Members of a dorm community, including both those involved in management and usage of the dorm, need a convenient way to keep track of information about the dorm. This includes information about dorm facilities and their availability, living conditions of residents, and information about dorm-wide events and maintenance.
From these interviews, we conclude that people typically want to know more about their dorms, manage the facilities, centralize place where they can find and update information.
**********************************I think we should breakdown some tasks here. For example, for package delivery, what are the steps involved. Room swapping is also important I think
Users include the classes mentioned as interview subjects. Essentially, they are all people who need to keep track of dorm facility availability, usage, and maintenance, as well as living conditions of the various residents, though at varying levels.
The dorm manager was hired as a full-time employee to manage a couple of buildings including Next House and Tang. He is in his late thirty and is a very dynamic individual. He started to work at 8am and end his day at 3pm. His primary tasks are to manage the dorm condition including desk workers, janitor, and mechanics. He also in charge of coordinating with the dining to ensure the whole building is secure and students’ roaster are up to date. In order to do all of these tasks, he uses three to fours different software packages provided by the housing web developer in addition to spreadsheet and paper works. In addition, he also reported to send/receive more than 100 emails a day for communication.
This desk worker was hired from outside of MIT to work approximately 8 hours a day at a dorm on MIT campus. He is in his late twenties and is comfortable using computers. As a desk worker, he has various small tasks between which he must switch between often. His highest priority task is to watch the door and ensure that non-residents check in with him first. If non-residents are on a guest list, they are allowed to pass through after signing in. Otherwise, non-residents must wait until a resident picks them up. Another important daily task is to mediate package delivery to students. Desk workers receive packages on behalf of the student, and then alert the student so that may pick it up at their convenience. One task which the desk worker thought was particularly confusing and inefficient was facilitating moving in and out of rooms. Organizing information about the state of the rooms such as current occupant and necessary repairs is desired. Currently, this task is done using paper, excel spreadsheets, and communicating through email. Other tasks include sorting mail, giving spare keys, renting out various items, and locking up the dorm piano every night.
This user makes personal use of dorm facilities such as exercise equipment, refrigerators, and mailing systems. They also monitor important dorm-wide information such as dorm event announcements and dorm maintenance announcements to participate in dorm activities and prevent disruption in plans respectively, as well as physically check on living conditions of friends and other residents they may need to get in contact with.