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We are trying to design an application (similar to Skype) for parents living back home so that when they talk with their children, they can get an immersive visual experience of the the stories their loved ones tell.
- You will act as a 40 years -year old father named Arjun.
- Your son is Raj, a college student at MIT in Cambridge, MA.
- You are to talk to Raj and would really like to visually recreate the stories that Raj tells you.
- You will be using your home desktop computer to talk to Raj.
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We are trying to design an application (similar to Skype) that allows people like us to share stories with our parents living back home in such a way that they get an immersive visual experience of the the stories we tell.
- You will act as a 20 years -year old student studying at MIT.
- Your father is Arjun living in India.
- You are to talk to Arjun and would really like to communicate your experience of living at MIT.
- You will be using your home desktop computer to talk to Arjun.
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User testing observations (Round 1):
User 1 (Acting as Arjun):
Observations
- User ignored panning and altitude controls.
- Navigate icon was mistaken for a button.
- When looking through tweets the user tried clicking on the text to view additional information rather than using the text input box.
- User ignored aggregation panels: map, articles.
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- Was not obvious how to exit a mode.
- Found the voice transcription natural in the context of application though generally the user does not like it.
- Got irritated with the pop up window.
- Suggested that direct manipulation with a mouse would seem more natural than using the provided controls.
User 2 (Acting as Arjun):
Observations
- Likes exploring the interface, testing different navigation controls.
- Had difficulty finding how to move from the image viewing mode to reading tweets mode.
- Does not move directly to address the task but takes extra steps to explore the interface. For instance instead of directly viewing the location, goes to the tweets tab first.
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- Suggested it would be easier if mode change buttons were located within the main active window, not only from the bar above.
- No option to decline an invitation to view a comment. Interface becomes overcrowded with small windows.
User 3 (Acting as Arjun):
Observations
- Confuses navigate symbol for a button (bad internal consistency).
- Likes navigating, using different control buttons.
- No feedback that message has been saved. When adding a comment is concerned if the comment was saved or not.
- Easily finds exit buttons.
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- Wished there were smoother transitions between high-level and low-level navigation.
For instance, when taking a street view low-level navigation seems more natural. However, our interface provides only high-level mode change controls. - When hitting exit would like to see a confirmation that the comments added have been saved.
- Suggested that dragging with a mouse when exploring the street view would feel more natural than using some of the buttons we provided.
User 4 (Acting as Raj):
Observations
- Since tasks were simple, very few surprises
- No notification that the note has been saved and Arjun saw the note.
- No notification that Arjun saw the comment.
Feedback
- Need notification with comments/notes
Feedback summary
Inconsistency with expectations:
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