IS 213 -- User Interface Design & Development

ReadingTree: Scenarios

As we developed our scenarios and received feedback on the previous assignment, we refined our view of the personas and tasks. The most significant decision was to focus on Danny and Jenny as our primary personae. Please see the Revisions for more details.

DANNY (Caucasian boy, age 11)

Danny has an assignment to do a book report. The teacher says they can pick whatever book they want, and Danny's looking for something that won't be too hard to read (so he's interested if other kids included that information in their reviews), that won't make him feel dumb (so he'll want to pick something at or near his grade level), and that isn't lame (so he'll want to read the synopsis/ description to make sure he doesn't pick some kind of girly book).

1. Danny accesses the ReadingTree site from the libary computer (he does not log in as a registered user).
2. Danny browses the new and featured books for fifth graders and sees one that looks interesting--it's about soldiers in the Civil War.
3. He clicks on the title (or the cover image) and is brought immediately to a page that provides more information on the book.
4. He sees that the book averaged 4.5 out of 5 stars and that a lot of kids have written reviews.
5. Still he is concerned that it might be too difficult, so he clicks on book review from one kid and learns that there are lots of pictures and that it's pretty easy to read. The kid is in the third grade so Danny decides that this book will probably be OK for him.
6. Backing out to the main Book information page, Danny clicks on the Print button and receives a print-out of all the book information (including title, author, and Dewey Decimal number).
7. Danny brings the piece of paper to the librarian who shows him where on the shelf the book is located.

JENNY(Caucasian girl, age 10)

For Christmas, Jenny received a $50 Barnes & Noble gift certificate from her grandmother. She wants to be sure to pick out something "cool," but she doesn't have a specific book in mind. Jenny hopes that the book she chooses will be one her friends Sara and Brittany end up wanting to read too. Her mom is going to take her to the mall after dinner so Jenny decides to go to the ReadingTree website she used in school last week.

1. Jenny logs in to the system
2. She looks first at the list of books that are most popular with Reading Tree users in her grade ("Best Bets").
3. She rates the 4 books she's already read.
4. Then she looks at the information about books she hasn't read, especially the synopsis and other kid reviews.
5. If she doesn't see anything that seems "cool" enough, she asks for a list of personalized recommendations, by clicking on "Get Recommendations."
6. With this list, she doesn't bother to rate the books she's already read, focusing instead on the books that are new to her. Again she reads the book information and "what other kids thought."
7. After locating a few books that are interesting, highly rated, and well-reviewed, she prints out the recommendations.
8. One of the books has not been rated or reviewed but it seems like an interesting book and it's brand new, so she posts a message to the bulletin board [sends an e-mail?] and asks what other people think about the book.
9. Another kid (username "rockstar") replies almost immediately [not likely since the bulletin board is moderated--perhaps this is an e-mail exchange] to say that he has read the book and thinks it's that author's best work yet.
10. Jenny checks "rockstar's" bookshelf and, since he seems to have similar taste in books, she prints out the details about the book.
11. She also adds "rockstar" to her TreeHouse (an address book or hotlist of other user's bookshelves she plans to reference in the future).
12. Jenny logs out and sits down to dinner.

AYISHA (African-American girl, age 8)

Ayisha has just finished her book during quiet classroom reading time and there are still fifteen minutes left in class. There's a bookshelf full of second-grade books in the back of the classroom, but she's already read them all - some of them she even read last year or the year before! There's not quite enough time to go to the library and find another book, and her teacher doesn't usually let just one kid go alone. She asks if she can use the computer to find another book to read for next week (but also for tonight!) Mrs. Walsh says fine.

1. Ayisha logs in to ReadingTree.
2. She answers the weekly poll/question. This week it's 'What do you think of these animals as pets?' She thinks most are OK, but says My Favorite for 'dog' and YUCK for 'snake'.
3. Then she goes to her own bookshelf to see if there are any books she's forgotten about.
4. She sees the book she just finished and clicks the title to rate it.
5. Since she particularly enjoyed it, she writes a brief review of the book as well, something she doesn't normally do.
6. Then she goes back to her bookshelf and rates several more books that she's finished since the last time she was there. After she rates each one, she is given the choice to move the books to her Favorites section or remove them from her bookshelf--she decides to remove them.
7. Ayisha then clicks on the FIND BOOKS icon, which brings her to several search/browse options (author, title, subject, top ten, featured books)
8. She looks for another book by the same author she just finished, but there aren't any there.
9. She browses a little bit by subject, especially the "Best Bets" section, where she adds several more books to her bookshelf.
10. Then she asks for some personalized recommendations by clicking on the GET RECOMMENDATIONS icon.
11. Some of the books she's already read, so she rates them and asks for new recommendations, which look slightly different
12. She prints out the list to take to the library tomorrow
13. Ayisha logs out

JULIO (Filipino boy, age 7)

Julio's mom took him to a science museum last weekend, and now he's into electricity. Really into electricity. After scuffling around in socks and touching lamps and his baby sister for several hours, he went on their computer and looked for more information on electricity. He finds a few sources through the Yahooligans "Physical Sciences" links, but all of them seem to require Flash or special plug-ins and he gets frustrated with having to wait so long. He just wants to know how the electricity gets from the power plants to the wall socket. His mom promised to take him to the library, but he wants to make progress now!

1. Julio logs on to ReadingTree. His mom wrote down his username and password so he looks at the Post-It on the computer to remember what they are.
2. He clicks on the FIND BOOK icon, which brings him to the subject search page. He clicks again on the SCIENCE icon, which brings him to another browse page.
3. He clicks on Electricity and sees 5 book cover images, with more pages of results indicated at the bottom of the screen ("Next page").
4. Julio browses the titles and book covers of the electricity books.
5. He clicks on a few that seem promising, to see more about them. The "more info" pages sometimes have pictures from the book, and sometimes excerpts. Occasionally he asks his mom for help reading some of the words.
6. When he finds one he really likes, he adds it to his bookshelf. Then he returns to the search page to keep looking.
7. Finally when he feels that he's exhausted the books listed, he prints out his booklist and gives it to his mother to bring to the library tomorrow.
8. Julio logs off.
9. Then he scuffs over to the baby and gets a shock.