CSE 171: USER INTERFACE DESIGN: SOCIAL AND TECHNICAL ISSUES
Final Exam, 13 June 2003
It is highly preferable to use a blue book for your answers, but you may also write answers on this sheet, and some extra paper will be available. Be sure to write your name on every page you hand in!
  1. [20 pts] After each phrase write the letter of the phrase that most closely matches its meaning.

    phrase answer phrase
    1. transparency   a. phrasing that decreases social force
    2. reblending     b. state that change vectors point to
    3. noticable absence   c. using conceptual models of each other
    4. narrative clause   d. similar geometry to its object
    5. mitigation     e. phrasing with audience in mind
    6. tacit knowledge   f. computation plus communication  
    7. convergence   g. interface is not noticed
    8. diagrammatic icon   h. describes an action or event
    9. attractor   i. what users know but cannot say
    10. recipient design   j. no second member of adjacency pair
        k. change to new conceptual space
        l. possible action seen as such
        m. speaker appealing to shared values

  2. [10 pts] Give an example of an attractor in video gaming, and explain the relevance of attractors for the design of interactive multimedia systems.
     
  3. [15 pts] Use semiotic morphisms to explain why it is better to represent an unstructured set of items as a broad list rather than as a tree hierarchy with multiple layers. Hint: consider the priority ordering on the items.
     
  4. [10 pts] Explain why humor can be useful in user interface design, and also why it can be dangerous.
     
  5. [10 pts] What are some important advantages and disadvantages of a command line interface, as compared with a GUI interface, for an operating system?
     
  6. [5 pts] Explain what collaborative filtering is, and give an example where it is useful.
     
  7. [15 pts] Explain why a knowledge of Labov's theory of narrative structure can be useful in user interface design, and give an example where it actually does help.
     
  8. [15 pts] Use semiotic morphisms to explain why the usual representation of time of day in minutes by a clock with a circular face and two hands is better than the "strange unary" representation discussed in the class readings. Hint: Consider preservation of the main axiom that time of day in minutes satisfies.
     
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