Preparation for Final Presentation

In preparation for our final presentation, we began exploring our final scenario of use and how we wanted to showcase goPlay. We decided on a Flash presentation, and began looking for actors to walk through their goPlay experiences. After many hours of recording, our actors provided a lot of enthusiasm for goPlay, and we had a lot of work ahead of us to pull together our goPlay demo. We also wanted to explore platforms for using the service during the demo. We showed three different individuals each with their individual reasons for using goPlay, looking to play ultimate Frisbee. They each used a different access method for the service: mobile communication, desktop, and a Web TV interface. From here it was a lot of refinement for the final presentation in order to explain our process and our solution.

Evaluative Phase

After our paper prototyping we reevaluated each of the screens we had created and made a lot of changes throughout the process of using the system. We created higher-fidelity mockups of the screens for the presentation of our work during the evaluative phase. We explained our concepts further through a scenario about Stef and her first time setting up her account and joining a game, by using the goPlay system. We received a lot of great feedback about how to enable a richer experience, not just for people who are mobile. We were encouraged to design our service for a desktop as well. Additionally, we were encouraged to think more about other token devices, like the bracelet. In our earlier ideation process, we had been thinking about a ‘family of objects,’ so this is an area that we plan to explore at a greater depth.

Paper Prototyping & Think Aloud

After presenting our first scenario of use at the end of the generative phase, we began creating mockups of screens for our service. We went through several iterations initially, and then we wanted to get feedback from users about the setup process, how they would create a game, and how they would join a game. We had users think-aloud during the paper prototyping session, and we got a lot of feedback.

For the setup process we learned that it is important for users to be able to specify preferences about who they would like to play with for each individual activity. For example, people may be more competitive for tennis but only want to play ultimate Frisbee for fun. When we asked people to pick their activities, many went through the list and saw activities that they have never played before but were curious in trying them out. We found this very interesting that our service had the potential to help introduce people new activities that they otherwise wouldn’t think of trying. We also received good feedback about the ability to specify preferences for who you want to play with, either people were very particular about this, or they would play with anyone.

For creating or joining a game, we found how people wanted to explore the interactive map and how we could better display recommendations. The ability to see how active a person has been, and what sports they have played was ‘cool’ and informative. We also found language that needed to be clarified, places where we could have optional screens, and where the system needed to be more flexible for user’s needs. Overall, the sessions helped us better frame how we should approach the screen limitations of designing for a communication device.

Plan for the Generative Phase

There are many questions that we hope to answer through our generative phase research: What makes a location safe? What will make someone comfortable enough to participate? What types of accessories do people carry with them all the time? What types of information are people willing to communicate about themselves? How can we make an invitation that people will respond to?

To understand what safe and comfortable means, we will use photo diary and workbook methods. Participants will take pictures of their everyday outdoor environments that make them feel safe/unsafe, or comfortable/uncomfortable. They will also capture outdoor activities that interest them. As they take their pictures they will describe and reflect upon their environments and activities in the workbook. Using the pictures that the participants took, and a set of pictures and phrases we have gathered, we will have these same participants place these items on scales of safety and comfort as a collage method. We hope that discussion with the participant about their collage will help inform our design.

To help inform the design of the physical aspect of our product we want to understand accessories people carry with them all of the time. As participants participate in the workbook described above, they will draw the items that they were carrying or wearing at the moment when they took the picture.

To understand what types of information people are willing to give to others and what information is necessary for them to be willing to participate we will hold a series of sessions with four participants. Individuals will be presented with a scenario describing the kind and details of an activity. We will instruct them to convey whatever they think is necessary to encourage like-minded strangers to be comfortable with joining them to participate. They will be able to use any combination of the following: (1) a video recording of themselves via a small screen video device, (2) an audio recording of themselves, (3) a still photograph they take of themselves, and/or (4) written text. Their recordings will be shown to the other participants in turn to see if they would like to participate. We will ask them to think aloud during their decision process.

Stage 2 Summary

This stage began with the goal to ‘Inspire Participation Outdoors,’ with a particular focus on bringing people together in a park. We wanted to explore ways to help people utilize technology to get outside and partake in an activity either as an individual in a social environment or with a group. As we continued to brainstorm and began speaking with people, we realized that both now and in the future, people need balance in their lives. With the escalating pace of life, balance becomes increasingly more difficult. As ubiquitous technology becomes incorporated into every aspect of life, the question becomes how can people utilize technology to get away and be more active?

In order to answer this question, we first needed to understand how people currently are or are not active and the reasons why. We gathered a multitude of data from literature review, observations, artifact gathering, directed storytelling, and interviews. In order to understand all of the data, we created an affinity diagram that lead to a two-part model of our research findings. This helped us redefine our focus as Enabling Participatory Healthy Lifestyles.



We gave a presentation of our findings of stage 2:

Models of our Findings

To synthesize and display the data we gathered, we created a two step model. The before shows what currently is: there are barriers between potential for activity and actual participation. Our goal is to reduce some of these barriers and increase the amount of participation.
BEFORE		AFTER

Pick-up Games

To find out more about what is involved with playing people you do not know, we went to the gym and offered pizza to pick-up basketball players to invite them to talk with us. We asked them a serious of questions about what influenced them to play pick-up today, how they get to know other players, how they react to different skill levels, and about other challenges that they face. We talked to ten different people about their experiences. We found out a lot about the difficulties that some of these players had as this was their second time trying to play pick-up.

Research Synthesis

To get a shared understanding among the team of all of our interviews and directed storytelling sessions we wrote each idea that we gathered on post-its and created an affinity diagram. We were looking for patterns and design ideas.

Directed Storytelling/Interviews

We have scheduled and begun a series of directed storytelling/interview sessions with ten different people in order to get a better understanding of activities, motivations, and social interactions. They span a broad range including activity planners, pick-up game enthusiasts, social butterflies, and the less active.

Artifact Gathering and Observation

To gather data, we broke up into two groups and went to various locations including: Shenley Park, Phipps Conservatory, Oakland Library, Cathedral of Learning, Kiva Han, the University Center. We got a sense of the current activities, methods for communicating events, and motivations for individuals to get outside. We documented our observations of the types of people we saw, took pictures of interesting events and artifacts, and spoke to a few individuals. Even though it was a cloudy day, we ended up with a lot of data.

Refining our Focus

In the past couple days we have been using various methods including SET Factors and AEIOU in order to define a more narrow focus for the project. The result: using technology to inspire recreational activity in a social atmosphere outside of the home or workplace. We are also researching the 'spontaneous' aspect of activities. A few questions we are investigating: On a beautiful spring day how do people who want to participate in an activity find a group of people to participate with? What makes pick-up games work? How do people break down barriers when they join a new group? Our initial thought for a user base is young moderns in order to help them develop a healthy lifestyle early in life.

In order to approach this goal we are investigating why people are motivated to particpate in activites, barriers to participating in social activities, and the current methods that groups use to communicate and gather for an activity. We are researching these questions in a variety of contexts: with the social butterfly, the less active, and the regularly active.

Balance

We had a long brainstorming session today. As a result we were able to pinpoint the value that we are trying to address in the project: Balance. Our aim is to use technology to help people achieve a balance between physical and virtual aspects of their lives.

Stage 1 Territory Map

As our deliverable for Stage 1: project definition, we created a Territory Map to illustrate our understanding of the project so far. Our goal is to synthesize the concepts: 'outdoors', 'activity', and 'escape from an overwhelming amount of technology'. Our current understanding combines them in the idea of a 'Park'. We use the term 'Park' to express not only green spaces, but also outdoor locations that are 'Park-like' spaces. Our current focus is very broad, but this allows us to evaluate needs to make our end result a benefit to others.

The Project

For the course, Graduate Design Studio II, at Carnegie Mellon University, we have the opportunity to take part in the 2006 Microsoft Design Expo project. The topic we are exploring is 'The Gigabit Connection - opportunities and issues in a high bandwidth ubiquitous computing world.' As a group of five graduate students: three Interaction Design students, and two Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) students, we have an exciting semester ahead of us!