The Information School of the University of Washington Information System Design Info-440 Autumn 2002 Session #4

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 2 Agenda Admin/review Getting workplace data: Key principles Case study: Bringing field data to the product team Exercise: Outline a conceptual model Break Card sorting Representing trade-offs

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 3 Admin/Review Admin –Writing center – A tremendous resource –Assignment #2: Team names and membership –Questions/comments Last time –Focus groups vs. contextual inquiry –Listening skills –Question-asking skills

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 4 Design methods (so far) Requirements analysis –Inspecting objects (Norman’s vocabulary) –Conceptual models (intro only) –Affinity diagramming –Focus groups –Contextual inquiry

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 5 Process: Where we are now? Week 1: Introduction Week 2: Requirements Analysis, Part I –How to discover requirements & organize facts? Next week: Requirements Analysis, Part II –How to represent users and envision new work? Conceptual design Interaction design Prototyping Evaluation Information design Process, project management The literature, personalities, and history

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 6 Principles for getting workplace data* Context Partnership Interpretation Focus * Beyer & Holtzblatt (1998). Chapter 3:

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 7 Key principles for getting workplace data* Context –Seek to observe real work and artifacts –Focus on concrete data (not user generalizations) –A day is full of ‘exceptions’ rather than ‘regularities’ Partnership –Seek to develop rapport –Be yourself or ‘act’

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 8 Continued Interpretation –Seek to understand what’s behind the surface –E.g., “I think you do X because Y… Is my understanding correct?” Focus –Seek to direct the interview towards things you believe are important –E.g., Show me X, Talk more about Z, etc.

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 9 Further reading Nielsen (2002, January). Field Studies Done Right: Fast and Observational. AlertBox. Retrieved, October 7, from Lawrence Osborne (2002, January). Consuming Rituals of the Suburban Tribe. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved, October 7, from Underhill, P. (1999). Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping. New York: Touchstone.

The Information School of the University of Washington Case study: Bringing field data to the product team

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 11 Problem: Getting the team to look outward Broker Mortgage Books Magazines Online brokerage account Accountant Fool.com My Lycos Mobile Portfolio Financial plan Banks Bills

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 12 A day trader

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 13 Hi. I’m a day trader. I work out my home office. I try to keep life SIMPLE… I LOVE QCharts… I follow ONE stock everyday… I record transactions in my notebook… I retype them into a spreadsheet for my tax accountant If I need news, which is rare, I select this bookmark… When something BIG happens I watch… During slow times, I’ll tinker with websites on computer TWO Surprise! He follows ONE stock…

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 14 I’m retired. I trade 3 or 4 times a month. I used to be a designer… I have an OLD Mac… Surpise! Its so old he has to scroll horizontally as much vertically… Surprise! He spends 1hr/day copying… He doesn’t know about the online portfolio… (1) I type symbols in here… (2) I extract prices & data here… (3) …Then, I transfer the prices and other info to this PAPER spreadsheet… This is my watch list… I’ve memorized 100 or so symbols Horz. Scroll… Scroll… Scroll… Tape

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 15 Using comics Promising method for summarizing workplace data –Abstracts complexity –Tells a story –Can be used to emphasis important things –‘Non formal’ –You don’t need to be an artist See –Eisner, W. (1996). Graphic storytelling & visual narrative. Cincinnati, OH: North Light books. –McCloud, S. (1994). Understanding comics. New York: HarperCollins. –Other books by these two writers

The Information School of the University of Washington Conceptual Modeling Exercise

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 17 Scenario Jack is a 4 th year student, studying environmental science. For the last 2 years he has been collecting data on the health of a local stream. His data includes, graphs of temperature readings, pictures of fauna and flora, essays and scientific reports, visual simulations, and so on. He would like to create an online portfolio that showcases all these materials. Jack will be looking for a graduate school this fall. Your objective Using a diagram, outline a conceptual model for an online portfolio. Your model should show the central entities and relationships of a portfolio tool.

The Information School of the University of Washington Break

The Information School of the University of Washington Card sorting

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 20 How should a set of entities be organized? Voice mail Chat E-cards CalendarFax Free ISP Homepage building Personalized content Photo album Video Video Center Translate languages

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 21 Clustering algorithms combine the groupings

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 22 The cards Procedure Product names and descriptions written on cards Fifteen participants were asked to sort the cards into natural group Participants asked to assign names to the groups

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 23 The clusters suggest a general task space Build Talk PrivatePublic

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 24 Summary Technique –Card-sorting led to a task space and product space –Product-spaces represent underlying dimensions that are meaningful to users –Users can inform their construction –A very simple document Roles –Discovering holes for seeking acquisitions –Discovering relationships between products –Thinking about user needs

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 25 EZsort Application from IBM for doing card sorting –Free beta software –Nice paper on role of card sorting –A very nice tool…

The Information School of the University of Washington Good decision-making: How to represent trade-offs

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 27 In this restaurant, you need a key to use the restroom

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 28 Situation/feature/ Issue 1.Key required 2. Put sign on restroom door Possible Pros(+) or Cons(-) of feature + Non-customers will be blocked -Customers will be blocked -Customers have to find key + Customers will have better chance of finding key - Non-customers might seek out key in restaurant

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 29 Good decision-making Understanding trade-offs is extraordinarily important Discussing trade-offs without a chart or diagram is extremely hard Representing trade-offs with pros/cons is one simple, but very effective approach

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /09/2002) 30 Next week Representing users, situations, goals & tasks Two readings –Cooper, A. (1999). Chapter 11: Designing for people (pp ). –Lewis, C. and Rieman, J. (1994). Chapter 2: Getting to Know Users and Their Tasks. Reminder: –Quiz #1 (Wednesday, 16 Oct) –Interactive Prototyping Project – think about it –If you want feedback on assignment #2, please task to David or Lydia