FHTW Berlin

FHTW Berlin
Fachbereich 4
Internationale Medieninformatik
MMA: Aktuelle Themen multimedialer Anwendungen
Web Usability
Sommersemester 2002


Current topics in Multimedia Applications

General information

This semester we will be looking at topics in the area of usability questions for web site design

The course meets Tuesdays from 13.45-15.15 in HG 220 for lectures and every other week 9.45-13.30 in the HRZ laboratory for exercise sections.

The instructors are Prof. Dr. Debora Weber-Wulff and Anja C. Wagner. Prof. Weber-Wulff's office is on the top floor of the Verwaltungsgebäude, room 802. However, she tends not to be there when people are looking for her. Ms. Wagner is an adjunct teacher and only on campus on Wednesdays. But we read our email religiously. Do not hesitate to contact us by email at weberwu@fhtw-berlin.de or anwa@medeax.de if you have any questions.

There are two required texts for the course, please check the link list for the titles and obtain them as soon as possible. We will be using the Nielsen book first, then the Johnson.

Lecture notes may be taken and published in order to obtain 5 extra exam points. 1-2 scribes can be appointed in each lecture, reservations cannot be made. The lecture notes must be more than just a different rendering of my slides and should include links to outside material. They are to be published no later that the week after the lecture on the net, and the URL must be mailed to Prof. Weber-Wulff. Set up an appropriate directory and use a good name for the page. This link is to information on how to take lecture notes. But don't depend on lecture notes being taken by others if you yourself have not taken any.

In the exercises we will be doing usability tests in teams. A report on the results of each session is due by the next session at the latest. It is to be submitted as an URL (so that we can collect them on a web page) and as a paper copy to Ms. Wagner. We do not accept torn pages, loose pages, or pages without pagination and author information on every page. Please learn how to use headers and footers in a report, and at the least staple your pages before you hand them in. A maximum of three exam points will be given to each team member for each report.

The exam will be on July 16, 2002 in the lecture hall unless otherwise posted. Only those persons who have successfully submitted at least 5 exercise reports will be admitted to the exam. The exam will consist of 100 points. Add to your exam points your points from the exercise reports submitted and 3 points for lecture notes, if you published them. Then look up your number in the grade table to find your grade.

We hope that we will have fun learning how to determine if a web site is useful, and that we will manage to teach you how to see problems and design around them when you are developing web sites.


Debora Weber-Wulff (weberwu@fhtw-berlin.de)