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For this portion of the project, we all decided to come up with two different designs independently. At our first meeting we saw that we all had radically different ideas as to how the interface was to be implemented. All our designs agreed, however, on their simplicity. We discussed the pros and cons of each, and how each could be improved. We made it a point that the main tasks we identified (discussed in the scenarios section) always be easily achievable in the design. At the end of the meeting, each of us chose our favorite interface and went home to improve it in the ways we had discussed. We also came up with several scenarios. Below is the most amusing one we came up with.

At our second meeting we presented our designs again, and outlined possible storyboards for each. After some discussion we agreed on how the storyboards would work. Each design was drawn by a different person, and each of us typed up the storyboard for our designs.

Scenarios:

We have three main types of tasks that are possible in the site. The first is to post new news items. These can be events, articles, or simple discussions. The second is to navigate available news items. This can be done by clicking on the desired topic, such as art, music, computers, etc, and scrolling through the available items. Finally, we want the users to be able to discuss the items. Thus, the user needs to be able to enter the comments section of an item and read other users' comments and post her own.

The following are three possible scenarios for our tasks.

Scenario

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: Amy's Birthday Bash

Amy would like to make an event for her upcoming 21st birthday bash. She has rented out the VIP lounge at Estate and would like it to be the best birthday ever. As such, she needs many cool MIT students to come, and so she would like to publicize the event as much as possible. Since everyone at MIT has a Beaver Buzz account, she decided that she’d post an event on Beaver Buzz. She .

Since Amy did not have an account, she first had to create one. When she visited the "join" page, the service checked her MIT certificate (to make sure she is a student) and then asked her to input a user name and a password. Once the sign in process was completed, Amy logs into her account, which she has made previously.

She then selects to create a new event. She is prompted for a time and a date for the event. She enters that it will begin at 10:00 PM, and that it will take place 6/12/2011. In addition, she fills out an optional event textbox describing her event as the “event “Event of the millennium!!! Don't wanna miss out!!! PS Bring presents.” After posting, she goes to check the event schedule checks the "Party" topic and sees that it her event has been added. Satisfied, Amy logs off.

Scenario 2:

Pepe wants to try out Beaver Buzz to better his social life. After visiting and looking at the different features of the website, he decided to join to gain posting capabilities and comment on posts made by other users. To join, the service checks his MIT certificate (to make sure he is a student) and then asks him to input a user name and a password.

Once the sign in process is completed, Pepe goes to the homepage and looks for the coolest events on campus in the “What’s Hot?!” section. He then notices that there is a huge party the upcoming Friday. He goes to the event page and notices that there is a 200 message thread about the awesomeness that is going down on Friday. He then adds the party for his weekend “to do” list. Pepe logs off feeling that his social life is taking a turn for the betterposted. She also checks the event schedule and verifies that the date and time have been entered correctly. She unfortunately notices that Beta Beta Beta is having a party that day. Scared that her birthday bash will be ruined by a dumb frat party, she clicks on the event to view how popular it is. Thankfully, it only got three likes, and only two people have left comments. Since the event had been made several days ago, she guesses that it won't be anything huge. She post a nasty comment of the likes of "Come to Amy's b-day instead!" , but after a few seconds she realizes it was rude and deletes it. She checks her page again, and already sees 25 likes and 7 comments. After reading the comments, where everyone expressed their interest in attending her party, Amy is satisfied and logs off.

Designs:

Design #1:

This design shows as many article info (author, title, date added, etc) as possible at the cost of not allowing users to preview the articles before having to access their page. The suggested interface shows the most commented events and discussions on the home page. It also allows users to search for events, authors, tags, etc from the "search" bar. Events and Posts can be sorted using a simple drop-down menu. This design focuses on simplicity.

Storyboard - Design 1

Justin Beaver, a Freshmen, is visiting the Beaver Buzz home page for the first time. Justin is excited about the website, since he can learn about what is going on in the MIT community and discuss topics with his peers. He notices that the "What's Hot?!" interface displays the most talked about events and posts. He likes the idea of posting and commenting posts or events and decides to become a member.

Before getting to the Beaver Buzz sign in page, Justin was asked for his MIT certificate (we want to ensure that only MIT affiliated people can access the website). In the sign in page, Justin decides to use "username" as his username and enters a secret password.

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After finishing a PSET, Justin decides to procrastinate by looking into other student's thoughts. He browses the "Posts". After 15 minutes, he goes back to work.

Design #2:

This design trades off how much information you get from each article preview for more articles visible on the screen at once.  Discussion posts are sorted by topic and events are sorted by groups/hosts.

Storyboard - Design 2

Terry uses BeaverBuzz to check out recent articles and events for the week.  He clicks on the Recent tab to see the hot new discussions.  He already has specified which topics he is interested in, through the user settings.  He can easily see multiple articles that have been tagged in his favorite topics.  He scrolls right within the sports articles/discussions to see older posts which he missed the day before.  Terry clicks on a discussion to read the comments on it.

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