Final Project: Proposal
Assigned: February 26th, 2008
Due: March 11th, 2008
Objective: In this assignment, you will propose a topic for your final project. You will motivate this topic by describing a set of potential users and scenarios describing how your system will be used. You will also describe how you will find prospective users who can test your system once it is ready.
What to do:
1) Finalize your project group. Ideally, this will be the same group of people that you have worked with on Assignments 1 and 2. Each group should have either 3 or 4 people.
2) Schedule a group meeting where you can finalize your problem statement. The project topic will consist of the sections outlined in the next bullets. Most of the tasks described below should be completed during one or two collaborative brainstorming sessions including the entire design team.
3) Define the user personas that you are aiming to satisfy. Each persona should be full-featured descriptions that can be used as a reference by the design team. Aim for about 3-5 personas, identifying 1 (or 2) of them as the primary focus of your efforts. (If your project focus has not changed, these can be the same as those you provided for Assignment 2.)
4) Based on the goals of your personas, define the user tasks that your interactive system will support. Tasks are specific sets of actions that will allow users to achieve their goals. These tasks should address a broad set of important user priorities. Using your personas as actors, depict how your system would be used to achieve each of these tasks. Be clear about the problem you are trying to address, as well as your proposed solution. These can be documented either as textual scenarios, graphical storyboards, or some combination of both. Remember that scenarios consist of an Actor, a Setting, a Goal and a sequence of Actions taken to achieve that goal. (Again, if your project focus has not changed, these can be the same as those you provided for Assignment 2.)
5) Brainstorm about how you will recruit participants for your final user study. Aim for testing your interface with between 5-15 users, covering each of your distinct persona classes.
6) Decide the core competencies of each group member (Interviewing, Observation, Design, Programming, Writing, Planning, Management, etc.). These will help you allocate responsibilities during future project stages. Remember - these are just rough guidelines. Ideally all project members will contribute to all aspects of the project from their own unique perspective.
What to turn in:
The preferred method of turn-in is to create a page for your final project on the course Wiki, allowing for linking to each stage of your submission. Create a dedicated page for your proposal, including each of the following components:
1) Cover sheet with the final composition of your project team (including a list of core competencies for each) and your chosen project focus. Note the time, duration and attendance of each brainstorming session [1/2 page].
2) A list of core user personas. Include pictures, demographic details, and any other details that you feel are necessary to make the persona come to life and serve as a useful resource for the design team [3-4 pages].
3) At least three (and preferably more) storyboards and/or scenario descriptions depicting the tasks that your proposed system will support. These can either be scanned in, or composed electronically. Liberal use of graphics is encouraged [3-4 pages].
4) Description of how you plan to recruit participants for your final user study [1/2 page].
The total length of your report should be less than 10 pages. Brevity, clarity and focus on the goals of the assignment will be rewarded. Illustrative graphics are welcome and encouraged!
E-mail a link to your group's project page to me (parikh@ischool) and Eun Kyoung (eunky@ischool) before class on Tuesday, March 11th.
Please contact the professor or the class TA using the course mailing list if you have any questions with this assignment.