Poster Picker

Group Members

• Ej Emeagwali, ejay@mit.edu
• Matt Falk, mfalk@mit.edu
• Michael Plasmeier, theplaz@mit.edu

Problem Statement

• When someone sees a poster conveying a message, it takes time to record the details of that poster. This makes it inconvenient and usually results on poor respondance from thos intending to attend an event. Most students, who see a poster in passing, rarely have the time to stop and fully read the information on a poster, determine what is important, and record the necessary details. Thus, putting ICS images or QR codes on these posters would allow viewers to take a picture of the poster and have all of the information given to them in an efficient and reliable way. Further, it would more easily allow poster makers to gather accurate data about who and how many people intend to attend their event.

GR1 - Task Analysis

User Analysis

Poster Creator

• As a user of our system, a poster maker will be actively using a website to create QR codes to be placed on posters. They will have to create these codes using our site and may have to use the site many times a week. As one user commented, they create a lot of posters a week and spending more than 5-15 minutes creating a QR code may prove an inefficient use of their time. Thus, our system will need to be adapted for quick creation. Further discussion led to the statement that "Posters are usually just a way for us to spread news about an event. We usually want as large a turnout as possible, but for smaller events we provide a lottery upon email request." With the mention of QR codes leading to the possibility of creating RSVP events so that the user could be made aware of who was interested in the event, where they saw the poster, and if the viewer actually wants to attend the event, users were excited. Having an automated system for tracking statistics about an event was a much desired idea, but not sought after because those in charge were not technically advanced enough to pursue by their own means.
• Users were familiar with the concept of a QR code, had seen/heard about them becoming new and popular, but never created one because they did not know how to. Before the suggestions of calendar events and RSVP counters, users were concerned about what the codes would actually do. They also seemed fairly concerned with what they would have to learn in order to be able to use these codes as part of their posters. Our site will require no knowledge about the QR system itself, and will generate codes and perform operations autonomously without requiring extra work from the creator. With this explanation, technically advanced users as well as their opposite alike were excited about the possibility of having a site to be able to create these codes and gain functionality with their posters.

Poster Viewer

• This user will have no necessary background. The only required piece of hardware is a smart phone capable of scanning QR codes. The user will open an existing application to scan the QR code and the rest is autonomous. The user can be lazy, busy, and indecisive.
• The purpose of the application from a user perspective is to quickly and automatically perform the tasks of setting reminders and RSVPing for events. User interviews showed that upon viewing posters for events they found interesting, they went through the process of using their smartphone to enter a calendar entry with information such as date, time and event name. In addition events that require RSVP would require further action by the poster viewer, often in the form of sending an email to the event host. This whole process can take 30 seconds to a minute and also also requires users to remain in front of the poster as they write down any information they wish to remember. The application can greatly streamline this process for the user, instantaneously making all the information about the event available to them on their phone and calendar without the user having to do any tedious manual entry. The ability to easily and automatically RSVP for events also reduces the burden on the poster viewer and makes it more likely that they will indeed RSVP. 

Users interviewed

• Sr. Administrative Assistant; Office of the Vice President for Institute Affairs; MIT
• Event Chair; Student Group; MIT
• Undergraduate Student, MIT

Task Analysis

• A detailed description of our task analysis can be found here.

GR2 - Designs

GR3 - Paper Prototyping

GR4 - Computer Prototyping

GR5 - Implementation

GR6 - User Testing