Persona Description

Lindsay is an eighteen year old college freshman attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Born and raised in Syracuse New York, she is one of the eighteen percent who come to the university from out of state. When not attending school she lives with her mother and stepfather in New York. She also has a younger sister still attending high school in Syracuse whom she misses very much. She is currently living in the freshman dorms on south campus, in a suite with seven other girls. She appreciates the opportunities she has had to get to know her suite mates, but being the social butterfly that she is, she yearns to branch out and meet more people. Coming from out of state, Lindsay finds it hard to make new friends with native Carolinians who already have groups of friends that they have established in high school. She often feels like one on the outside looking in. In high school, Lindsay was very active in student life being the president of the student council, editor of the school newspaper, and co-captain of the cheerleading squad. In an attempt to meet new people, Lindsay has once again become active in student life by joining several student organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Masala, and the Campus Y. Through these organizations, Lindsay has gained many casual friends and acquaintances, but no many solid friends. With her Facebook profile quickly filling up, Lindsay hopes to turn many of these casual associates into more personal friends.

Goals: Lindsay is currently registered with the university as a political science major. In a year or so she hopes to enter the school of journalism and double major in that along with political science. Upon graduation, Lindsay hopes to start her career as a photo journalist and to one day work for National Geographic Magazine. Lindsay has taken several photography classes and invested in high quality camera equipment in preparation for her future career. She is diligently attending class and tackling her class work as she knows that the "J-school," as the kids call it, has an additional application process that one must complete during their sophomore year. Though she is fairly set on Political Science, Lindsay has just been made aware of the International Studies program by her academic advisor. The program appeals to Lindsay's interest in other cultures and may help her in her future career. She plans to take several classes in the curricula next fall.

Interests: Lindsay's first and foremost interest is in people. She enjoys seeing how people interact with their environment and how they operate within their society. Because of her interest in other cultures, Lindsay has joined Masala, the multi cultural student group on campus and is highly active in it. Her desire to help people has led her to join the community service groups Habitat for Humanity and the Campus Y. Lindsay is deeply gratified by her ability to help others. In addition to helping people, Lindsay enjoys several academic pursuits such as writing and learning new languages. At the moment, Lindsay is currently studying Spanish and Hindi at the university. In the future she hopes to learn several more. Lindsay is also quite the shutter bug, and frequently takes weekend trips to different locals to snap some pictures in an attempt to build up her portfolio. Having been a high school cheerleader, Lindsay puts great emphasis on physical fitness. She tries to hit the gym at least three times a week and is a regular at the pilates class given at the SRC. And of course, like most eighteen year old girls, Lindsay is interested in hanging out with her friends. She and her suitemates go out to dinner every Friday and frequently eat lunch together on campus. While she cherishes the time spent with her suitemates, Lindsay feels that she should meet more people in order to get the full "college experience."

Motivation: Lindsay is primarily motivated by three things; her family, her future career, and her friends. Lindsay has always been very close to her family and greatly desires to make them proud. She is the first female in her family to attend a four year university and wants to fulfill the high expectations that everyone has for her and to make her family proud. Another driving force behind her academic success is Lindsay's desire to become a photo journalist. She is aware that this is a small field with lots of competition so she must do everything she can to make herself a viable job candidate, including a tough, diverse class schedule and working on a photography portfolio in her spare time. It is a tough road, but Lindsay is up for the challenge. Lastly, Lindsay is highly motivated by her friends. She always seeks to meet new people. This is a largely why she has been so active in student life in high school and college. Being a cheerful and pleasant person, Lindsay has never had trouble making friends in the past. Now however, with the stress of adjusting to a new environment and from being so far away from the people and places that she knew, Lindsay is having some difficulty meeting new people at Carolina.


Brainstorming Ideas - Reasons for Acceptance and Rejection

iCompuGlobalHyperMegaNetster has thought of a comprehensive list of possible ideas that may be good to increase the programmability of the application we seek to deliver. Below is a list of the ideas along with the reason the group decided to accept or reject each one.

1.  A new web application could be designed from scratch to compete with Facebook, Friendster, MySpace, etc. with added functionality that would lead to dominance over these other services.  REJECTED

- This was too ambitious of a task and would likely not have been successful due to the established popularity of these sites.  Given our research, users have been satisfied with Facebook but have yet to take full advantage of some of its functionality.  It was decided that it would be more useful to add programmability to an already successful interface.

 

2.  Add a calendar feature to Facebook to replace the Events functionality currently in place.  ACCEPTED

- Users that were observed and interviewed expressed that they did not use the ability to schedule Events.  Since this was a little used feature, it was decided that the application has a need that needs to be filled.

 

3.  The calendar feature will be accessible through a user’s main profile page.  ACCEPTED

- Users expressed that one of the most used aspects of Facebook was looking at an individual’s main profile.  By placing a prominent link to the calendar in the profile, users will be inclined to use the programmability on a frequent basis.

 

4.  The link to a user’s calendar should be placed immediately under the picture of the user, right above the link to the photo album.  ACCEPTED

- Several users said that they use the photo album functionality quite frequently.  By placing the link to a user’s calendar right above the link to the album, it ensures that users will quickly become aware of this added programmability.

 

5.  The link to a user’s calendar should be placed as a separate heading within the main profile (along with hometown, interests, etc.).  REJECTED

-  This turned out to be a bad idea as the group decided that these lists tend to run over each other, making it difficult for each item to stand out.  Since the programmability will be new, it is imperative to make sure every user is aware of it.

 

6.  A user will have the ability to add an event, meeting, party, etc. on their calendar.  ACCEPTED

- This is a good idea since a user can just click on a time slot on their calendar and quickly be able to add what they will be doing during this time slot.

 

7.  A user can add a desired time block to an event, meeting, party, etc.  ACCEPTED

- This was quickly accepted as the user should have the programmability to specify how long each calendar item is scheduled to last.

 

8.  There should be the ability to add a title and description to each calendar item that is added.  ACCEPTED

-  This is a good idea as the calendar will have little use if a user is unable to know what each item refers to.  There should be an ability to set a title for each item and a brief description, such as location, etc.  This programmability will be similar to the calendar features available on Microsoft Outlook.

 

9.  The user can color code each item based on the type of event that it is.  ACCEPTED

- This is a good idea as it allows a user to be aware of different types of events.  A person can categorize their schedule based on how important or social an item may be.

 

10.  There should be a popup alarm that notifies a user before a calendar item is about to occur.  The amount of time before the event the alarm goes off can be specified by the user.  ACCEPTED

-  This is a good idea since it will remind users when they have something to do.  This will ensure that this programmability is a useful tool for users, as it will add to the organization of their lives.

 

11.  All users of the application will be able to view another user’s calendar.  ACCEPTED

- This programmability should be accessible to every user of the interface so that one can quickly see the availability of another.  However, there exists a need for security provisions.

 

12.  A user can specify privacy settings for viewing the calendar for each of their friends.  ACCEPTED

-  This is an integral part of the functionality to maintain the safety and privacy of users of the application.  Users that are not friends may still view the calendar, but only can see blocked out times.  A user will have the ability to grant varying levels of permission to each of their friends.  This will help users feel more safe about using the added programmability. 

 

13.  Only friends can look at another’s calendar.  REJECTED

- This idea was rejected because we found the calendar would be most useful if every user had at least limited access to viewing.  However, a user can restrict access to only friends.

 

14.  A user can send out an invitation for a common calendar item such as a meeting.  Users who receive the invitation will receive it via an email and can choose to accept or decline the invitation.  If a user accepts, the item will automatically be added to their calendar.  ACCEPTED

-  This is perhaps the programmability that most enhances the social networking capabilities of the calendar.  This gives users of the application the ability to schedule common items quickly amongst their friends.  This ensures all details of an event can be easily communicated to all parties. 

 

15.  Users who have accepted a common event may be able to post messages in the event description area, similar to how they are handled on the current “Wall” feature available on Facebook.  ACCEPTED

-  This is a good idea as it will allow people to post comments and opinions about a certain event before it occurs.  It will also allow users to notify each other about any special circumstances surrounding a scheduled event.  This feature is designed to operate similar to an internal listserv.

 

16.  Users can view what another user is currently doing via their main profile page.  ACCEPTED

-  This idea was accepted because we thought it would be useful to quickly check whether another user is busy.  The level of information provided will be consistent with that users privacy settings.

 

17.  The calendar will be displayed over the period of a day.  REJECTED

-  This idea is a bad idea as the time horizon is too short.  It was decided that a user would like to see more than a one day horizon at one point.  A one day calendar also would be difficult and time consuming to schedule future common events.

 

18.  The calendar will be displayed over the period of the current week.  ACCEPTED

-  This idea was accepted because it seems like a week is the longest amount of time one would likely want to see, without being too long.  A user will of course have the ability to go forwards or backwards between weeks.

Redesigned Product

iCompuGlobalHyperMegaNetster has decided to implement calendar programmability to the Facebook user interface. The functionality is designed to augment the social networking capabilities of the Facebook without infringing on the privacy of an individuals life. This will empower users to use the tool as a social life organizer to quickly connect people through an online environment into a physical one.

The calendar feature available will give a Facebook user the ability to add items to their calendar as they see fit. The calendar will be accessible through the main profile page through a hyperlink appearing directly below the picture of a user. There will also be a small display on the main profile page that describes the current status of that user. The profile will disappear and the calendar will load up in a similar fashion that the photo album functionality currently does. The calendar for the next seven days will appear with all of a user's items visible to another user. These items may be blocks of time that can be specified by the user. A person may also color code these events based on their type and importance. These events may include a short title and description so that other users are aware of what the item entitles. A user also can set a popup alarm to notify them when an event is approaching.

A likely hesitation many users will face when first adopting this new programmability is the idea of privacy. The application addresses this by allowing a user to specify differing privacy settings of each other user that may have access to view their calendar.

The most useful functionality provided by this calendar feature is the social networking potential it provides. Users will not only be able to view the calendars of their friends, but also be able to send out common event invitations. This will help in the coordination of the potentially very busy lives that a college student may live. Users can post comments for a common event before it occurs, allowing for discussion beforehand. This also serves an academic need, as groups can discuss ideas in an online forum without having the always meet in person. The calendar hopes to provide the programmability for users to safely coordinate their network of friends to achieve a potentially more rewarding and organized college life.


Scenario Description

Lindsay, in her unending quest to make new friends out of her loose acquaintances, decides to take matters into her own hands. She wants to hold a pizza party in her dorm room so she can spend some quality time with her new Facebook friends, and hopefully turn these friendships into full-fledged relationships. She decides the most convenient way to do this would be to invite people to the party on Friday afternoon at 5PM, because hey, what better time to have a pizza party than right when the weekend begins? Sadly, this plan poses two problems for Lindsay. First, several people can't make it to the designated time that she set the party because of previous engagements. In addition, no one particularly likes using the existing party invitation system built into Facebook. The result is that very few of her Facebook friends accept her invitation to the party and it seems like the plan has failed.

Lindsay hears about a new extension to the Facebook service which just might solve her problem. The new calendar-based service allows her to check the availability of several (or all) of her Facebook friends based on their personal schedules. Lindsay looks and finds that in actuality, all of her friends are available at 3PM on the Friday of the party. Lindsay then adds the event to her calendar and invites all her friends to it - which places a tentative spot on their calendar, pending their approval. Because it fits with all their schedules and the invitation is much more visible to these Facebook users, many of them accept.

The days go by and the party quickly approaches. Lindsay finds out on Thursday that she has to buy a new textbook for one of her Political Science classes and won't have enough money to pay for soda for the party. She wants to let everyone who is coming know that they will have to bring their own beverages, but doesn't want to go through the trouble of emailing all the party guests. Instead, she uses the comment feature for her event and lets everyone know that the party is now "BYOB," as they say. Everyone got the message and on the day of the party things went off without a hitch.


Storyboard Animation


Assignment Write-up

Programmable Define
At iCompuGlobalHyperMegaNetster we believe that any application or interface that we create has to be "more programmable." For our applications to benefit our users on a long-term basis, our application must be robust enough to handle the expectations and challenges of our users today, tomorrow, and ten years from now. Thus, we have structured our application such that we can easily reconfigure it as the demands of our users change.

We also strongly believe that programmability goes beyond the realm of the developer and also includes the user. Each user must be able to easily program the functionality of the application to specifically meet his or her needs, specifications, or requirements. Also, these specifications must be able to be changed at a moments notice if a user so chooses. Thus, no decision made by the user can be made permanent. The application itself should not limit the user but rather only the imagination of the users mind.

Programmability for web applications today is primarily based upon customization. Many current web applications, such as Google's Personalized Home Page, allow users to specify how they want a web application to work for them. With Google's Personalized Home Page users have the ability to customize their Google homepage with stuff that is only relevant to them. Also, the layout of the page can be altered, such that each user sees what they want to see where they want to see it. We have come to a point where the user, not the developer, decides how an application works for each individual user. With current web technology individual user customization is becoming increasing popular and even demanded. Users want applications to work they way they work and think.

Therefore, more programmability in a web application goes beyond just adding new features for the sake of adding features and includes the ability to customize the user experience such that each application meets the users needs and wants.

"Programmable Redesign"

On our current project, we are taking the widely popular college social-networking site Facebook.com and are adding to it collaboration, calendar, and scheduling capabilities. iCompuGlobalHyperMegaNetster has realized that users of Facebook enjoy the networking capabilities currently present on Facebook. Users like to have a means to collaborate with their friends, and some of this functionality can be seen on the current Facebook site with the 'My Events' and 'My Messages' features. However, through our research, we have found that users do not frequently use these features due to their lack of robustness and real purpose. The current functionality does not prove useful in the daily and hectic lives of most users.

iCompuGlobalHyperMegaNetster will redesign the Facebook website such that a robust calendar feature will be added. This calendar will allow users to not only keep track of their personal schedules but also the schedules of their friends as created by the Facebook network. This new feature, being web based, will be available anywhere the Facebook website is accessible, and will build upon the inherent strengths already within the Facebook application.

As for customization, this calendar feature will allow users to collaborate with their friends as well as schedule events. Each user will be able to enter their full schedule into the Facebook Calendar and make these events either private, only shown to a selected few, or public. Thus, if a user looks at the calendar of another, he will see all the events that his friend has made public with their full details, the events that his friend has set specifically for him to see, and any private event will be shown on the calendar as being 'Busy' with not further information. Thus, this feature will allow different levels of security, such that each user's calendar and events is not widely available to everyone. In addition, users will be able to search to see when their friends are available to meet. A user can search their friends to see when a specific group of people are all available. This feature utilizes the strengths of the Facebook social network. Once the search finds an available time, an email can be automatically sent out to each 'Friend' to either accept or reject the meeting time. Once the event is created, the calendar keeps track of all the people that are schedule to be at that event, and makes available an 'Event Page' that allows those specific users to collaborate about the details of that event.

Beyond these main features, the Facebook Calendar will contain all of the functionality present in robust calendars, such as the Microsoft Outlook Calendar. Users will be able to change the layout of their calendar, the color scheme, they way their notified, etc. If the application is proved to be successful and widely used, future revisions of it will include the ability to access a slimed down version of the Facebook Calendar from devices such as cell phones, PDAs, and other internet accessible devices.

Intended Population

iCompuGlobalHyperMegaNetster intended population consists of college students. College students are prone to have hectic schedules with taking classes that meet specific times, being part of many different organizations, going to different events/parties, and meeting with groups. Also, college students, by nature, are more accepting of new technology that has the potential of making their lives easier. As recent studies have verified and as posted in this interview with Facebook executives on TechCrunch, over 85% of college students use Facebook. iCompuGlobalHyperMegaNetster feels confident in partnering with Facebook and believing that we will successfully reach our intended population. The already strong college student base on Facebook will allow the full potential of our new application to be realized early on. As college students have welcomed each new feature added by the Facebook team, we believe they will welcome and appreciate the new functionality created by iCompuGlobalHyperMegaNetster team.

Population Redesign Effect

The redesign/enhancement created by iCompuGlobalHyperMegaNetster for the Facebook website will increase and simply collaboration between college students. For the first time, a collaboration application will be created with college students in mind, and meet the challenges that almost every college student faces.

For example, a group project is assigned in a class and group members are trying to figure out when are the best times to meet. Any group member can easily get on their Facebook Calendar, create a new event, add the group members, and conduct a search to see when each of them are first available. The date and time is found, an email is sent to each group member for their acceptance, that specific time is blocked off in each member's calendar, and an 'Event Page' is created to manage the details of the meeting and aid in collaboration. As we can see, very quickly and efficiently a meeting is set up and a place to collaborate is created.

In another example, a person wants to have a party at his or her apartment but doesn't know if this coming Friday or Saturday night would be better. Instead of calling the dozens of people that may come, the person simply gets on his or her Facebook Calendar. He or she does a search of all his friend's calendars for the specific date and time within a few seconds realizes that more people are available on Friday night then Saturday. He chooses Friday to have the party, sends out a message to all his friends, and an 'Event Page' is created listing all of the party information for each of his friends to see. Again, the Facebook Calendar takes care of all the hassle.

Overall, iCompuGlobalHyperMegaNetster feels that these features and functionality will allow college students to simply their lives, keep track of events, and provide a place for collaboration all utilizing the potential power of the widely popular social networking site Facebook.com.

Biases and Preconceptions

Our group consists of four Information Science majors from UNC-Chapel Hill. Being Information Science students we feel extremely comfortable with technology and the potential uses of it. However, this may not be the case for the entire college student population. We believe that if given the opportunity to make ones life easier to manage and efficient, that a person will willingly accept the idea and try to use it; however, that may not be the case. The redesign suggested by the iCompuGlobalHyperMegaNetster team is for a population that accepts and utilizes the power of the web and social networking. We believe that college students are this population based upon their overwhelmingly acceptance of Facebook. Our research has shown, as well as other more formal studies that a majority of college students login into Facebook daily and thus, we believe that these new calendar and collaboration features will be used on a daily basis. Again, each of these assumptions are based upon small user studies and come from a team that is very accepting of technology. Some people will always use their paper calendar and always use the phone to contact people; however, we believe that the majority of college students will accept and use this new functionality in Facebook.

Potential Limitations

The main limitations to the redesign suggested by the iCompuGlobalHyperMegaNetster team is the computer storage and processing power required to quickly and efficiently run this application and the network speed necessary to access this application on the web. Users will not use the Facebook Calendar if it is slow, whether this is caused by the user having a slow connection or the application itself taking a long time to process. Thus, for this application to work it must be very robust, process queries very fast, and be able to scale itself such that it is quickly available on any type of connection. Also, being that this application runs solely on the web, we are limited by the uptime of the website itself. If the website is down, users can't access their calendar, and then in the future will not fully use the service in fear that it may not be available when they need it. If this web application becomes critical in college student's lives, then we are going to have to provide a critical uptime of at least 99%, if not more. Each of these limitations is made even more challenging to achieve due to the relative costs of purchasing, implementing, and maintaining such an infrastructure over a long period of time.