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We implemented the project using a SmartBoard optical touchscreen that plugged into any computer's serial/USB ports for input and VGA port for output. To minimize dependency on the SmartBoard, we implemented the project as a website and projected it using the SmartBoard. The backend was implemented using Python using the Django web application framework and SQLite database. We also wrote a standalone websockets server for feeding the inputs from the RFID card reader to the frontend. The frontend was implemented using HTML, CSS and Javascript with a heavy reliance on the JQuery and JQuery UI libraries as well as a few other libraries.
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We also contemplated saving the sketches as the user sketched instead of waiting till the user was done sketching but that approach was more bug-prone and given the time limitations, we opted for the less bug-prone approach of saving when the user clicked the Save button.
*** Need to talk about how we used RFID reader to remove need for typing * **
- the actual board was not functional until the week before GR5 was due. It was missing a crucial connecting cable to allow the smart board to communicate with the computer. After several tens of hours of conversations with Customer Service and three sets of incorrect cables, we finally got the board working. So resolution, fit to big screen cow; don't happen very well.
It is also important to point out that the board's touchscreen was not as responsive as we hoped and this impacted the usability of the system somewhat. Another board-specific implementation detail is that the board does not support multi-touch so we abandoned the idea of supporting multiple users working with the board simultaneously.
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What you are looking at is an electronic poster board that will be installed up in a public place like the ground floor of the Stata center.
Scenario Tasks
Task 1*: * You have come across this poster board in Stata Center. Describe 5 things you can do with it. Interact with it for two minutes. (We utilized this open ended task to get a sense for which features of the poster board were discoverable as well as those that might be expected).
Task 2*: * You have a USB drive in your possession. Add a poster from the USB onto the poster board.
Task 3*: * Find a poster you like, add it to your calendar and scribble on it.
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The project turned out to be much more hardware focused than we expected since our application was heavily dependent and limited by the SmartBoard and RFID equipment. As mentioned above, the SmartBoard was not fully functional until the last week of classes.*** talk about personalization: possibilities, why we didn't do it. How would we do it ***. As a result, we could not optimize out functionality for the SmartBoard. Since we wanted to completely remove the need for typing, it was essential that we have an alternate mechanism of getting user information. We used an RFID reader for this purpose. However, this again introduced a hardware dependency and we had to focus on getting the RFID reader to work with our server. Since we got a working RFID prototype ready in the last few weeks, extensions to the functionality using this capability were severely limited. In particular, we wanted to implement personalization of the PosterBoard based on the time a user last visited the board and preferences for events. However, we cut this feature due to time constraints. This feature would also have introduced a new "personalized" mode in the system that we felt would confuse the user and could open up safety issues like another user using the previous user's information to post posters or information.