Element 1

Group work – Identifying Usability Goals:

As part of the study to determine the usability and justification of this portal, product and service, I have prepared a user profile and a persona for the intended user of the website http://triposo.com/

This application is an interactive city guide which can be accessed over a number of platforms to assist a number of users to access information of a travel nature.

My research has led me to choose the student tourist who has graduated from undergrad school and is taking a year out to travel the world.

Profile of users & Persona:

• Users of mobile and Wi-Fi platforms

• To access on the go

• Easy to access

• Quick access of processed information/Data

• Amount of info to access

• Accessibility on various platforms – Android, IPod, Blackberry

• Offline accessibility due to location and the ability to get phone or WI-FI coverage.

Target Audience:

My initial research led to choose the age group of 19yrs to 25yrs old, as this would be the average age of students who could leave home to travel long distances and have the discipline to be responsible. The gender would be unisex as this product isn’t geared to a particular sex but to both sexes. And the social demographic as stated are young adults, the ethnic back grounds would be in effect, Asian, European and afro – American / Caribbean:

Age: 19 - 25

Gender: Male / Female

Social –Demographic: Young adults.

Primary User Group:

The Herschel’s are the primary user group chosen to test run the application of this product: the Herschel’s are a group of 4 siblings, a set of twins 2 boys and 2 girls who have graduated from university and plan to spend the next year travelling the world.

As part of their interest in travelling the world, immersing themselves in new cultures, lifestyle’s and language’s, they would also like to visit land marks, historical sites, universities, libraries, YMCA’S , museums and shopping centres.

This product would need to address the issue of being able to get very accurate information on destinations to visit, maps and any basic information of the intended destination and its hotel grids but also of the amenities that any young travellers would need to be aware of.

This portal would need to house information of not only the historical locations but also of the local bus stations, the tourist infrastructure and what time the first and last train and bus operates, Bureau de change, location of the youth hostel and basic words of the language of that country. For instance, hello, and good bye…can you help me?

As well as addressing the need to provide information for its users, the website can also in the future provide some travel services not currently part of the features. The idea is that as the website expands its services it could add cab and hotel bookings through a link, also where there might be free WI-FI in every city they visit, information on internet café’s , stationery stores, a downloadable pocket guide to the city or country of their destination. Also the travel video shop and podcasts would be a valuable addition to its customers and this will introduce an opportunity to charge a small subscription fee.

The idea to make the portal more interactive by allowing the users to blog and enter featured itineraries would be a very welcomed tool for a generation of electronic and gadget driven demo graph.

This statement answers the question on what categories and features would be a good addition to the service….also by adding a feedback link a lot of promising ideas would be passed on from their users.

User Experience Goals

Definition:

User interface design or user interface engineering is the design of computers, appliances, machines, mobile communication devices, software applications, and websites with the focus on the user's experience and interaction.
To obtain information on this, there is a model which helps to determine a list of questions to be answered. These are listed below.

1. Easy to Learn how to use

2. Effective to use

3. Efficient to use

4. Safe to use

5. Easy to remember

The Herschel’s would want access to a country and city wide information at a touch of a screen, which would give them access to student travel information. It should also in retrospect include; (as part of a future design)

• Integrated GPS system

• Easy to access across all platforms….Laptop’s, Ipads, Android, Blackberry

• No cost to the user

• Can download with minimal or No network coverage.

• Visual stimulus – pictures, video, voice

Tasks to Carry Out Identification, Evaluation and Usability experience:

As with many products or services the users are the key elements that determine if the whole project has ascertained fit for use and suitability, the decision to obtain indication to determine this was to conduct a user testing seminar and a survey group. These two processes allowed for us to address key deficiencies in the product but also to get idea of what features could be included and added for the future.

Usability Testing:

This technique was used to evaluate the www.Triposo.com app by our chosen demographic (undergraduate students). This gave us direct input on how the real users would interact with the system and how it could be of benefit by measuring the content, the context, the access, the suitability, how it interfaces with the chosen platforms and the human –computer interaction.

Our research led us to address the methodology of testing the efficiency, accuracy, recall and emotional response.

User Survey on the chosen user goals:

This process was to sample a portion of the population of actual users of triposo , this was to determine what other types of users would use this product, feedback on improving the delivery and expanding the platform’s on which it could be accessed, i.e. blackberry, customizing it to individual users, advertising, registration and access to support services.

Electronic Focus Groups:

This processed allows for emails to be sent out as survey templates to obtain feedback.

Purposed Changes & Additions to the Product:

The results and feedback of the surveys and user testing led us to these conclusions, which we feel would add some value to the product

1. Bookmark page of recent travels and visits, stores all that information on the medium

2. GPS system to give most accurate direction down to a square foot and family can log into their travel itinerary and check to see their locations.

3. More visuals, videos and pictures of the different location and monuments to include maps of exhibits and library book location.

4. A feature where family and friends can log into the system with an approved email or pin to check if their loved ones have arrived at their destination and where their last location was in the event there hasn’t been any contact.

5. A feature that would email friends and family after they arrive at a new country or city.

6. Weather forecast portal.

These suggestions were obtained from the user surveys and user goal testing results which have been used in constructing the use cases.

During the brain storming session a number of key attributes were discovered to set this site apart from the rest of the travel sites. The recently added GPS system and opportunity to expand its features, the idea of accessing the site features offline is a good idea and video shop which would allow users to upload videos on return of the best locations to visit and Triposo can edit it and broadcast them, the best one winning a prize, this will make it more interactive.