GR1 - Task analysis

User analysis

General

MIT students: college aged, both undergraduate and graduate students
Have lives and friends centralized on or near MIT campus.
Have laptops or smart phones that support GPS/wifi geolocating
Constantly use the Internet.

There is only one user class.

Each user may have one of three motives (‘status’) in using the website. When a student is feeling social, their mood and energy level influences the type of interactions they are searching for. They might be looking for a friend to be adventurous with, relax with, or study with.

Feeling Adventurous
“I’m dying for something interesting to do.”

Kiki is a freshman at Senior House, and just got out of her last class of the day-- it’s 1pm. It’s a bright and beautiful Friday and all she wants to do is start the weekend early by exploring the greater Boston area and doing something crazy.  Kiki places herself at Senior House on the map says she is feeling adventurous, and says what she is interested in doing.

Kiki’s friend Gigi is a sophomore at EC, and does not have class on Friday.  He is trying to figure out what he wants to do, and goes onto the website.  When he sees Kiki and her status on the map, he  jumps at the idea to wander with her, and sends her an instant message.  They talk further about a plan, and then meet up shortly after.

Feeling Relaxed
“Tip me if there’s something fun or want to hang out. I might be interested. “

Jake is a senior who is trying to enjoy his last semester through quality time with his friends, but still trying to maintain good grades. He decides to stay in on a Saturday evening to get some work done but finishes before expected at 10pm, early enough to still meet up with friends. However, he’s not necessarily in the mood to do anything extravagant such as going a huge party or a crazy night out clubbing in Boston. He places himself on the map and says he’s feeling relaxed. His friend Drake, who was planning on heading out to see a movie in an hour and looking for more people to come along, notices his status and sends him a message. They discuss details and meet up to see the movie.

Feeling Studious
“Company needed. Come join me!”

Fritz is a first year grad student and has to study for a test in his computer graphics class. Office hours are no longer available that day, but he knows that he will have questions. To remedy this, he goes to the Steam cafe, places himself on the map as feeling studious, and says that he is studying for the computer graphics test and would like some people to study with.  His two friends Troy and Demetri have been working together on an assignment in the architecture library. They are tired and have lost motivation to study, but see that Fritz is working just a couple floors above them, and decide to get some coffee and meet up with him. Demetri gives Frtiz a call and takes the elevator with Troy to the Steam cafe.

Task analysis

Registration
Goal: to register as a user
Precondition: none
Subtasks:

• Click on register button
• Type in required information: user name, password, email address
• Click confirm

Log in
Goal: to log in as a user
Precondition: has registered username and password
Subtasks:

• Find the log in box on the page
• Type in user name and password
• Click log in button

Managing friends
Goal: adding / deleting / tagging friends (whom my status is visible to)

Precondition: logged in

Subtasks:

• Click on ‘account’ button
• Browse the current friend list

• Adding friends:
          Click on ‘add friend’ button
          Type in a username
•         Confirm and (optionally) assign tags to the displayed user; otherwise click ‘cancel’  

• Deleting friends:
          Select user(s) from the friend list
          Click on ‘delete friend’ button
          Confirm if wants to proceed; otherwise click ‘cancel’
• Tagging friends:
          Select user(s) from the friend list to see their tags
          Click ‘x’ on existing tags to delete; type in new tag names to add

Changing visibility
Goal: selecting tags of friends tor individual friends to be visible to.
Precondition: logged in

Subtasks:

• Select specific friends to be visible to
• Select a tag to specify a group of friends you would like to be visible to

Posting / updating status
Goal: to tell the map to start tracking current location, publicized with an optional status message
Precondition: logged in

Subtasks:

• Click on a status button
• (Optional) Type in more information about what you want to do

Browsing locations and status
Goal: to browse locations and status of friends on a map
Precondition: logged in

Subtasks:

• Use buttons/gestures to zoom and pan the map
• Click on icons to see details

Instant messaging friend
Goal: to make plans and communicate further with friend.
Precondition: both users logged in; sender is receiver’s friend

Subtasks:

• Click on a friend’s icon on map to bring up instant messaging window
• Send instant message to friend
• Receive instant message from friend

Stop posting status
Goal: to stop tracking current location and go invisible
Precondition: logged in

Subtasks:

• Close webpage

Domain analysis