Introduction
The first prototype of the Geneboree collaborative annotation system took the form of a paper low-fidelity prototype. We consolidated the separate interaction flows of our three initial designs and distilled the best ideas into this first realized version of the system. While paper prototyping did not allow us to model actual collaboration between annotators, we were able to evaluate first impressions of the system in terms of understandability, comprehensiveness, flexibility, and intuitiveness.
The purpose of this experiment was to make an easily alterable prototype and test its usability with several real users. Not only did this process allow us to resolve remaining design issues, but we were also able to ask system-specific questions that our design attempts raised since we conducted our interviews. Presenting a prototype at such an early stage gave us the flexibility to make sweeping changes and test again. We were essentially testing our fundamental concepts and basic framework for this project before becoming too heavily invested in any one design and before worrying about implementation details.