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English for Computer Science

Lecture 5

Reading CS Papers (1)

Reading Abstract Reading Conclusion Reading Introduction Reading Body Reading Practice

Reading Abstract

Abstract helps you find the right paper.

Abstract helps you get the gist of the paper.

What if the abstract makes you lost?

Reading Abstract

Example

This study explores people’s relationships with digitaland non-digital objects in the home—with an eyetoward the ways in which products improve rather than deteriorate over time—and how this knowledge might inform the design of more enduring and sustainable interactive products. We report our research in progress and provide a collection of initial design themes and design concepts inspired by user studies.

Reading Conclusion

Conclusion helps you decide the value of the paper.

Abstract gives you more details about the gist of the paper.

What if the conclusion confuses you even more?

Reading Conclusion

Example

We have described some initial findings from ourongoing study investigating people’s relationships with digital and non-digital artifacts in the home. We have presented design themes and corresponding design concepts illustrating speculative approaches to the design of enduring interactive digital products. We plan to continue using methods described in this paper to develop design exemplars that may inform the design and evaluation of more enduring and sustainable digitalproducts—products that improve rather than deteriorate with time.

Reading Introduction

Introduction helps you understand the background.

Introduction gives you a reading map for free.

What if the introduction is still incomprehensible?

Reading Introduction

Example

Interactive digital artifacts and systems increasinglypopulate contexts of everyday life in the industrialized world, and the home in particular represents a key site of consumption [3]. The field of human-computer interaction (HCI) has led and continues to lead to significant advances in making domestic interactive products more efficient, usable, and enjoyable. …… In what follows, we (i) describe our ongoing study examining people’s attachment to artifacts and their perceptions of ‘quality’ over time; (ii) discuss initial findings, implications, and design concepts; and (iii) conclude with future directions of this research.

Reading Body

Body gives you the detailed information about everything.

If you get this far, make sure your time investment pays off.

In-Class Exercise

Read the following and decide what it most likely is. Choose from the list of {abstract, introduction, conclusion}.

In this paper, and my ongoing research, I am specifically concerned with the question of why we preserve some things and discard others. I am trying to understand this question particularly for the context of interactive technologies and their connection to sustainable practices — that is, how this knowledge might inform the design of potentially more enduring technology. In what follows, I first briefly develop a theoretical perspective and framework for understanding this problem. Next, I describe and apply this framework to interpreting 3 key case instances uncovered in fieldwork, which involved a method of collecting personal inventories of digital and non-digital objects in peoples’ homes. Finally, design principles are postulated for which the field research provides some.

Reading Practice

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Never read a book through merely because you have begun it.

See you next time.

John Witherspoon