CS 4470 Introduction to User Interface Software

Spring 2006

Web Pointers

Relevant conferences and publications

ACM Symposium on User Interface and Software Technology, since 1988, proceedings in the ACM Digital Library.
Ubicomp conference (formerly Handheld and Ubiquitous Computing), since 1999

ACM Digital Library

HCI Area Body of Knowledge on UIST, of interest to PhD students studying for HCI Area Qualifier.

Historical individuals and events

Douglas Engelbart
History of the Xerox Star
Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age, a historical account of major contributions of Xerox PARC. Chapters 14 and 15 are significant with respect to the Xerox Star and its predecessor, the Alto.

How traditional output technologies work

How LEDs work
How CRTs work
How LCDs work
How plasma displays work
How computer monitors work
How projection systems work
What are the origins of the 4:3 aspect ratio for TV monitors?. The answer to a question that came up in lecture.

More on output

Input technologies

How a computer keyboard works
The Twiddler by HandyKey
An example half keyboard
How a computer mouse works
How an optical mouse works
A paper on Fitts' Law
A lecture on Fitts' Law, delivered by Dr. Abowd on Sep. 12, 2001 in CS 4750
A thesis on input devices for 3-D, by Sisinio Baldis at the University of Washington
A brief synopsis on input devices by Rob Jacob.

Interaction architectures

How some relevant design patterns work:

Buschmann, Frank, Regine Meunier, Hans Rohnert, Peter Sommerlad and Michael Stal (1996) Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture: A System of Patterns, John Wiley and Sons. Check out the description of MVC and the description of PAC.
A description of the Observer design pattern

More information on HP CoolTown and related topics

Main CoolTown Home page
Main CoolTown developer's page
Tim Kindberg, researcher/developer with CoolTown and beyond
Information on Universal Plug and Play (UPnP)
Information on Bluetooth

Novel output technologies

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