ShutterConnect

User analysis

We have two types of users - photographers and photography clients. ShutterConnect aims to facilitate the interaction between these two general user groups. Below we highlight the characteristics of the two groups.

1. Photographer:
   1. Primary intent
      1. advertise his work
      2. check other photographer’s work
   2. Expectations
      1. Checking latest reviews should be easy and quick.
      2. Creating and updating profile should be easily learnable.
      3. Professional looking website, appropriate for work environment
   3. Characteristics
      1. Might be professional or amateur.
      2. Varying domain experience (portraits vs. wedding pictures)
      3. Varying ages and gender.
      4. English speaking.
      5. Basic (shopping) numeracy.
      6. High school level literacy.
      7. Website does not currently accommodate physical disabilities.
      8. Familiar with popular web interfaces (facebook, twitter, yelp). Therefore can understand affordances of buttons, links, and concept of a profile and review.
2. Photography Client
   1. Primary intent
      1. Find one or more photographers suited to client's event type and budget.
      2. Could range from very specific requirements, to people who don’t know what they are looking for and just want a photographer.
      3. Multiple people planning the same event could be searching the list at the same time.
   2. Expectations
      1. Easy filtering of price, location, event type for photographer searches.
      2. Efficient viewing and comparing of photographers (sample pictures, reviews)
      3. Easily learnable website, with appropriate affordances for search and advanced search.
   3. Characteristics
      1. Varying ages and gender.
      2. English speaking.
      3. Basic (shopping) numeracy.
      4. High school level literacy.
      5. Not accommodating physical disabilities.
      6. Familiar with popular interfaces (facebook, twitter, yelp)

Our analysis of users is partially based on discussions with a professional photographer (J.N.), a part-time photographer (C.Y.L.), and a person who went through the process of finding a wedding photographer (R.C.). We got very positive feedback from these people about the potential of a photographer-to-client connection website like ShutterConnect.

J.N., the professional photographer, pointed out that his main source of income is through the sales on his website. This is why, he remarked, that promotion of his site was very important for him. He said that many photographers directories are not up-to-date or have strict guidelines for listing, rendering word-of-mouth his primary method of promoting his website. J.N. said that a central website where he could list his services clearly to the entire market of photography clients would be a big help.

C.Y.L, the part time photographer, was especially enthusiastic about the idea for a website. He remarked that many people are not ready to pay for professional photo service prices and he could cater to that population by providing very good quality pictures for much less than the studio price. He mentioned that his main source of promotion was through word-of-mouth and his connections on facebook. He said that a central website would enable him to reach more people. He particularly liked the idea of location-based search.

R.C., a happy bride, went through the process of finding a wedding photographer. She says, she googled wedding photographers by location, visited each photographers' website, kept her own notes on their photography and prices. She said that comparing prices was difficult because of the individual packages of each photographer. She also said that the lack of objective reviews was very frustrating - she had to search on internet forums to make sure there were no complaints about the photographers she was considering. Also, she was never sure about the extent of her search, because she learned about some photographers by word-of-mouth, who did not show up on her google searches. She says an easily searchable website with reviews would dramatically reduce the time and effort spent on finding a suitable photographer.

Task analysis

1. Find potential photographers.

   1. Precondition:
      1. know your budget
      2. know when your event is happening
   2. Frequency of Use: multiple times per event
   3. Subtasks:
      1. Get initial list of photographers available in your location
      2. Narrow candidate photographers by date and time of the event
      3. Narrow candidate photographers by budget

2. Learn more about a photographer.

   1. Precondition: Know name of photographer.
   2. Frequency of Use: multiple times per website visit
   3. Subtasks:
      1. Go to photographer’s profile page.
      2. Look at photographer’s sample work.
      3. View photographer’s background and experience.
      4. Read reviews by previous users.

3. Review a photographer

   1. Precondition:
      1. Know the name of photographer you are reviewing
      2. Have an account.
   2. Frequency of Use: once per event
   3. Subtasks:
      1. Log in (identify yourself).
      2. Go to photographer’s profile page.
      3. Add the following details to the review:
         1. What event?
         2. When did the event take place?
         3. What was your experience dealing with the photographer?
         4. Summarize overall impression using a star rating
      4. Edit (Proof-read) the review.
      5. Submit the review.

4. Create Photographer Profile.

   1. Precondition:
      1. Know about the website
      2. Have connection to the Internet
   2. Frequency of Use: once
   3. Subtasks:
      1. Go to the website
      2. Create a photographer account.
      3. Enter personal details such as name, address and contact email.
      4. Add sample work (if you have one)
      5. Add a link to your portfolio website (if you have one).
      6. Specify price for your services.

5. Create Photography Service Seeker Profile.

   1. Precondition:
      1. Know about the website
      2. Have connection to the Internet
   2. Frequency of Use: once
   3. Subtasks:
      1. Go to the website
      2. Create a user account.
      3. Enter personal details such as name, address and contact email.

6. Give a usefulness rating for a photographer review

   1. Precondition: know the review you want to rate
   2. Frequency of Use: multiple times per website visit
   3. Subtasks:
      1. Log in (identify yourself).
      2. Go to the photographer’s profile.
      3. Find the desired review.
      4. Mark review as useful or not useful.
      5. (optional) Logout.

7. Obtain a photographer’s contact information.

   1. Precondition: Know name or the photographer’s profile page
   2. Frequency of Use: multiple times per event
   3. Subtasks:
      1. Go to photographer’s profile page.
      2. Look up his contact information.
         

Domain analysis

Two main users of our website will be photographers and photography service seekers. Photographers list information about their business on the website and the clients search for and review photographers. Our domain analysis reflects this relationship, highlighting the major elements of the system - components of a photographer profile and functionality of reviews.

Figure 1: Domain Analysis of ShutterConnect. Clients can view and search photographer profiles which include their business information, sample pictures, and reviews. Clients can also review photographers and up/downvote the usefulness of other reviews.