users is going to address the core question of “Why do users X?” where “X” is all sorts of things relevant to CS and design – why do users use this system differently than we intended? Why do users get so confused about our system, even though we really tried to make it understandable? Why do users make those specific decisions when using our systems? Why do users trust us less and less, even though we’re doing our best as designers? Why do users treat other users the way they do? And, maybe most importantly: why do users use our systems in the first place, and why do they stop? I aim to give students a set of tools – theories and practical techniques – to better understand user perception and behavior, as well as how this translates to work with whole communities. We’ll cover classic approaches like mental modeling, modern outgrowths such as folk theorization and informal risk modeling, adoption and continuance theories from classics like the tech adoption curve up through way more complex modern theories of technology acceptance and use, and a bunch of qualitative and mixed methods techniques for eliciting all the relevant data from users. Then we’ll get a little philosophical: should we actually be thinking about “users” or do today’s challenges actually mean we should focus on groups or even whole communities?
Key Topics: This course covers the ideas above through the exploration of multiple lenses, methods, and orientations towards research, knowledge production, and problem-solving. The current list, subject to change, includes:
- Sociotechnical Thinking and Post-Userism
- Feminist HCI and Feminist Reflexive Ethics
- Critique as a Problem Finding and Problem Solving Method for CS
- Interviewing
- Reflexive Thematic Analysis
- Action Research
- Dialog and Group-Based Methods (ARCs, Focus Groups, etc.)
- Ethnography and Observation
- Grounded Theory
- User Knowledge and Sensemaking
- Mental, Folk, and Risk Modeling
- Folk Theorization
- User Resistance, Trust, and Agency
Instructional Style: A lot of discussion and work with practical exercises. I’ll lecture a bit, and we’ll have regular guest discussants, usually folks whose work we’ve read for the week. It’s very much a ‘you have to do the readings’ class, and my overall policy is that I don’t assign nearly as much reading as would normally be assigned in a class like this, but you have to do that smaller amount of reading to succeed. Assessment will have a few different options – there will be a position paper option (closest to the traditional academic term paper), a project option, and a research proposal option. My overall policy on assessment is that I’m happy to work with you to define other parameters, so long as you can show me how those parameters/formats will help you towards your own career or educational goals. As required by the university, graduate students in the class will have additional readings and more advanced assessment standards.
You Should Take This Course If: This is an ideal course for folks doing HCI/HCC work in Computer Science, Communication Studies, and/or any design areas, and may also be useful for Psychology students. This course will also be helpful for Privacy/Security, Software Development, AI and machine learning students who want more context on how users interpret and interact with their systems.
Required Materials: Bring your laptop to every session, as you will regularly be collaborating with fellow classmates, and may need to collaborate with other students attending remotely. All readings will either be provided via Canvas or are available online through the university library. You will not be asked to spend any additional money on this class.
Attendance Policy: I expect you to prioritize attending class during the scheduled class times, as much of the class is discussion and group problem-solving. Being “in” class is crucial. That said, I literally do not care if you are there physically or virtually – I see them as completely the same, and I can teach you either way. There is an always-available hybrid option with a static zoom link that will be provided to everyone registered for the class, and you are always welcome to use it, no questions asked or notifications required. I strongly believe this is an important option to have – students get sick and don’t want to get others sick, have kids at home and childcare cancels, etc., and it’s very reasonable to need to attend remotely. Remote group work will be facilitated by all in-person participants always bringing a laptop. As different attendance modes play differently with different learning styles and neurotypes, please see me if you are finding the hybrid approach to be unduly challenging.
Dr. Michael Ann DeVito, Ph.D. 