User Analysis:

User Personas

Event Organizers

The event organizer is someone who is helping people rally around a cuase, and is interested in publishing the details of rallies and/or protests, contact information for representatives, and other things people can do to contribute.  The goal is to maximize participation, so organizers need a tool that will reach the most people. Currently, event organizers use popular channels like social networks that are not designed for activism (most people we spoke to had used Facebook in some capacity for this purpose), or resort to creating single-purpose websites to publicize their efforts, which can be cumbersome and time-consuming, and sometimes poorly designed.

Active Participants (Activists)

Activists know about the cause and already want to participate; they simply need something to do (a protest to go to, a representative to call or write to, some code to write, some posters to design, etc.).  Not knowing where to start can be discouraging, and if you don't have a lot of free time (as was the case with one individual we interviewed), not knowing where to start or how much time something might take can make a huge difference in what gets done.

Potential Participants

Potential participants don't yet know about the cause, don't yet know enough to know that it affects them personally, or don't know that they can do anything to make a difference.  Most of them feel helpless (one person we interviewed said he wasn't likely to call his representative because he would just have to navigate an automated system and his message would likely not make it to the representative) or afraid (one person said he didn't want to participate if he didn't believe he could do so anonymously).

User Characteristics

Event Organizers

Age: ANY 

Gender: ANY

Tech-savviness: ANY

Active Participants (Activists)

Age: ANY

Gender: ANY

Tech-savviness: ANY

Potential Participants

Age: ANY

Gender: ANY

Tech-savviness: ANY

(While this data seems pointless, we have retained it in order to demonstrate the diversity of our user groups)

Task Analysis:

New Tasks:

Look up the representatives for your area, schedule a phone call, and record a voicemail to be sent.

There are three main features to our Activism Program that will satisfy a majority of our users' needs:

• View existing events
• Create new events
• Provide a layer of security

View existing events:

• Goal: Allow the user to easily sort, filter, and view existing events
  • Subtask: Enable a Google Maps view of events
  • Subtask: Allow users to filter and sort events
  • Subtask: View event's information
    •  Precondition: Have clicked on that group's pin on the map or name on the list

Create new events:

• Goal: Enable the creation of new events
  • Subtask: Navigate to Create Event page
    • Precondition: Logged in
  • Subtask: Create an event
    • Precondition: Fill in event information (name, location, date, etc.)
    • Precondition: Required information present
    • Precondition: Must have permission to create event for listed organization
  • Subtask: Edit an existing event
    • Precondition: Must be an owner of that event.

Register for an event:

• Goal: Users can sign up for an event, giving the organizers a sense of how many people are interested.
  • Subtask: User can register to show their interest in an event
    • Precondition: User must have an account
    • Precondition: User must be logged in
    • Precondition: User cannot register for the same event multiple times
    • Precondition: Event cannot be restricted for the user
  • Subtask: Keep a counter of the number of people interested.
  • Subtask: Show the names and profiles of people who have registered for the event
    • Precondition: User must allow this information to be shown

Create a user profile:

• Goal: Give the user a public profile that other users can view
  • Subtask: Allow the user to customize information on their own page
    • Precondition: User must have an account
    • Precondition: User must be logged in
  • Subtask: User can list the events they have registered for
    • Precondition: User must specify a registration to be public for it to appear on his/her profile

Provide a layer of security:

• Goal: Allow the creator of an event to restrict viewership
  • Subtask: Specify viewership for a group
    • Precondition: Must be a moderator for that group
  • Subtask: Allow other users to add more users
  • Subtask: Allow visibility of event to select groups (friends, supporters of a different event, etc).

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