Overview

You should be talking to people as a part of understanding your users and their tasks. In this writing assignment you will outline how you have already, or plan to, discussed your project with potential users and how example users will be involved in helping determine whether you have created something that they will want to (and enjoy) using. This is in part to help me now that you are designing and implementing your project in a good user and task centered way. This is also to allow me to review your assessment plans to look for human-subjects research issues.

Specifications

Label as section 1: If you have already spoken with potential/example users as part of your preparations, discuss who they were (generically, not by name) and how their comments have (or have not) guided you. If you have not yet spoken with potential/example users, explain why you didn't yet and how you have been investigating what they would want and/or making decisions about your creation in these early stages.

Label as section 2: Explain how you plan to involve potential/example users as you move forward on your design and implementation of your project. Discuss what types of people will be involved and where you would find them. Specify what you plan to tell them about the project when asking if they would mind helping you by talking with you. Consider the issues of research ethics and humans that might apply. (NOTE: One of your next assignments will be to provide some example task scenarios, as discussed in class and seen in the last two slides of User and Task Centered Design.)

Label as section 3: How do you plan to involve potential/example users when trying out what you create? What information will you provide them with? What types of questions will you ask them? How will you incorporate what you learn from them into your final project assessment in terms of knowing that you have created something others will want to (and enjoy) using. This is in part to help me now that you are designing and implementing your project in a good user and task centered way. This is also to allow me to review your assessment plans to look for human-subjects research issues. Please provide a draft of what you think your consent form will look like? (Please look at this example consent form.)

Deliverables

You will turn in your document as a PDF file via e-mail to me at egolubUMD@gmail.com by the above dates.