Project Work
Question 3 Intro:
In my view, the project “maintaining awareness of the whereabouts of young active children”, being an interaction design project, has the best chance of success. Such project involves the use of tracking devices.
Such design problem was chosen as kids usually do not want their parents to know what they are up to. Furthermore, kids tend not to answer their phone straight away.
With this in mind, the project “maintaining awareness of the whereabouts of young active children” involves the use of tracking devices which are intended to give some peace of mind to anxious parents. Such devices can also be useful to parents and guardians who momentarily lose their child in a mall, park, fairs or other public places.
Having said that, children may decide to switch off the tracking device, in which case the system application will not be able to track their location.
Such tracking devices are usually in the form of a bracelet or and anklet fitted with GPS, WiFI, Bluetooth Low Energy, or Global System for Mobile Communication to be worn by children. The device is also coupled with an easy to use application that parents can download on their smartphone. The parent can sign in into an account available by the service provider to track children through diverse forms of notifications which can include receiving periodic notifications with the current location of the child. Additionally, a parent can create his or her region for locations where the child is expected to be in certain days or hours. As soon as the child enters an area beyond the parent’s region, an instant alert notification is sent so that proper actions is taken.
By way of example, malls tended to be very crowded places and hence it is in the interest of the parent to make sure that a tracking device is worn by the child before going shopping. This way, should the parent momentarily lose sight of his/her child in a mall because the former decides to run off, the parent should:
- get out his mobile device and access the app;
- locate the child through the app; and
- Once the parent is relieved and aware of the whereabouts of his child, he/she may put the mobile device away and carries on with the shopping.
Question 4: Planning your evaluation
Be sure to complete this question BEFORE you conduct your evaluation.
Plan the evaluation of the interactive product from your chosen. Note that this should include an observation. For each step, describe your plan and the reasoning behind it:
a. Focusing on the goals from Question 3, list the questions (at least three) that you need to address in the evaluation.
b. Choose and justify the approach and methods you will use in relation to the questions you are addressing.
c. Briefly describe what kind of data you plan to collect for the evaluation and how you will collect it.
d. Discuss any practical and ethical issues you might encounter, in relation to the users, the tasks you wish them to complete, the setting of the evaluation and any equipment you may need.
e. Provide a description of your prototype (including 3 to 5 pictures).
f. Provide the data collection scripts (e.g. questionnaire, interview guide, observation guide) that you will use for the evaluation.
Write between 600 and 900 words, excluding the data collection scripts.
Now carry out your evaluation.
Question 5: Report on your evaluation
Having conducted the evaluation, you planned (in Question 4), report on the findings and reflections related to the evaluation under the following headings:
a. Provide the completed anonymised data collection script (e.g. questionnaire answers, interview, observation notes) from at least one user.
b. Briefly state how you have analysed the data.
c. Discuss your key findings, focusing on usability defects and user experience problems, and give recommendations for improvement. Provide brief quotes or video descriptions where appropriate.
d. Reflect on what aspects of the evaluation worked well, what worked less well and what you would do differently.
Write between 300 and 500 words, excluding completed data collection scripts.
Sample Solution
