20. What have we learned…? Participant observation: Group members observed users overnight to pick up their habits, obstacles, needs and wants. Questionnaires: Questions were asked regarding lifestyle, occupation, number of people and activities. Focus Group Interviews: A relaxed group interview was conducted and a discussion commenced regarding communication gaps, technology handicaps and usability.
25. CREATING SCENARIOS The next stage after acquiring the user requirements was to create scenarios from the personas. These scenarios offered various challenges that the HomeMess system needed to overcome, augment and facilitate for the benefit of the user. Scenarios included family members leaving messages for anything from picking up groceries to allocating user tasks.
26. APPROACH IN PROTOTYPING J. Nielsen distinguishestwolevels of prototypingaccording to the level of interaction. Horizontal Prototype A surface interface of sorts that allows one to get the feel of a prototype. Physical layout of things such as screen and buttons help in outlining possible future hurdles. Vertical Prototype Implementation of functionalities allows for a simulation of scenarios to occur, also allowing for the prototype to undergo user testing.
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31. When all is said and done, test again… Creation and evaluation of a prototype reveals many factors overlooked before. The prototype performed admirably in some cases and poorly in others. Scenarios that should have been easy to implement proved confusing when used by a new user. E.g: Lack of help menus. Lack of a satisfying system response to tasks. PROTOTYPE EVALUATION
32. Heuristic Evaluation Expert users evaluate the system based on Jacob Nielson’s Heuristics. These allow for design improvements to be suggested. User Testing User centric approach requiring that a user be observed in their own home, where the system is being employed. Cognitive Walkthroughs Collecting empirical data to measure a prototype’s usability by following a path a user could take. What sorts of tests, you may ask…
38. Evaluation Methods Analytical: Practical heuristics giving a quantitative measure of a list of problems from expert reviews Task-based analysis Field Study: Objective observation giving qualitative descriptions User quotes, opinions User Testing: Applied approach based in experimentation giving quantitative data. Questionnaires
43. RESULTS OF FIELD STUDY The simplest measure is to count up the number of times a word was chosen by participants. In our studies, we find that we get a fair amount of consistency in the words chosen. Using‘word cloud’
44. “The buttons are so colourful! It looks more like a game device”. USER QUOTES & SUGGESTIONS Think-aloud protocol Adding a customizable setting “The text size is huge. Is there a way I can change that in the settings?” Allowing font changes from settings “How do I add the person I’m sending the message to?” Creating a button for directory of contacts “ Oh that was direct! I thought it would take more time to find the option.”