User research for interaction design Diary studies

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User research for interaction design
Diary studies

• Victor Kaptelinin
• vklinin_at_informatik.umu.se090-786 5927
• March 7, 2007

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Multitasking-- I

• How people interleave multiple tasks
• A week long study
• Complex, long-term projects are poorly supported
  by existing software systems
• Prospective memory failures
• A failure to remember the task that needs to be
  performed in the future
• PM requires remembering recall at the
  appropriate moment in time
• 11 users stock broker, comp. sci. teacher, web
  designer, salesman

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Multitasking-- II

• Task defined Participants were asked to define
  their tasks
• Parameters measured Time to task start,
  switching difficulty, documents included in task,
  what was forgotten, number of interruptions
• Types of tasks
• Returned-to tasks
• Implications for design
• project-specific reminders and document sets,
  GroupBar

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The role of media I

• Diary studies
• Participants are asked to record events as then
  happen
• Feedback studies (answering predefined questions)
• Elicitation studies (capturing media to use as
  prompts)
• Field studies vs. feedback studies (scalability,
  verification, distraction) elicitation as an
  alternative

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The role of media II

• Photo diary
• Consuming or producing information
• 811 participants
• pointers, presentation effect, staged photos
• Transit decisions study
• 4 students, 2 weeks, mobile phones, GPS
• Location information not useful
• Festival study
• 7 subjects, images, audio, artifacts
• Photos and audio (but not tangible objects) good
  at eliciting who and where information

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The role of media III

• Findings
• A need for situated annotation
• Media
• Images More specific recall
• Audio easier and more discreet
• Location information not very useful
• Tangible objects Prompts general discussions
• Pipeline
• Photo taking (p), annotating (p), logging (p),
  feedback (res), elicitation interview (pres)
• Reporter a tool