{"249681":{"#nid":"249681","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Adds Industrial Design to Human Computer Interaction Master\u2019s Program","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFor the casual observer, a game in which a Tyrannosaurus Rex chomps only on a correct pattern of colored tokens might appear to be only that \u2013 a color-sorting game. But to \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.id.gatech.edu\/people\/jim-budd\u0022\u003EJim Budd\u003C\/a\u003E, Chair of Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.id.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Industrial Design\u003C\/a\u003E, the game represents an essential interdisciplinary collaboration that brings such products to life.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the school\u2019s new Interactive Product Design Lab, Budd\u2019s students work together with students from the College of Computing\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/gvu.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGVU Center\u003C\/a\u003E to put digital tools to practical use in everyday products. In the lab, the students design games, kitchen utensils and appliances, museum tour equipment and other products.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt would have taken the GVU students several days to build these models,\u201d Budd said, noting the detailed cuts of the dinosaur figure for the color-sorting game. \u201cWith our students and tools on hand, they can laser cut the perfect pieces or rapid prototype 3D assemblies in just a few minutes.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELikewise, it would have taken his industrial design students considerable time and effort to design and program the sensors needed to operate the more complex games and product systems; thus, the necessity of teamwork.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERecognizing this convergence of expertise, Georgia Tech this semester added Industrial Design as the fourth partner in the interdisciplinary \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/mshci.gatech.edu\/about\u0022\u003EMasters of Human-Computer Interaction (MS-HCI)\u003C\/a\u003E degree, which focuses on bringing together the broad mix of practical skills and theoretical understandings required to design and implement modern human-computer interfaces.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech has offered the MS-HCI degree since 1997. Until this semester, the degree was offered jointly by the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ic.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Interactive Computing\u003C\/a\u003E (IC); the\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/lmc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E School of Literature, Media and Communication\u003C\/a\u003E (LMC); and the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E. The addition of a fourth partner \u2013 the School of Industrial Design, which recently celebrated its 60\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E anniversary \u2013 made perfect sense to the degree coordinators.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFrom my perspective, it\u2019s a logical thing to happen, and we need a focus on bridging the gap between the physical and the digital,\u201d Budd said. \u201cOver the last 15 years, the merging of technology between physical and digital has grown dramatically.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProfessor \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ic.gatech.edu\/people\/james-foley\u0022\u003EJim Foley\u003C\/a\u003E, who helped start the degree and is now director, calls it \u201ca natural marriage.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe marriage of ID and HCI is driven by computers being embedded in all types of physical products and forms like toys, exercise equipment, ATMs, wearable devices such as glasses and watches and body function sensors, and on and on and on,\u201d Foley said. \u201cSo it is only natural that designing things containing computers draw on the skills of both disciplines.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen computers were first placed into general household and personal objects, little consideration was given about exactly how to incorporate digital elements into the products. But as computing became more ubiquitous, it became evident that more thought, research and care had to be put into creating the whole product as a team and not designing each element independently.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile the computing side brings in the digital elements, the industrial design side has to consider the elements of user experience including form, aesthetics, ergonomics, human factors, materials and even the actual assembly of the product.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd with the MC-HCI program, students \u2013 no matter their initial school affiliations \u2013 gain full exposure and expertise with all of it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAll 65 of the students enrolled in the program take a common core curriculum , specialization electives from their individual schools, and general electives from the nearly 100 HCI-related courses offered by the four participating schools plus courses in Management, Music Technology, Industrial and Systems Engineering, and even International Affairs . The students do an internship between their first and second years, and work with one of the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/mshci.gatech.edu\/faculty\u0022\u003Enearly 50 HCI-related faculty\u003C\/a\u003E on a master\u2019s project in their second year. They also interact with \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/mshci.gatech.edu\/atlanta\u0022\u003EAtlanta\u2019s lively community of HCI and UX practitioners\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudents interested in applying to the program can visit the online application available \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/mshci.gatech.edu\/futurestudents\/admissions\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech this semester added Industrial Design as the fourth partner in the interdisciplinary \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/mshci.gatech.edu\/about\u0022\u003EMasters of Human-Computer Interaction (MS-HCI)\u003C\/a\u003E degree, which focuses on bringing together the broad mix of practical skills and theoretical understandings required to design and implement modern human-computer interfaces.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27897","created_gmt":"2013-10-29 14:34:54","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:12:18","author":"Phillip Taylor","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-10-29T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-10-29T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"249691":{"id":"249691","type":"image","title":"Interactive Product Design Lab","body":null,"created":"1449243795","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:43:15","changed":"1475894929","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:49","alt":"Interactive Product Design Lab","file":{"fid":"198064","name":"lab_lego_4.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/lab_lego_4_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/lab_lego_4_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":468689,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/lab_lego_4_0.jpg?itok=bXoM2NVA"}},"249701":{"id":"249701","type":"image","title":"Interactive Product Design Lab","body":null,"created":"1449243795","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:43:15","changed":"1475894929","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:49","alt":"Interactive Product Design Lab","file":{"fid":"198065","name":"class_in_session.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/class_in_session_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/class_in_session_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3276800,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/class_in_session_0.jpg?itok=KjLHFEDU"}},"249711":{"id":"249711","type":"image","title":"Jim Foley in GVU Center","body":null,"created":"1449243795","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:43:15","changed":"1475894929","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:49","alt":"Jim Foley in GVU Center","file":{"fid":"198066","name":"08c1214-p4-032.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/08c1214-p4-032_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/08c1214-p4-032_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2952210,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/08c1214-p4-032_0.jpg?itok=SVdDDOIe"}}},"media_ids":["249691","249701","249711"],"groups":[{"id":"66442","name":"MS HCI"}],"categories":[{"id":"137","name":"Architecture"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"}],"keywords":[{"id":"38451","name":"georgia tech school of industrial design"},{"id":"14646","name":"human-computer interaction"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}