Problem Statement
The SIMS student
organization, Simians, has a web site that provides information of interest
to SIMS students, but does not provide any ready mechanism for students
to add to this pool of information.
For instance, the
Simians web site includes a page of information about courses outside
of SIMS that may be of interest to SIMS students. However, this is a
static page listing a fixed set of courses, with comments from a set
of students at some fixed point in time; there is no way for current
students to add their own comments on these or other courses.
In contrast, information
frequently circulates through the SIMS community by email. Although
there are opt-in email lists covering different topics, there are occasional
threads of messages that do not relate to a specific pre-defined topic
and are circulated on the general list. Not all students are interested
in these threads, which can turn into heated arguments that clog the
email inboxes of unwilling "listeners". There is currently no appropriate
forum for such digital conversations. We intend to explore web-based
bulletin boards as a more appropriate forum.
Group Members
Linda Duffy:
Skills include
Java and HTML programming; experience in designing and maintaining
three separate web sites, two of which incorporated a bulletin board
component.
Role: Documentation
Manager
Jean-Anne Fitzpatrick:
Skills include
Java and Perl programming; several years of experience in software
testing and configuration management; background in technical communication
and human factors engineering.
Role: Group Manager
Sonia Klemperer-Johnson:
Skills include
Java and HTML programming; experience in needs assessment and survey
design and implementation; extensive experience with multiple methods
of data analysis.
Role: Design Manager
James Reffell:
Skills include
Java and HTML programming; experience in marketing, editing, and technical
support.
Role: Evaluation
Manager
Characteristics
and Goals of Primary Users
The primary users
of this system will be SIMS students; other anticipated users will be
prospective students and alumni. It can be assumed that this pool of
users will have basic computer skills. However, they may have widely
varying levels of experience with online discussion or bulletin board
applications. A subset of the users will be extremely technically sophisticated
and/or knowledgeable in user interface design, and will have extremely
high standards (and correspondingly little patience with sub-optimal
design).
Within the primary
user group, there will also be substantial variations in factors such
as age and English language proficiency. Consideration of students with
disabilities may also be a concern. The system will need to support
the variety of computer platforms and operating systems used by SIMS
students.
The central goal
of the system is to provide a forum for SIMS students to communicate
with other students. Within this, we anticipate several types of "conversations":
- In-depth discussions
- Adding to a pool
of information on a topic (similar to the "tips" email list)
- Announcements
For all of these
types, the user may want to initiate a new topic of conversation, as
well as converse on a predefined range of topics such as courses, jobs,
or the Simians organization.
Participants
Since the expected
primary users are our fellow students, we have ready access to a pool
of actual users. We intend to enlist the cooperation of the Simians
organization, as well as utilize our own networks of informal ties among
the student body. Of primary importance will be finding a pool of users
who are representative of the variation in SIMS students in key dimensions
such as system experience and English language proficiency.
Initial Plan for
Implementation
We plan to implement
a web interface to a bulletin-board style discussion group, which can
be integrated into the Simians web site. There are many existing web
sites of this type that can form the basis for a "competitive" analysis.
We anticipate that key issues may include avoiding an overly complex
interface, and ensuring good support for extended discussions. Thread
management and support for extended discussion will also be critical
issues.