Evaluation of first paper protoype

Below are the results of the evaluation of my first paper prototype.

At the moment I am already evaluating a second prototype (which is adjusted according to these results).

The results of the second paper prototype will be posted at the end of this week/beginning of next week.

# persons: 5

Age: 20 to 22

# years studying in Leuven: 1 – 4 jaar

All persons followed different studies

3 persons had experience with multitouch of which 1 also with Android

Problems/suggestions (by test persons) while running scenario's

- Problem: not clear how to get a map starting from first screen

- Suggestion: a simple and quick way for switching between different maps (buildings, buddies, events)

- Suggestion: possibility for having favorite buildings, buddies and events

=> Possible adjustment: adding 'Maps'- and 'Favorites'-tabs to the menu

- Problem: target-icon not clear

- Suggestion: searching route with starting and end location

=> Possible adjustment: chaging target-icon to 'Locate me' and adding functionality for searching a route from some starting to end location

- Suggestion: coloring campuses with available PC rooms green, other campuses orange/red

- Suggestion: possibility to search for rooms other than PC rooms

=> Possible adjustment: adding coloring

General suggestion/remark: Use more colors in the paper prototype

General results:

Purpose of application clear?                                         8,5 / 10

Interaction with application clear?                                     8 / 10

Would you use application yourself?                              8,4 / 10

Does the application have an added value for students?     8 / 10

First paper prototype

Finally I was able to scan the first paper prototype of my application.
On the following figures you see from top to bottom, left to right:

• A scenario for searching for a certain building, displaying the route there from the user's current position, and checking in at the building
• A scenario for displaying some buddies on a map according to some filter options chosen by the user
• A scenario for searching for an available PC room
• A scenario for displaying some events on a map

New planning

In the presentation I suggested a new planning which was approved by the teachers and advisors, especially because I work in an iterative way, and not a waterfall kind of way.
I will try to keep me to this schedule as best as possible:

• 13/12 - 19/12: evaluation paper prototype iteration 1
• 20/12 - 26/12: paper protoype iteration 2 (with feedback of iteration 1)
• 02/01 - 03/02: exams
• 04/02 - 13/02: getting to know the development software I will work with
• 14/02 - 06/03: implementation iteration 1 (with hardcoded data)
• 07/03 - 13/03: evaluation iteration 1
• 14/03 - 20/03: adjusting iteration 1 (with evaluation feedback)
• 21/03 - 10/04: implementation iteration 2
• 11/04 - 24/04: evaluation iteration 2
• 25/04 - 08/05: final implementation (with evaluation feedback)
• 09/05 - ........: writing report + presentation

Christmas presentation

Last tuesday I had a presentation about the work I have done so far.
The slides of the presentation can be found here.

The feedback and comments and remarks I received from both teachers as other students were really helpfull.
I will explain them a bit more:

• One remark was that I did not explain why I had chosen for this kind of application.
  I will adress this issue by searching for papers that explain the problems that students face on campus, along with results that support the idea of creating this sort of applications, one that (partially) solves these problems.
• Also I need some more and better reasons why I chose for Android OS.
  That is why I will make a deeper comparison between the different mobile OS's in the next couple of weeks, and will make a final decision based on this comparison.
• They pointed out that I have to make sure that students keep using the check-in functionality, otherwise my application will lose a great part of its intended purpose.
  I will look for some kind of reward-system and look at how Foursquare and Waze solve this (both applications were suggested to me after the presentation, although I already have been using, and thereby know Foursquare)
• In my presentation I talked a bit about privacy concerns when integrating with Facebook.
  One solution for this is a so called social network path which limits the number of friends to 50.
• Because I want to display extra information about users (on buddy info page), I will probably have to keep profiles for every user. This will give me a very large database to deal with.
  So either I drop out some unnecessary or either I implement some profile page for every user.
• As a last remark one student said I could be an advantage to have the functionality where you cannot just check in at buildings and classrooms, but also send a request to some buddy to ask him where he is.
  I will consider this in the next couple of weeks, and see whether the persons wich test my paper prototype have the same remark.

Core functionality + planning

After the meeting with prof. Duval I was asked to think about what core functionality I would like to implement in my app, and to have a planning until the end of the year.

Core functionality:

• Display maps of campuses of KUL + google map of Leuven
• Search for buildings and classrooms on these campus maps
• Display or describe the path to buildings/classrooms from user's current position
• Managing a buddy list
• Searching for nearby buddies
• Check in at buildings/classrooms
• Display events from KUL or student associations
• Search for nearby events
• Display news from KUL or student associations
• Search for an available PC (by means of non-booked PC classroom)

Planning:

• December: paper protype (+ evaluation)
• February: implementation of first iteration (maps + buddy list)
• April: adding events, news, available PC functionality
• During entire year: literature study
• May: final report + presentation

Choosing a final direction

About a month ago I had a meeting with prof. Duval to show him my ideas.
This meeting was very interesting since I had some feedback on the ideas.
At the end of the meeting he asked me to make a choice:
Either I should concentrate on creating an app for use in the classroom (answering questions, polls, following presentations and marking or taking notes on slides, ...)
Or I should concentrate on an app for use around the campus (with maps, events, buddy list, ...)

After some thought I decided to go for the second one, because I think this idea lends itself more for use on a smartphone. It will probably make more use of the several features that a smartphone offers (e.g. GPS).
Answering questions, polls are things that are also possible an a simple mobile phone with text messaging.
And taking notes or markings on slides while following a presentation is maybe not the best idea to do on a smartphone, because of the small screen and small keyboard.
This could be done on an iPad, but I really wanted to stick with a smartphone, so I chose to go for the campus app idea.

In the meeting prof. Duval also pointed out some apps that where already available on this part.
iStanford
This is a mobile app for people at the Stanford University.
It can show a map, events, news, videos...
http://mobile.stanford.edu/
iPrinceton
This is a mobile app for people at the Princeton University.
It has much of the same features as iStanford.
http://mobile.princeton.edu/
iTU Delft
This is a mobile app for people at the Delft University of Technology.
It has less features than iStanford and iPrinceton but it has at least the ones interesting for me to look at.
http://www.e-learn.nl/2010/02/01/itu-delft-iphone-app-van-de-tu-delft

iStanford: list of some events at the university

 

iPrinceton: searching a building on the map

Since I would like to implement a buddy list, prof. Duval also advised me to install foursquare on my iPod Touch.
This app uses a check-in system where people can check in at places and manage a buddy list.
I used the app for some time, and I have to say I like the concept.
I will probably handle the buddy list in my app in a similar way (with the ability to check in at campus buildings...)
http://foursquare.com/

foursquare: a place nearby where the user can check in