HCI 432: User-Centered Interactive Web Development
Winter 2001
Group Project: The Proposal
Due Tuesday February 20
Overview
For the first phase of the group project, you propose a site that
you will design and prototype. Your proposal is revised in response
to simple user and task analyses.
Assignment goals
- Create a proposal for your site.
- Understand the role of user and task analyses in the design process.
- Perform discount user and task analyses.
Choosing your project
Your group project will involve creating a small interactive Web site.
You may choose and invent the service that this site offers, but its
targeted audience must include your classmates (so that they can serve
as test participants). Example services supported by your site
include a restaurant with a carryout service, a night club with
tickets sold online, and a travel agency offering packaged deals. The
size for a site of a successful project should range from a dozen to
two dozen pages.
Preliminary Description
Write a brief summary (about 1 paragraph) describing the services
you expect your site to provide.
Discount User and Task Analysis
You should perform simple user and task analyses. Rather than focus
on demographic characteristics of your users, think about the
different ways in which users will approach your site. Ask yourself
about their goals and whether they will know their goals before
approaching your site. Make a list of the different types of users
your site will have defined in terms of how they will interact with
your site. For the task analysis, make a list of the principal tasks
you expect your site to perform.
After creating a simple list of users and tasks, construct
questions for potential users that will confirm and elaborate on your
initial lists. With a set of half dozen to dozen questions, pose them
to yourself and then to others in the class. Take notes of their
answers.
Consolidate your notes and use them to refine your task and user
lists. Prioritize your lists by frequency and necessity. For at
least two kinds of frequent users and two kinds of important tasks,
create a grid that shows their interactions.
Summary
Create a summary statement describing your site and its services that
combines the principal findings of your analysis with your initial
statement describing your site.
Submission
Submit a document with the following:
- Overall description of site.
- Initial user and task lists.
- Revised user and task list, prioritized.
- Grid showing interaction of users and tasks.
- Summary statement.
- Appendix with questions and answers.
Grading
Full credit will be awarded to well-edited reports that document each
step and that focus on useful information for designing your site.