Tasks

The table below outlines the tasks that we have developed for our personas. The predicted frequency with which each persona is expected to perform each task and the predicted importance of each task for each persona are listed according to each proposed topic area within the bulletin board. The decision was made to present the task analysis in tabular form in order for us to view how the personas differed in terms of their tasks as well as where the tasks overlapped between personas. In this way, we can easily distinguish the unique qualities of each persona compared to all other personas and the overall hypothesized frequency and importance of each task.

We envision that the personas would perform one or more of the following nine tasks:

• Sign-up- this would involve registering for access to the bulletin board and establishing a user name
• Log on to the system every time a user wants to visit the bulletin board
• Find new postings on the bulletin board for the topic areas of interest to the user
• Find non-specific information and postings via browsing
• Find specific postings that are known to the user
• Search for specific information in postings that are not known to the user
• Post to a specific topic for the first time
• Respond to a specific posting
• Read postings/other information on the bulletin board site

Key to Table

Specific terms were used to describe the predicted frequency and importance of the task for each persona as well as the topic area that we believe our personas would be interested in posting to and/or reading messages. Below is the key to the table entries:

Importance of Task
vital=the persona must perform this task
focal=the persona is expected to perform this task
optional=the persona may or not perform this task

Frequency with which the Persona Would Perform the Task
once=only one time
seldom=less than once a month
monthly
weekly
daily
always=every time the user uses the system
(limited)=for a limited span of time

Topic Area
alumni=Matters of specific interest to SIMS alumni
courses=Reviews of courses that the user has taken, might be interested in taking, etc.
events=Events hosted by/associated with SIMS
general=No specific topic, any topic
house=Housing wanted/housing offers
jobs=Jobs wanted/job offers
personal=Personal thoughts, feelings, ideas, self expression
tech=Technical computer tips, english translation of technical terms

 

	Cindy			Ed	Annie		Bosko	Meg
Sign up	vital once			vital once	vital once		vital once	vital once
Log on	vital always			vital always	vital always		vital always	vital always
Find:
New	house focal daily (limited)			tech focal weekly	house focal daily (limited)	jobs focal weekly	general focal weekly	alumni focal monthly	events focal monthly
Browse	events focal seldom			courses focal seldom	courses optional seldom
Specific	house focal daily (limited)			tech focal weekly	house focal daily (limited)
Search	courses focal seldom			tech focal weekly	tech focal monthly
Post:
New	house focal once	tech focal seldom	personal focal seldom	tech focal weekly	courses focal seldom	house focal once		jobs focal seldom	alumni focal seldom
Respond	house optional seldom			tech focal weekly	house optional seldom		general focal weekly
Read	focal always			focal always	focal always		focal always	focal always

 

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Last Modified: Feb-19-2001

Copyright 2001: Linda Duffy, Jean-Anne Fitzpatrick, Sonia Klemperer-Johnson, James Reffell