Midterm Exam: Computer Human Interfaces 1/2010 (CPE)

Midterm Exam

204482 Computer-Human Interfaces 1/2010

Instructions

• Write your answer in either Thai or English.
• Closed book!
• Closed note!
• There are 10 questions. Each has 10 scores. Answer all questions in given exam booklets. Do them all.
• Note that you obviously need to use your common senses to answer the exam; however, only it is not enough to get scores.  References, evidences, causes, rules, laws, theories, and your justifications are supposed to be mentioned.  Any design scripts without good explanation will not get good scores.

Exam

1. Information system in KU has many troubles in collecting correct data from students.  For example, some students may not want to give correct ones.  If we asked them to fill the form online, the information will not be reliably correct.  If we hire typists to fill information from official documents that students have submitted when they admitted to KU; the typists may make some errors as well.  However, KU still wants correct information of students, such as current address, phone number, recent photographs, etc.  Give your ideas how to solve this problem.
2. You might have troubles to go to have lunches in the university (like me.)  I believe that you might face problems: 1) long time to select what you should eat, 2) hard time to order food with long queue; and 3) frustrating time to get place to eat.  Since there are two cafeterias in the Faculty of Engineering, that would make you more headache for dining.  Since you are a user-interface engineer, design the new interfaces of the cafeteria in order to make all of us have a better lunch time.
3. The CPE building has two famous elevators (lift) for its fast door closing.  If you have to design the speech interfaces for elevator control, design an appropriate “speech command suite” for communicating with an elevator-control module in order to make passengers feel the most comfortable in the elevator transportation of the CPE building.
4. If the class of HCI is “a kind of computer”, where its objective is mainly to teach students to understand the importance of the computer design, you are asked to redesign the user interface of the class.  Write your concept proposal of your design.
5. Is the webcast of lecture, such as an available one in the CPE department, important for education?  What are the reasons that a student has to go back to study on it?  Do you have any ideas to make it successful? If so, how?
6. You are assigned to create an online student manual booklet in order that KU students can access correct and updated student regulations with its easy explanation.  Explain what is not good in the booklet and give the concepts of your new design and development.
7.  In almost every car, you found that your car can be controlled by a steering wheel in Figure 1(a); however, the steering wheel of most ship looks like the one in Figure 1(b).  Since you are a user-interface designer.  Discuss the both wheels on: the reasons that brings them different; the control efficiency in case we swap the wheels between car and ship; and the future of both wheels. 

(a)	(b)

Figure 1 Steering Wheel; a) car and b) ship
8. As you are a KU student, you have to use many separated information systems.  I know that you might not “enjoy” it.  Therefore, redesign the user interfaces for KU Computer. Engineering students (not general KU students) in order to make most students enjoy your design and development.  You also have to give a definition on the “enjoyment.”
9. How many types of communication and collaborative software are there?  Supposedly, you have to find that kind of software in order to improve higher education, such as in university, what are you going to do?
10. Why we need virtual environments?  Give an example of the situations.

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