| CptS 443/580— Human-Computer Interaction |
Spring, 2007
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| Assigned: | 6 February 2007 |
| Due: | in class on March 20 or 22 |
| Covers: | Preece 6-9 and Norman 6-7 |
| Points possible: | Pass or Fail |
| Worth: | 3% of your design document grade |
| Last modified: | 4 February 2007 |
During the week after spring break (March 20 and 22), you will have the opportunity to obtain valuable feedback on design of your emerging low fidelity prototype through a prototype walkthrough. In a prototype walkthrough, you will pick a student in the class to use your prototoype to perform core tasks. You will act as "wizard of oz" by showing what your interface looks like in response to user actions. The class as a whole will be invited to critique and provide feedback on your design. Below, I outline concrete steps for preparing for your group's prototype walkthrough.
Develop a list of five core tasks that users will complete in the prototype walkthrough. You are required to motivate and ground your tasks by describing a representative scenario within which those tasks are to take place. For example, if you're designing a movie rental application, you might say "Imagine that you have just started your own video rental store, and you have installed new software to help you manage the store's rental library…". You must provide this list of tasks on a sheet of paper for your test user, who will read each task aloud before he/or she attempts it.
Make sure that you have fleshed out a low fidelity prototype (if possible, create your prototype using a computer-based tool such as Powerpoint; if this is not possible or practical, then you may use transparencies with screen sketches) that is capable of supporting the five tasks. If your prototype is computer-based, make sure that one of your group members has it ready to go on his or her laptop, and that the laptop has a VGA output, so that your prototype can be projected onto the screen.
At least one member of your group should be prepared to "Wizard of Oz" the interface as a class member interacts with it. The user will use his/her finger as a mouse, and you will need to react to the user's actions by putting up new screens.
Be prepared for plenty of feedback from the user and audience. At least
one member of your group should be prepared to take detailed notes.
There is no deliverable for this project, except for the actual in-class walkthrough, which is intended to provide you with beneficial feedback, so please take advantage of it. Remember that you are not prepared to do a walkthrough, your group will lose 3% of its design document score.