INFO I502 - Class Notes for 18 Mar 2008

INFO I502 - Class Notes for 18 Mar 2008
- Wadtke Article and Jeff's Article
  - Very practical
  - Straightforward
  - Try to weave the theory with the skills in an innovative way
  - Wadtke article evolves from Information Architecture (dated from late 1990s)
    - One of the reasons to understand theory/methodologies is to learn how to update them!
- Prototyping
  - Second Half of the semester will concentrate on basic skills of interaction design
    - Key is to learn and practice it in an invovative way
    - Mapping the theory to the skills is important
  - What is prototyping?
    - Way of giving a tangible form to an idea/concept
      - Well refined, well-researched ideas that you want to prove
      - Crap ideas that you want to test
      - Examples:
        Interfaces
        Experiences
        Concept Systems
        Conceptual Models or Frameworks
        The underlying logic
        Products
        Actions/Task Sequences
        Processes
    - Not just about the location of buttons
      - You also need to consider things like businesses processes, etc.
      - When you introduce a design into the world, you introduce changes into a system.
    - So, how do you prototype an ecosystem?
      - YOU DON'T PROTOTYPE ECOSYSTEM ... break things down!
        Know what you are asking & what you are not asking
    - Protoype a single aspect of your product/system, etc.
    - When you do a prototype, think about a part-to-whole relationship
      - You do lose quite a bit in not prototyping a whole
        However, understand that you need to develop skills to "fill-in" the missing pieces
        Triangulation
        Way to manage the problem of a prototype, not applying to a whole
        Comes from ethnography
        Professional observer who joins a community
        Prof. recognizes that joining a community will ...
        Change that community
        ... change the professional
        Looks for three independent streams of data
        Types of streams:
        Survey
        Observation
        Interview
        Among the three strams, look for patterns
        Reveals insights
    - Think about making prototypes like making maps
      - Include the most important aspects (e.g. roads)
      - Exclude nuasances, using your best judgements
    - Jeff's Big Points In Re: Prototyping
      - We need todistinguish between formulating vs. evaluating ideas
        Formulating - idea is probably not very good
        EXAMPLE: Sketches
        Evaluating - the idea is fairly well-researched and solid (you are almost there)
        EXAMPLE: User Testing
      - We need to distinguish between things, logic, and processes
      - Low Fidelity vs. High Fidelity Prototyping
        High
        EXAMPLE: Flash
        Not good for Formulating Ideas
        Low
        EXAMPLE: Sketches
        Good for Formulating ideas, but not for Evaluation
        There is no correlation between Low-, High-Technology Protoypes and Low-, High-Fidelity Prototypes
        If you show the user anything that looks like a final project
        Users will speak to superficial things (e.g. Colors)
        Clients will want the product finished faster
      - Prototyping is a SOCIAL activity
- Administrata
  - With CHI approaching, make sure to plan well to be able to finish Jeff's Project
- On Thursday, 20 Mar 2008
  - We will have an in-class activity dealing with Prototyping and IA using a Facebook video app case (see Oncourse)
    - Design must fit into Facebook's existing architecture
    - Deliverables
      - Describe Facebook architecture, as it exists today, with specific examples
      - Wireframe depicting the display of video surveys in Facebook
      - Storyboard for the process of sharing videos