The Information School of the University of Washington Information System Design Info-440 Autumn 2002 Session #7

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 2 Agenda Admin Last time: Reminder Design spaces –Exercise Task analysis –Exercise Break! Norman’s seven stage model Task analysis process –Exercise

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 3 Admin Announcements –Thanks for attending Lou Rosenfield’s talk –Jason Tabert’s note on Tablet PC event –Check out Phil’s link to persona’s (Kim Goodwin) –The non-designers design book in library reserve Assignment #2 –Questions about taxonomy –Due: Wednesday Interactive design project –Any questions? –Proposal due: Oct 28 Quizzes –Back on Wednesday

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 4 Process: Where we are now? Week 1: Introduction Week 2: Requirements Analysis, Part I Week 3: Requirements Analysis, Part II Week 4: Conceptual design * Finish task analysis –Mental models; –Identifying & modeling concepts, entities, and relationships Week 5: Interaction design, Part I Week 6: Interaction design, Part II Labs: 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 /21/2002) 5 Methods (so far) Requirements analysis –Affinity diagramming –Card sorting –Comics for summarizing workplace data –Conceptual models (intro only) –Contextual inquiry, concentrating on interviewing –Design-space analysis (more today) –Focus groups –Inspecting objects (Norman’s vocabulary) –Personas –Scenarios –Task analysis (more today) –Trade-offs: Representation technique

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 6 Last time Reviewed –Scenarios & Personas Introduced –Design space Introduced task analysis –Goals –Tasks/sub-tasks –Actions high low highlow Chuck Heather’ Jason Theo Jeff BrianBen Brianna Heather Esther Hamden

The Information School of the University of Washington Design Spaces

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 8 Cross dimensions & plot people, features or products Steps 1.Invent two more dimensions 2.Plot items on grid (precision is not critical) 3.Go to 1 until plot seems to capture relevant differences –Identify ‘holes’ in the design space –Tactically decide where to focus attention

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 9 Cross dimensions to plot people Esther Heather Ben Hamden Jason Chuck Esther Jason Chuck Esther Ben Hamden Chuck Hamden TYPE Family Album Journal One splash page Pop Culture Small Business School/Education COMPLEXITY Low …. High TOOLS Site Builder, FreeForm/HTM FrontPage AUDIENCE Self Family Friends Organization Neighborhood

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 10 Cross dimension to plot products Build Talk PrivatePublic Chat CalendarHomepage building

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 11 Generalize dimensions Talk radio AUDIENCE SIZE Cheese shopOnline Auctions Calendar Public library Palm reader Photo Center Aggregate Purchase Build Show & Talk ACTIVITY

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 12 Task complexity: The notion of ‘flow’ Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper Perennial. (low) Skills (high) Challenges (low) (high) a1a2 a3 a4 Flow

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 13 Markets: Competitive Analysis Emotional/ Lifestyle Rational Individualistic-oriented Community-oriented

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 14 Task spaces/design spaces Use to organize complex information Use to make comparisons between items Look for ‘holes’ and opportunities Precision is not necessarily important Very effective communication device

The Information School of the University of Washington Task Analysis

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 16 Definitions Goal –What needs to be accomplished? Task/sub-tasks –A step towards completing the goal Action –An atomic event

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 17 Tasks are hierarchical Goal Task Sub-Task Action

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 18 Task flows: Interesting tasks are usually procedural Goal start Task Decision Task end Task Other path Yes No

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 19 Symbols Starting point/other information A task A decision point Yes No

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 20 Scenario Joe is a hotel receptionist. He takes reservations from the phone and in person Develop a task flow for his process

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 21 Possible answer Goal: Satisfy consumers Make new Reservation Check a Reservation Change a Reservation Cancel a Reservation Guest contacts clerk Get info on dates, room type, discounts/specials, etc. Check availability Does guest want to reserve? Book guest Re-try Yes No Repeat

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 22 Re-try (continue) Does guest want different dates? Thank guest Yes No Repeat Reservation not made Re-try

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 23 Book guest (cont) Book guest Get name, address, etc. Explain guarantee & cancellation policy Does guest want guarantee? Get credit card info Repeat booking info & give confirmation # Thank guest Yes No

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 24 Summary Task analysis is a huge topic –Extremely detailed analysis of individuals (e.g., fighter pilots) –Workflow analysis of complex social situations (e.g., relations between doctors, patients, and insurance companies) For more on tasks, see (a very good ‘how-to’ book) Hackos, J. T. & Redish, J. C. (1998). User and task analysis for interface design. New York: Wiley.

The Information School of the University of Washington Norman’s stages of action

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 26 * 1: Goal - There is a problem with the budget. Need to check revenue model 2: Task - Open Excel spreadsheet 3: Actions plan - Point at the Excel icon, point at cell, click, inspect formula 4: Execution - Grasp mouse, etc. 5: Perception - Pointer over icon, icon highlighted, etc. 6: Interpretation- I opened the sheet and selected the cell with the formula in it 7: Making sense- I see the equation and it looks okay. I’ll move on Gulf of evaluation Gulf of execution * From Rosson & Carroll

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 27 Summary You’ll see this model referred to frequently Very detailed view of a single user Breakdowns can occur when moving through each of these seven stages –The (domain) goal may be clear, but the (system) task unknown – The action plan may be clear, but the icon may be hidden –Etc.

The Information School of the University of Washington Process scenario

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 29 Scenario A company has contacted you to develop a a task/user analysis for Seattle Guides. Seattle Guides answer tourists’ questions and give tourists information about Seattle. Develop a plan, including the steps and expected number of hours and cost

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 30 Possible answer Consulting Tasks 80hr Brainstorming on users and tasks 20 Planning site visits 20 Recruiting participants at sites 80Conducting 10 visits (2 observers * 5 days) 80Analysis report hourly rate ($80.00) = $22,400.00

The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /21/2002) 31 Next time Topics –More on task analysis –Start into conceptual design One reading: –Read: Green, T. R. G. and Benyon, D. (1996.) The skull beneath the skin: entity-relationship models of information artifacts. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 44(6) [Note: This is a fairly difficult academic paper. Sections 4-5 are optional.]