GR2 - Designs

Scenario

Al Capone is working on a 6.006 p-set in the Stata Center. Since he is a relatively diligent student and keeps up with the readings, lecture, and recitations, Mr. Capone thinks it should be relatively easy to complete alone. As it turned out, this was not the case. The assignment focused on hashing and Al was not the greatest in this realm of Computer Science. His many attempts to design a hash function that would prevent collision did not yield favorable results; he needed help. Unfortunately all his friends were course 15 so he didn't know anyone that could assist him. Luckily Al remembered the useful mobile application called 3rd Down Play which was designed to connect people that found themselves in his current situation. He loaded up the application, typed in his name, the class he was working on, and where he was located then submitted the form making himself available for others to find him. Shortly after, Theseus sees the post and uses the notification system to inform Al that he will becoming to join the fight against the .006 p-set. The two meet up and progress is made.

Some hours later, the dynamic duo has made it to the final problem of the assignment. They are exhausted from the mental work out and can't seem to muddle through a solution. It seems necessary to get a fresh perspective so they delve back into 3rd Down Play for new party members. Since no one has responded to Al's posting since Theseus, they use the Find Others feature to acquire a new member. With this they find Guinevere who luckily is working on the same p-set and is nearby. The three of them get together and with their powers combined quickly complete what is left of their homework. With this p-set out of the way, Al indicates to the application that he has completed his work and removes his proposition for help.

Story Board Designs

Story Board 1

• Learnability -
  • Good Points
    • Very simple
    • All of the information was on screen
    • Transparent
  • Bad Points
    • GPS doesn't work well in buildings
    • Might not be clear to a user that they can tap and interact with the map
    • A user might not know MIT's campus
    • Not clear how to make yourself available for more than one class
• Efficiency - 
  • Good Points
    • Flow from page to page is straightforward
    • Your classes and recent places are saved
  • Bad Points
    •  Finding people using a map might be slow
• Safety - 
  • Good Points
    • The back button on android helps with navigation problems
  • Bad Points
    • If you accidentally decline an invite there is no going back
    • If you accidentally make yourself unavailable or your group unavailable it's annoying to re do everything

Story Board 2

• Learnability - 
  • Good Points
    • Current posts are clearly available on "My Info" page
    • Easy to go from screen to screen
  • Bad Points
    • The "My Class" selection box in unclear about how to use
    • It is unclear how a group can be made available
• Efficiency - 
  • Good Points
    • Making a post only requires navigation through 2 screens
    • Posts can be easily removed
    • Class selection is simple in the "Make Me Available" and "Find Others" pages
  • Bad Points
    • Changing location requires deleting then recreating the post
    • Choosing classes could be tedious in the "My Classes" selection box on teh "My Info" page
• Safety - 
  • Good Points
    • If the user chooses the wrong classes in the "My Classes" selection box, they can still select from the other classes at MIT when choosing a class on a different page
  • Bad Points
    • If a post is deleted by mistake it must be remade, there is no way to recover that specific instance
    • clicking the "Find Others" button from the "Make Me Available" page loses any data entered into the page

Story Board 3

• Learnability - 
  • Good Points
    • self-explanatory links
    • logical progression of pages
    • not much prior knowledge is necessary
    • clear separation of tasks
  • Bad Points
    • New user may have trouble finding correct classes
    • where notifications are stored for assignments isn't immediately clear
    • It isn't clear that clicking complete on a post is essentially deleting it
• Efficiency - 
  • Good Points
    • Users can easily navigate to the desired page
    • Info for assignment can be edited as progression is made
  • Bad Points
    • Adding someone to your group must be done by first finding someone using the app
• Safety - 
  • Good Points
    • accidental posts can be deleted by clicking the "complete" button
    • information about a post can be changed when necessary
  • Bad Points
    • Notifications can't be edited once they are sent
    • Notifications cannot be deleted after sending