Featured Courses

[1] Voice Assistants and Voice User Interfaces (VUI)

Instructors: Biju Thankachan, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland; Deepak Ranjan Padhi, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India; Pranjal Jain, The UXWhale, India; Markku Turunen, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.

Schedule: 5th-Nov-2020 from 9:00am to 10:30am

Over the past few years, there has been a great influx of “voice assistants” in the market. Major players as Apple, Google and Amazon have reported sales in millions of devices with “speech technology”. One of the key factors driving the popularity is that the devices are becoming efficient in interpreting human speech and assist users intelligently. Moreover, leveraging on the advancements in artificial intelligence backed natural language processing, these voice assistants have the potential of reducing the barriers to access technology for many emergent users and those who would prefer voice to interact with ICTs. However, there exists several contextual, social, ethical and technological challenges in designing a successful voice user interface. This course will introduce the audience to a plethora of voice assistants and will foreground few challenges in the context based on our research and practice. The course will conclude with a hands-on-demo of developing a small application. Read More.

[2] Data Stories: Bringing your data to life

Instructors: Rasagy Sharma, Gramener, Bengaluru; Suchismita Naik, Gramener, Bengaluru; Chandni Murmu, Gramener, Hyderabad.

Schedule: 5th-Nov-2020 from 11:30am to 1:00pm

In this data intensive and fast-paced business world, one needs the ability to efficiently interpret and showcase vast amounts of these data to showcase key insights and inform decision-makers. The data-driven story is one of the most compelling and potent tools to convert a boring looking data set into a persuasive, decision making message. Before one comes to constructing these data stories, there are three steps which precedes it i.e. understanding the audience and intent, finding compelling insights, crafting a storyline using narrative, while designing data stories involves two major tools of Visualisation and Storytelling. The goal of this workshop is to enable the participants to bring their data to life through visualisation and use it to communicate a persuasive story to an audience, with a focus on various mediums for doing so. We additionally accomplish the goal with theories around visualisation and storytelling, best practices and practical application in the industry. Coming up with an effective data story might seem like a daunting task, but following some few simple steps, the participants can achieve their happy ending. Read More.

[3] So You Want to Do a PhD in Interaction Design

Instructor: Anirudha Joshi, IDC School of Design, IIT Bombay.

Schedule: 5th-Nov-2020 from 3:00pm to 4:30pm

This course will act as a primer for early-career professionals who are contemplating PhD in interaction design or overlapping areas. The main objective of this course is to give participants a glimpse of PhD research. I will provide a brief introduction to research and contextualise design research with respect to the interaction design / UI / UX professions. I will show some examples of work by PhD students who have completed or are nearing completion of their PhD and give glimpses into life before, during and after a PhD. This 90-minute course builds on similar courses that were taught in India HCI 2018 and India HCI 2019. The course will consist of a 60-minute lecture, followed by questions and answers. This course is NOT meant for those who are already enrolled in a PhD programme.

[4] Write a Paper for India HCI 2021

Instructor: Anirudha Joshi, IDC School of Design, IIT Bombay.

Schedule: 6th-Nov-2020 from 9:00am to 10:30am

The field of interaction design / HCI must still be considered nascent in India. While the field has attracted many bright individuals, the research output in terms of number of papers published from India in peer-reviewed conferences and journals remains limited. This course aims to teach participants how to write research papers. It is particularly designed for first-time paper writers in the Indian community. In this course, I will cover the scope and the contents of an HCI research paper, the style and structure of writing a research paper, and the paper review process that authors should keep in mind. While this course will focus on writing papers and notes, some learnings from this course could be extended to writing other types of materials such as case studies, posters and demos. This 90-minute course builds on the experience of teaching similar courses in India HCI 2018 and 2019. It is meant for both students and professionals from the fields of design, computer science, cognitive science, ergonomics etc. While some prior experience in doing research will help, the course is not intended for those who already have experience in writing several research papers.

[5] User Interfaces for AI/ML-based products

Instructors: Akshay Kore, Observe.AI; Bhasker Sharma, Observe.AI; Betson George, Observe.AI; Hriday Gami, Observe.AI.

Schedule: 6th-Nov-2020 from 11:30am to 1:00pm

Contemporary HCI practices revolve around the functioning of traditional software systems based on rigid instruction set algorithms. As probabilistic prediction based systems become widely used in computational systems, designers and HCI practitioners need to be mindful of the implications of their design. In this 90 minute course, we will review and discuss challenges, possibilities and opportunities in designing for probabilistic AI/ML systems. We probe into what role design can play to make these technologies to be inclusive and collaborative with Human users. Additionally, we aim to focus on the fundamental difference between traditional systems and AI/ML-based systems to understand the implications on best practices and methods in HCI. Read More.

[6] Data Privacy: Whose Responsibility is it?

Instructor: Santosh Maskeri, The World Bank.

Schedule: 6th-Nov-2020 from 3:00pm to 4:30pm

This is a course that aims to teach the basics of Data Privacy. It introduces the participants to the main entities involved in Data Privacy and their roles. It discusses some common privacy principles. This course also discusses the role of Information Technology (IT) in an organization in the implementation of a privacy program. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought in its own Data Privacy related challenges. The course will address some of them. Finally, the course discusses some best practices for an individual to follow to protect their personal data.