Brainstorming Sessions

A few ideas outside of the navigational aspect of the aid.


In order to truly enhance the visitors experience more information has to be given to them. This could easily be done using augmented reality. People learn better by discovering. Taking this into account the system should adapt to the visitors needs while building their interest. The goal is to engage multiple types of users, below are some solutions.

• The application knows where the user is so videos of the people who would have been living in the houses could be available with the click of a button on the users smartphone.
• Digital information could be overlaid on the screen about objects/places
• 3D representations of objects/people could be viewed in their real setting, with information.
• An AR tour guide could be available to the visitor who guides them around the Folk Park.
• The map could lead the visitor through a trail based on choices the visitor makes..."I like the history of  farming/animals."
• Visitors could leave digital markers at any location in the Folk Park with notes, pictures, videos that can be accessed by anyone who visits the park or website. This will connect the Folk Park and the online experience.
• Using AR technology houses can be placed back in their original setting. The camera view the visitor can see where the house came from and the surrounding area. This has the potential to add a deeper understanding to the visitor.
• Puzzle/Quiz to solve as the user makes their way through the Folk Park. They would have to ask workers and search for answers around the park.

Basic Layout and Next Step

From my initial sketching I came up with an simple layout of how this interface could work. These concepts are early in my process as of yet. My idea is that users will have access to Camera, Map and List view with very little effort involved. From my early research the categories of Houses/Places, Events and Food are most important when navigating through the Folk Park. Using the scenarios I have an understanding of how a visitor might use the application. Below are three layout concepts that I will be testing with users shortly.

Image 1 - Visualisation of Place Category with info on a house. All the places can be seen as dots in the cross at the top right.

Image 2 - Place Category with option to group places in to 'same era' or 'same area'. Blue marker indicates user. Any of the orange markers can be chosen forinformation/location.

Image 3 - Visualisation of Events category in List view. There is a reminder feature here, and the option to sort the events by time or locations. By pressing the blue arrow users will be taken to a separate page with more information, and they can place the event in their reminders.

Where to from here?

This is the basic layout of the interface. It does not include the features that I am going to add to truly enhance the visitors experience. I am developing ways to make this application unique to Bunratty Folk Park. I want to help visitors who go the Folk Park through maps and easy to use timetables but also give them an extra connection to the attraction that they can engage in.

Areas that I am developing are connecting with:

• children's game(s) in AR
• videos of characters from the era overlapping in the camera view
• geocache games

There are other aspects of the Folk Park I am also trying to develop for the features including the baking that occurs in some houses, the animals that live in the park and the objects within the houses and the tools outside. I am currently sketching up ideas for how these will look. I am also continuously investigating how an Open Air Museum might benefit from AR technology and I hope to develop it further within this application.

Scenarios on Navigation

To help me on my way I have searched online, read papers and found two great books-Designing Interfaces by Jennifer Tidwell and The Inmates are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper.

Designing Interfaces gave me a great step in getting to know the user. The book does not go in to great detail on how to do this, but why. Getting to know the user, the user goals, a task analysis and design models like scenarios and prototypes are highlighted within the book. The designer should know how and why the user might use the software.

Gaining an understanding of the user is an important part of interface design. It is necessary to know what they are like, why they might use the software and how they might interact with it.

Each user will have a different level of knowledge about the software, so it is necessary to find a level that could be applicable to most users. Skills at similar software, language usage and attitudes toward the software should be investigated.

The book then goes in to patterns of interface design, which I will discuss more when I am prototyping.

The Inmates are Running the Asylum puts huge emphasis on the persona. Personas and their goals are the most effective tools for the designer. A persona should be constructed from the initial research and the interface should be designed for them. The goals of the persona should be laid out. The more specific a persona the more effective a design tool it is.

The scenario leads on from the persona and their goals. The scenario is how a person thinks and acts out their goals. These should be detailed from beginning to end.

Regarding the persona's skill level, 'perpetual intermediates' most users are neither beginners or expert but they are perpetual intermediates.  For many interactive systems there are beginners and experts. Many people move out of the beginner phase and into intermediate, some of these may move on to an expert level, but for the most part when a person finds a level of adequacy they generally stay there.

Using the information gathered from these books I have developed my own personas of users. The scenarios are a byproduct of the information I gathered from my initial work in Bunratty Folk Park. For these scenarios I am focusing on the navigation aspect. I will be moving on to more advanced features by the weekend. Below are five scenarios of use for the application purely as a navigational tool. Sketches will be developed with these scenarios in mind.

Navigation Usage Scenarios

Interim Report

Interim Report

Scenarios and Storyboards

OK, I'm getting my head around the coding and I'm back!

Brainstorming sessions began the week, and I put the finishing touches on a few scenarios that users might have. Over the weekend I mapped the software and did up some concepts on Photoshop. 

Scenarios

Scenarios are used to see if the features of the software will meet the goals of the user. They help the designer understand the user and the goals they have by looking at the UI from the users perspective. Scenarios help the designer focus on the design and away from the technical details.

To write an effective scenario the designer needs to understand the task supported by the system, and what is needed by the system. Scenarios allow the context of use to be explored. They can help anticipate how the system might be used, the users motivations, actions and reactions. Scenarios are important in the design process as all people involved in the final product can understand and give feedback on the system.

Considerations when writing one up:

• Scenarios should be based on prior knowledge or 'best guess'
• Simple language should be used
• Do not get distracted by technology
• Discuss all steps of interaction with the system

Important aspects of a scenarios from Mobile Interaction Design 

• Setting - introduction to the scenario
• Actors - persona/user
• Goals/Objectives - what the actor wants to do
• Actions/Events - detailed steps in achieving the goal

Scenarios are used to make sense of the field work that I have done. When writing up the scenarios I used information I gathered from interviews and observations. I developed the personas of tourists, families, couples, the interested visitors and the bored. From this I got a clearer picture of how the interface of a navigational aid should work and look to the user.

Storyboards

After scenario building I will be drawing up storyboards.

Storyboards should be used with the scenarios as a tool to visualise the interaction with a system. They help the designer and team how the system will be used in the in a real context, as described in The Value of Storyboards in the Product Design Process. Storyboards help the exploration of the system and to define requirements.

Scenarios and storyboards should be used together. In Form Feeds Function scenarios are described as the plot to a film, while the storyboard is the script. The storyboards can help develop the scenario and communicate the design more clearly.

From here I mapped out how I want the system to be structured (once I get my hands on a scanner I will put this up). The organisation of content within the application is especially important. The UI has to be organised and labelled in a manner the user will understand, and give the user information on what step to make next so they can complete their goal. The user should be eased in to the interface so they can complete their goals in a simple manner. One way to do this is begin an interface that has become familier to most users. Most users are used to and can learn interfaces that are similar quickly.

When designing the structure the type of application and its uses should be considered. The interface should match the Mental Model of the user. As the application will be on a smartphone I will have considered how well the user interacts with this device.

Next, I considered the applications physical structure and how I want all its features to appear to user and connect with each other. A huge emphasis has been placed on the navigation through the device, though I will need to do some prototype testing with others to gain a full knowledge on if the overall structure works.

Installing the Android SDK (Mac)

The instructions for installing the Android SDK are here, but I found these a bit difficult to understand. I don't have much experience with Terminal, and there were other bits, so I went investigating. This is how I did it step-by-step. They might come in handy for someone else out there.

Download Eclipse

Check out the system requirements first. Then download from:

http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/

Installing the Android SDK

Download the Android SDK for your computer - in my case mac and unzip.

Next, you want to add the location of the SDKs primary tools directory to your systems PATH. First you have to set up a .bash_profile. Open Terminal and type (leave out the '>' in all cases): 

>ls -a

ls lists information about files - Look for a .bash_profile in the home folder. If there isn't one there type:

>touch .bash_profile

touch changes file timestamps. It will create a blank file if there is one does not exist.

>open -e .bash_profile

This will open TextEdit. In TextEdit type:

>export PATH=${PATH}:*your_sdk_dir*/tools 

*your_skd_dir* is the full path to the Android SDK folder, make sure to remove the * * in the path). An easy way to find this is to select the tools folder in the SDK file and use the command cmd-i. 'where' will give you the full path to the SDK folder. For example, if the android folder is in the eclipse folder on your Desktop, it would be: 

export PATH=${PATH}:/Users/Sharon/Desktop/eclipse/android-sdk-_r04-mac/tools 

Save your TextEdit file and quit. 

Android plugin for Eclipse.

Instructions on how to install this Android Development Tools (ADT) is here. The ADT is a custom plugin designed for building Android applications.

Following the same instructions from the ADT installation page, you have to modify your preferences in Eclipse to point to the Android SDK directory that you just installed.

a. In Eclipse, select Eclipse > Preferences.

b. Select Android from the left panel.

c. For the SDK Location in the main panel, click Browse and locate the Android SDK directory that you downloaded.

d. Click Apply, then OK.

Setting up the Build Target Names

This next step will give you access to the Build Target names for new Android projects. In order to do this, you will have to finish the installation in Eclipse:

a. Select Window > Android SDK and AVD Manager.

b. Navigate to Available Packages in the left panel.

c. Select the box for https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/repository.xml in the main panel.

d. Next, Install Selected.

Android Emulator

Within the Android SDK and AVD Manager above or through the icon below in green, you can set up the Android Emulator.

a. Select Window > Android SDK and AVD Manager OR the device icon.

                                       

b. Select Virtual Devices from the left panel, then select New...

c. Fill in the information for your emulator, and Create AVD.

To test if this works select Start... from the Virtual Devices menu in the Android SDK and AVD Manager menu.

Or you can start it from Terminal by typing:

emulator -avd <avd_name>

where is the name that you have given your AVD. In this case:

emulator -avd my_avd

It can take a while to start up.

Finished! I hope these help any beginner to the Android developing scene.

Some useful links:

Index of the OS X Command line terminal.

The Google Groups for Android Beginners and Android Developers.

Time to Update!

I got my Interim Report finished well before exams. I did the annotated bibliography and moved on to what I have done so far in my FYP. This blog came in very handy for it! 

In it I discussed the methodology (empirical research and iterative design), and the overview of my completed work - benefits of mobile aids, the available platforms, designing for a mobile phone and my conclusions from my field work at Bunratty Folk Park. I discussed what I hoped to do in the future.

Then came exam time, and I focused on studying and getting on to Christmas holidays! Over the past few weeks I have been trying to get my head around setting up the Android Developer with Layar API and Wikitude API. The Android Developer's have a great community and tutorials. I would love to try and develop Layar or Wikitude for the iPhone, but Layar has recently been pulled from the App Store due to crashes. It is due to be re-released soon but I want to get in to developing as soon as possible. While the Wikitude iPhone community doesn't seem as strong as their Android community.