"Who's That?" Pervasive Social Application
Summary
"Who's That?" is a pervasive application used to connect residents in North Quad residential Hall. Residents create a profile based on key characteristics (i.e. year, major, floor, and interests) identified in our research with North Quad residents.
Profiles will be displayed on the monitors of the elevator lobby on each floor of the residential hall. Each resident's profile will display a tag cloud of their characteristics, which will dynamically respond to residents as they pass in front. Matching tags will enlarge, with priority given to unique matching interests. Residents can initiate interactions ( "contact me", "learn more", or "play a game") through QR codes embedded within their profiles.
Exploration and Brainstorming
Our challenge for this course was to imagine and prototype a pervasive computing application that would enhance the experience of living and working in North Quad. Our ultimate goal was to design a context-aware application that would facilitate social interaction between the people inhabiting, occupying or passing through the various environments (e.g. classrooms, meeting rooms, offices, informal meeting spaces, dorms, lobbies, etc.) in North Quad.
Our team explored physical space of North Quad (photos of our expedition) to gain familiarity with its many environments. Based on the opportunities for interaction I observed in the physical space of North Quad and my personal experiences as a student, I sketched out initial concepts for application. Below are some of my sketches:
User Research
After several brainstorming sessions, we agreed to target the undergraduate residents of North Quad as our primary audience and explore how they might interact with profiles displayed on the monitors in the elevator lobbies.
INTERVIEWS AND OBSERVATIONS
We conducted a total of 5 interviews with undergraduate students living in North Quad that were recruited via North Quad admins and personal contacts. I was responsible for conducting 1 of the interviews and was the notetaker for another interview. Our interview questions focused on gaining insight into the general characteristics of the NQ social environment, as well as the motivations and barriers to posting and interacting with profiles.
In addition to the interviews, two of my team members observed activity in the elevator lobby during high traffic times of the day (afternoon and evening). We were particularly interested in learning how much time students spend waiting for the elevator in the 7 floor residential hall, any social interactions that occur during that time, and what students typically do while they wait for the elevator.
Notable findings:- Physical space: Students commented on the "apartment-style" feel of the dorm. The heavy doors of the dorm rooms impose physical limitations on the socialization between residents. An "open door is a common signal that someone is open to socializing with others. A heavy door that is difficult to prop open reduces the opportunity for serendipitous conversations between residents. Students commented on the "apartment-style" feel of the dorm.
- Residents: Most of the residents of North Quad are upper classmen. Most upper classmen have an established group of friends and tend to be more focused on academics and careers than freshmen and sophmores.
- Elevator lobby: Wait time can be anywhere from 0-40secs. Residents tend to talk to people they already know. Nobody watches the two monitors in the elevator lobby. Nobody pays attention to the two monitors. Students regard the content as being static or irrelevent (e.g. "useless twitter feeds"). One student noted that the process for posting content to the monitor is cumbersome.
- Social Interaction:
- NQ Residents are interested in:
- Sharing interests, groups, major, announcements
- Finding study partners
- Recruiting people for student organizations
- Finding people to participate in impromptu activities
- NQ Residents are interested in:
- Unusual shared interests are key motivator for interaction
Based on our findings, we revised our concept with the following objectives in mind:
- Content must be new, relevant, and meaningful
- Interactions must be quick and continued "on-the-go"
- Posting a profile must be easy
- Allow different levels of social interaction and privacy
NEEDS VALIDATION
Storyboards depicting the application used in a different contexts were presented to potential users for discussion on how well the system met their needs. Users shared their impressions of the pros, cons, and potential issues of using this system in the elevator lobby of the residential hall.We were particularly interested in learning more about any privacy and timing concerns. Below is a storyboard I sketched to depict a user interacting with the application through a monitor with a touch screen interface.
USER ENACTMENTS
The primary purpose of user enactments is to explore critical design issues identified through the needs validation process. For "Who's That?", those issues all relate to the nature of the content that will be displayed to the user. The needs validation demonstrated that the type of content displayed in profiles had a profound impact on the users' perception of its usefulness. These judgements also seemed to be impacted by the users' social goals. We wanted to gain insight into the relationship between content type, content layout, user social goals and perception of the system.
We simulated the process of viewing and interacting with the profiles using both lo-fi (i.e. mobile paper prototypes) and hi-fi (i.e. color mockups) prototypes. In addition to getting feedback on the content, imagery and interaction style, I helped recruit participants and I was a notetaker for all three sessions.
As a design solution to the perception of static content, I came up with the idea of using a context-aware tag cloud that would change in response to a person walking by the monitor. In addition to visually indicating that the monitor is responding to someone's presence, the animation would also capture the users attention. The tag cloud would emphasize the unique shared interests between the viewer and the person whose profile is being displayed. Not only will the unique shared interests be more salient to the user, they will also be more relevant and meaningful.
Below are the profiles I created for this particular study.
Video Prototypes
Our team created a video prototype to illustrate different scenarios in which we envisioned people using our application. I designed and developed all the profiles in flash to simulate the dynamic response of the tag clouds contained within the profiles. I learned how to use Adobe Premiere over the weekend and edited 2 of the 3 scenarios used in our lo-fi video prototype.
Who's That? Scenario 2 from Gloria Murillo on Vimeo.
Final Demo Video
I worked with my team to sketch the storyboard for the final demo video. My teammates shot the video and recorded the narration while I edited the final cut.
"Who's That?" Final Proposal from Morgan Keys on Vimeo.