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CS 446 / CS452 Home Work #1

Due Oct 17, 2011

EK

Observing and Analyzing a Common User Interfaces

Observe two classmates using a basic cell phone in doing the following tasks: 1. a. b.
c. 2.

Receiving a phone call: Finding the phone when it was ringing. Finding the receive button and pressing it. Completing the call when it is over and how / where the phone is restored.

During the call, the caller asked for a phone number that is stored in the persons Address Book: a. b.
3. a. b.

How did the person(s) try to find the phone number? Was he able to find it? Ask your friends to set-up an alarm: How did the person(s) try to find the correct menus? If the menus were found, how did he entered the time. In storing a persons name and phone number: Assume each button has 3 letters (key #2 has abc, key #3 has def etc). The Menus needed to successfully enter the data. In sending a Text message: Entering the text Editing the texts

4. a. b. 5. a. b.

c. Entering the senders phone number (assuming that it was not in the address / phone book) Results, Analyses and Report
A.

Write down the key steps involved in all these tasks

B. inspect the interface and the interaction for anything that would pose a problem for the user in completing the task. C. Write a Report. You should focus on the human capabilities of the user such as perceptual abilities (or disabilities); cognitive or mental processing, including memory; and physical movements or responses. How does the physical device, the screen, the buttons, the interface, the flow of the actions, etc., support or fail to support the user in completing these "simple" tasks? Also, don't forget social considerations

like privacy, comfort, preferences, etc. These concepts should tie in with the lectures. Ask yourself questions like, Were the buttons too small (user's finger size was not considered appropriately by designer)? Was the display too hard to see for the older users, but no problem for the younger ones (design does not support what we know about aging vision)? Did the button-to-action mapping make sense (stimulus-response mappings, cognition issues)? How many times would it take to learn the steps required to complete a task (learning aspects of cognition)? How many steps were needed to complete each tasks. Could the steps be minimized? You are to write a brief report on your observations. In this report, include a clear description (aided by photos, perhaps) of the interface (and its location) you chose and the specific task you wanted to observe people performing. Then you are to summarize the observations you made of other people trying to use the object to perform that task. Finally, try to come up with some sort of story about what, if anything, about the design of this interface succeeded, and what failed. Here is a sample outline of the report you should prepare: Observational method Whom did you observe (what are the characteristics of that participant?), and how did you observe that person performing the selected task? Results of observation What were the results of your observations? Analysis What aspects of the task were easier/harder to complete? Why? How? Provide a theory supported by usability principles. Explain why you think the problem exists. If you observed few problems, discuss the design features that were particularly good and helped avoid problems. Compare your observations and conclusions to other everyday objects in terms of ease of use. For example, if button size was a problem on the device, on what other everyday objects is it also a problem? On what other devices could it be a problem, but is not? Recommendations Based or your observations, analyses and what you have learned from this class so far, make some recommendations to improve the interfaces.

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