Final Design
The primary focus of our design was to create an application that allows parents and close friends to experience distant locations where there loved ones live or travel. Prioritising simplicity and intuitive understanding of the system's use, we designed layout that consists of one main active window and a side bar. This layout is externally consistent with Skype but differs in its priority to create an interface that allows to easily share and explore spatial locations using Google Earth.
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To start the system the user is asked to log in. We tried to keep the page as simple s possible. For returning users there is an autocomplete. |
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The new users are required to create a new Teleport account. |
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The implemented layout consists of a panel on the right that contains mode controls. Through our prototype testing we observed that the users were mostly drawn to the main window and found it difficult to access controls from the top bar. We, therefore, located all the necessary function buttons within the main window, mode controls on the right. It is only utilities that are located in the top bar.
Contacts panel: this panel allows one to make video calls, send e-mails, add contacts, see if contact request was accepted. To maximise efficiency we provided an option of searching by name. |
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Implementation
Map + Google Earth (Teleport)
Profile + Account Managenent
Location Based Sharing (Tweet/Post) + Feed
Backend Database + Webserver
Chat Server (Video, and Text both).
Backend for managing multiple sessions and connections
Infrastructure for Notifications.
Evaluation
Tasks
Set 1 (from perspective of a person making the call and sharing a location)
1. Accept an invitation to join Teleport and start the chat.
2. While chatting accept an invite to view a location.
3. Explore the location using provided controls and add a tweet.
Set 2 (from perspective of a person receiving a call and viewing a location)
1. Add a contact and on confirmation make a video call.
2. Share a location.
User summaries
User1
Course 4 Graduate
Age 26
Female
- Commented that having personal live video chart on the side bar and another person's video in the middle is very convenient.
- Said her Mom would really enjoyed Teleport.
- Overal found the system is intuitive to use.
User2
User3
User4
Discovered usability issues
Issues |
Users |
Possible improvement |
Could not post a tweet because
was not registered on twitter and did not wish to. |
User 1 |
Create independent data base for tweets. |
When navigating Google Earth, tried to use mouse
and did not figure out immediately to use keyboard
controls. |
User 1 |
Support mouse navigation alongside keyboard controls. |
Was confused when taken to teleport's navigation
window because did not know if the other person is still
in chat mode. |
User 1 |
Make it more obvious that person's live chat window moves
to the sidebar, when system's mode changes. |
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Reflection