MSc & Undergraduate Project Ideas
The Centre for HCI Design is currently offering titles for student projects. These titles are of interest to Centre staff. Some are connected to current research activities in the Centre. If interested, please contact the relevant member of Centre staff. For titles where there is considerable interest and it is not possible to run two projects, the Centre will organise an informal interview to choose the most appropriate student.
The title, abstract and proposer of each project is given. The status of the project is also highlighted. We endeavour to keep this status as up-to-date as possible, to keep you informed of available project titles.
Projects available for the current academic year:
Project titles:
Open Source Challenge Driven Innovation System
Designing and Improving Creativity Techniques in Agile Methods
Evaluating a Mobile Creativity Support Tool
Designing and Implementing a Mobile Creativity Support App
Designing and Implementing Mobile Apps to Support Dementia Care
Develop an Entertainment App for Children
Task Modeling for Service-Oriented Computing
Tracking gestures with a Wii remote camera
Review and evaluation of creativity support tools
Collaborative Creativity with Remote Participants
Development of an interactive multitouch surface
Technologies for creating a more inclusive experience of museums
Technologies for supporting creativity workshops
Scubanatics - Web-based social networking site for Scuba Divers
Physical/Digital Interaction with RFID Tags
Projecting Document Collections
How do users interact with music libraries?
Evaluating and Refining a Gesture Therapy Tool for People with Aphasia
Developing an iPad Communication App for People with Aphasia
Building an Aphasia-Friendly Space in Second Life
Interaction Design for people with Aphasia
Information Visualisation for Usability Evaluation / UX
Open Source Challenge Driven Innovation System Supervisor: Prof Neil Maiden Status:Available Challenge Driven Innovation (CDI) is increasingly popular to crowdsource innovative solutions. A problem requiring an innovative solution is defined and communicated to large numbers of people who submit ideas for solutions. The ideas can be combined, selected and developed into potential solutions. These can be prototyped and tested or implemented directly. Challenge driven innovation is used within organisations and openly on the web. It delivers novel and financially rewarding solutions. The pharmaceutical company Pfizer run 70 challenges a year and generate $1Bn in cost savings and new product ideas through challenge driven innovation. Several companies exist that sell software for CDI (e.g., spigit.com, imaginatik.com). The costs of the software can make it difficult for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), and charities to use challenge driven innovation internally or globally. The aim of this project would be to develop a free, open source CDI system that SMEs and charities could use to run challenges, solve problems and reap the benefits of CDI at very low cost. This design-and-build project is seeking a motivated and competent software developer. The co-sponsor for the project will provide a set of precise functional requirements for the system, to allow architecture and design decisions to be made quickly. back to project titles
Designing and Improving Creativity Techniques in Agile Methods Supervisor: Prof Neil Maiden Status:Available Previous pioneering Masters dissertation work has investigated creativity techniques that can be used in short sprints in agile methods - what we call creativity on a shoestring. Creativity techniques were injected into an established agile method, then the effectiveness of the extended method was evaluated in two agile projects at BBC Worldwide. Results revealed the effectiveness of the creativity techniques in situ, and consequences for agile method design. Follow-on tutorials have explored the use of different creativity techniques to use in 10-15 minutes to rewrite user stories. However, more research is needed to investigate which creativity techniques can be used in agile projects, and which are more effective. Therefore the student will review creativity techniques available to use in agile projects, then evaluate their effectiveness in artificial and/or real-world settings. Knowledge and understanding of agile development and creativity is needed. back to project titles
Evaluating a Mobile Creativity Support Tool Supervisor: Prof Neil Maiden Status:Available Carer is a mobile app that offers creativity support for care staff on shift in residential care homes developed as part of the EU-funded Mirror Integrated Project. It supports creativity triggers, case-based reasoning and analogical reasoning to support care staff to resolve challenging behaviours encountered in residents. It also supports audio-recording of new ideas, idea playback and opportunities to construct resolutions from these idea fragments. Although designed for care home use, it can be used in other domains. A thorough lab-based evaluation of the iPhone app and the outcomes that users generate from it is needed. Therefore this project will: (i) undertake a thorough usability evaluation of the app; (ii) evaluate the creativity or otherwise of solutions generated by users with it. Therefore the student needs a strong grasp of usability evaluation and creativity frameworks. back to project titles
Designing and Implementing a Mobile Creativity Support App Supervisor: Prof Neil Maiden Status:Available Research in the EU-funded Mirror Integrated Project at City is exploring mobile creativity support tools. This student project will build on this work to develop a mobile app to implement and investigate one existing creativity technique. The app will be designed to be used by different types of users, from general problem solvers to care staff in residential care homes. The current preferred technique is PRIZM, a derivative of the TRIZ creativity technique, in which a user is prompted with known creative ideas to solve an existing problem identified through a query. Key functions of the app will: (i) allow the user to select the type of problem being investigated; (ii) present one or more relevant creativity prompts to the user based on the entered type; (iii) record the resulting user ideas in audio form. We would hope that the student could undertake a first simple evaluation of the app with people seeking to solve a creative problem. Our preference is for the app to be implemented for the iPhone/iPad platform. Therefore the student requires strong relevant development skills. An interest in creativity and support tools is needed. back to project titles
Designing and Implementing Mobile Apps to Support Dementia Care Supervisor: Prof Neil Maiden Status:AVAILABLE Recent empirical and creative design work has revealed new opportunities for mobile apps carried by care staff in residential homes to improve the care for people with dementia. These opportunities include: (i) increasing methods of communication between care staff during their shifts; (ii) supporting information seeking for resident information; (iii) reducing the distance between providing personalized residential care and recording resident information; (iv) reducing memory load on care by improving methods to retrieve resident information, and: (v) improving shared representations for care staff to help coordinate collaborative tasks in order to provide personalized care to residents. The next step is to prototype mobile apps to investigate these opportunities further. In this project, aligned to the EU-funded Mirror Integrated Project, a student will design and implement a prototype mobile app to explore one or more of these opportunities, based on results from previous research. If possible, so first trials of the app will also be undertaken. Our preference is for the app to be implemented for the iPhone/iPad platform. Therefore the student requires strong relevant development skills. An interest in social and health care is also preferable. back to project titles
Develop an Entertainment App for Children
Supervisor: Prof Neil Maiden
Status: AVAILABLE Children have diverse needs. They want stories, they want to draw or colour and then they want to play games. Parents of small children have to carry lots of things to keep their children entertained. Reading books, pictures to colour, pens, pencils and games soon become something big and awkward to carry. Parents take all of these where ever they go, to meet friends for coffee, eat out as a family or on day trips. But parents always have their mobile with them. This project aims to build a mobile app to entertain children and replace the big pile of books, pens and games. The app will include a story and games associated with the story. The story and games functionality will be used with a wide variety of content. Designing an entertainment app for children offers different opportunities to designing for adults. Children build imaginative relationships with characters in stories, they have fewer boundaries than adults and they readily explore new ideas. The app will benefit the children and the parents. Parents can use the app to entertain their children or the children can use the app to entertain themselves. The children are entertained, absorbed and thrilled by the app. The parents don't need to carry a pile of entertainment materials everywhere. Parents have time to enjoy themselves when the children are playing on their own.
This project will be undertaken in conjunction with students on the Masters for Innovation, Creativity and Leadership. As well as an interest in creativity and games, the student should have excellent software design and programming skills for mobile devices.
back to project titles
Task Modeling for Service-Oriented Computing Supervisor: Prof Neil Maiden Status: AVAILABLE The EU-funded CHOReOS project (http://www.city.ac.uk/informatics/school-organisation/centre-for-human-computer-interaction-design/research/projects-list/choreos) is undertaking research to sustain decentralized service choreographies in the Future Internet. One research solution that we are exploring to design service choreographies is with user task models embedded in software tools. The research student project will aim to contribute to the library of user task models that the software tools will exploit. The user task models will be generated from empirical research of common user tasks that use software services in the e-government domain. Data collected and analyzed from the empirical work will be modeled using the CTT modeling formalism from Fabio Paterno, and validated with domain experts. The student needs strong abstraction, modeling and analysis skills, and a willingness and ability to manage large amounts of data.
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Tracking gestures with a Wii remote camera
Supervisor: Stephanie Wilson
Status: AVAILABLE
This project will explore how the Wii remote can be used to track hands-free gestures (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0awjPUkBXOU&feature=channel for a demonstration of the kind of thing I'm interested in). You will explore the technology, create a software application that tracks a set of gestures and evaluate its usability. You will need good technical skills and, preferably, some HCI expertise.
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Review and evaluation of creativity support tools
Supervisor: Dr Sara Jones
Status: AVAILABLE
A large number of creativity support tools are already available, both for supporting the work of creative individuals, and for supporting group collaboration and social creativity. Such tools often exploit recent innovations in both hardware and software.
This project will conduct a principled review and evaluation of a significant subset of available tools. The review will draw on current theories of creativity to compare and contrast the different tools available, and the evaluation may be conducted using a suitable case study involving some kind of creative design activity.
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Collaborative Creativity with Remote Participants
Supervisor: Dr Sara Jones
Status: AVAILABLE
This project will investigate ways of using existing applications and technical capabilities in support of design meetings where a number of participants are working together around a shared design space, such as an interactive surface, and other participants are using a mobile device in a remote location, such as the one in which the system under development will eventually operate.
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Development of an interactive multitouch surface
Supervisor: Dr Sara Jones
Status: AVAILABLE
This project will investigate different hardware and software options for developing a simple multitouch surface, such as those described at:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQpr3W-YmcQ&feature=related
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s5EvhHy7eQ&feature=related The project will involve development and evaluation of one such surface, so is suitable for students with practical aptitude, some software skills and experience of user-centred evaluation techniques.
back to project titles
Technologies for creating a more inclusive experience of museums
Supervisor: Dr Sara Jones
Status: AVAILABLE
This project will explore opportunities for exploiting new technologies that can enhance the visitor's experience of a museum. It will involve conducting a principled review and evaluation of a significant subset of technologies currently employed in museums. This will be based on an understanding of the principles of inclusive design.
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Technologies for supporting creativity workshops
Supervisor: Dr Sara Jones
Status: AVAILABLE
This challenging research project will research and evaluate technologies that could be used to facilitate the running and reporting of creativity workshops. Challenges will include identifying technologies that can be introduced without disrupting the free flow of ideas during the workshop, interfering with the complex social and conversational relationships between participants, or adversely affecting the workshop climate, while significantly easing the tasks of the facilitator, participants or scribes. The student will select and explore the use of available technologies, seeking to undertake an early formative evaluation of one of these technologies in a workshop.
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Scubanatics - Web-based social networking site for Scuba Divers
Supervisor: Dr Sara Jones
Status: AVAILABLE
The client, Scubanatics, is looking for a student with experience in web development and with an interest and experience in development for social networking. The site is intended as a meeting place for divers wanting to share diving related experiences and information and forms part of a wider website that includes information about dive sites, equipment, dive operators etc. Divers should be able to create profiles, upload dive logs and photos, connect with dive buddies, and share information like status updates, events, dive trips and links. There is potential for this to be developed as an 'extension to Facebook in form of an app, or as a stand-alone web service. Interested students will need to provide evidence of proficiency in web development, and would be expected to liaise directly with the client to design, build and do some early testing of the social networking service. Knowledge of scuba diving is not essential..
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Physical/Digital Interaction with RFID Tags
Supervisor: Dr George Buchanan
Status: AVAILABLE
RFID tags not only allow a computer to detect the identity of a physical object, but can also store modest amounts of data (up to 4k). This project would choose a potential application of RFID technology and implement a demonstration system, subsequently tested in a user study. Example applications can be found in libraries (e.g. storing a record of read or borrowed books), museums (e.g. identifying which items a visitor wants more information on) and medical (e.g. limiting drug applications to within safe levels).
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Projecting Document Collections
Supervisor: Dr George Buchanan
Status: AVAILABLE
People accumulate large collections of digital documents, and even sometimes manage to organise them well! However, this content remains hidden except through the letterbox-like display of the computer screen. In contrast to bookshelves, it is hard to scan large volumes of digital content. This project would investigate a design for visualising the content of digital collections by projecting them onto a wall display.
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Organising Files on iPads
Supervisor: Dr George Buchanan
Status: AVAILABLE
iPads have a very limited set of ways to organise the user's files. This project will develop a simple visual tool for informally organising a user's files, rather than force them to be in a list, building on the ideas of "piles" now used on some desktop operating systems.
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Why do searchers stop?
Supervisor: Dr George Buchanan
Status: AVAILABLE
Users infamously only read the very top of a search result list. Using basic ideas from experimental economics, this project would investigate the reasons why people look at only the first few items of a search list. (This project could, optionally, focus on users of mobile phones in particular).
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How do users interact with music libraries?
Supervisor: Dr Simone Stumpf
Status:AVAILABLE
How do users search for music? How do they build playlists? How do they manage images? This project will investigate how users interact with their media, either their own or commercial ones like Last.fm, etc etc to investigate how better recommendations, retrieval mechanisms and interfaces could be built.
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Explanations for Predictions
Supervisor: Dr Simone Stumpf
Status:AVAILABLE
How much do explanations for predictions matter? Do they make users trust the system more? Are they accurate from the user's perspective? This project will investigate explanations for predictions for existing systems (e.g Google email priority inbox).
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Mobile Context-aware system Supervisor: Dr Simone Stumpf Status:AVAILABLE This project will build and evaluate a context-aware system on a mobile, using location and other sensors to make decisions about information display and functionality. Part of this work will enable the user to control and correct the behaviour of the context-aware system. Preferred systems revolve around users with special needs, e.g. people who are blind, hearing impaired, etc. back to project titles
Sharing behavior on Pinterest Supervisor: Dr Simone Stumpf Status:AVAILABLE
Pinterest.com is a service which allows users to share links. Using this service as an example, the project will investigate collaborative/group information systems. back to project titles
Risk, privacy and trust
Supervisor: Dr Simone Stumpf Status:AVAILABLE I am interested in supervising projects that have aspects of risk, trust and/or privacy in them. For example, trust factors for autonomous systems, risk perception and interactions with systems, and privacy concerns with location-based services (particularly if these relate to gender) are all projects that may be suitable. back to project titles
Evaluating and Refining a Gesture Therapy Tool for People with Aphasia Supervisor: Dr Julia Galliers or Stephanie Wilson Status:Available
The GReAT research project has developed a software application (GeST) for people with aphasia to practise gestures. The aim of this project is to undertake a detailed evaluation of GeST and suggest potential refinements to its design. A key part of this will be to undertake eye-tracking studies in order to understand how people with aphasia interact with GeST and, hopefully, to compare this with eye-tracking data from people who do not have aphasia.
Aphasia is a communication disorder resulting from damage to the areas of the brain responsible for language and is most commonly a consequence of stroke. It affects speech, writing, reading and understanding. Two people with aphasia will be invited to take part in the project... back to project titles
Developing an iPad Communication App for People with Aphasia
Supervisor: Stephanie Wilson Status:Available A short project was undertaken last year by an HCS student as part of the GReAT project, in which a detailed, low fidelity prototype for an iPad "communication book" app was designed. The app was designed for people with aphasia, a communication disorder resulting from damage to the areas of the brain responsible for language that affects all aspects of language: speech, writing, reading and understanding.
This project will develop a high fidelity, robust prototype of the communication app and carry out some evaluation work. You need strong programming skills, preferably experience of iPad programming, as well as a good understanding of HCI and accessibility to take on this project. back to project titles
Building an Aphasia-Friendly Space in Second Life Supervisor: Julia Galliers Status:Available
This student project will explore and develop an aphasia-friendly space in Second Life: a space where people with aphasia can meet and interact with others. A key part of the project will be to explore how interaction design principles emerging from the GReAT research project can be applied to the Second Life MUVE environment.
This project will suit someone with programming skills as well as an understanding of HCI and accessibility issues. back to project titles
Interaction Design for People with Aphasia Supervisor: Dr Julia Galliers or Stephanie Wilson
Status:Available
The GReAT project has developed a prototype computer tool (GeST) for people with aphasia to practise gestures. GeST has been trialled in a pilot study: a number of participants, all of whom have aphasia with varying degrees of severity, have been using GeST over a period of several months. The aim of this project is to analyse the video data from the pilot study for two main purposes:
- To develop a deeper understanding of interaction design for people
with aphasia.
- To identify where GeST is successful and where it can be improved.
This will result in suggested refinements to GeST.Video analysis can be assisted with the use of a qualitative analysis tool such as NVIVO. Note that the work on this project must be undertaken in strict compliance with the ethics approval we have obtained; for example, this places restrictions on the viewing of the video data and requires strict confidentiality of the data. back to project titles
Information Visualisation for Usability Evaluation/UX
Supervisor: Stephanie Wilson
Status:Available
This project will build on research undertaken by a student last year to explore how information visualisations may have a role in reporting the results of evaluation / UX work. Evaluation work results in data sets that could be visualised in more creative ways than the typical reports and presentations we see at present. The project will explore various visualisations and prototype them using a tool such as Processing. back to project titles
CogTool
Supervisor: Stephanie Wilson
Status:Available
CogTool http://cogtool.hcii.cs.cmu.edu/ has rekindled interest in predicting user performance with interactive systems of various sorts.
This project will contribute to research on CogTool, for example by collecting data to validate (or not) the CogTool predictions in novel domains, or creating models of novel interactions. There are several possibilities. back to project titles
Benchmarking for mobile apps
Supervisor: Stephanie Wilson
Status:Available
Building on the idea of experts benchmarking the UX/usability of systems by scoring specific features, this project will develop a benchmarking technique for mobile apps. The technique will need to be supported by software. back to project titles