Georgette's Design Thesis

Phase 1 is in the books!

geodezinr — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 03:48:49 +0000

Yea – after about 30 yrs of contextual interviews and diary studies I have wrapped up the initial phase of my thesis project.

Now on to the design phase…in a hurry! I have 4 to 5 weeks to finish this thing and complete my presentation. UGH! oh, well I can sleep in 5 weeks!

So, I have started creating persona’s based on the research data. I have one family created and have 2 more I’d like to do…but is all that work worth it? Well I’ll be happy with the results I am sure. I also need to contact the families I observed and ask if they would be willing to test my designs a couple times…so much to do so little time. But at least it is moving forward.

First Interview Down

geodezinr — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 03:04:51 +0000

Today I had an interview with one of the moms from work. I had initially asked her to complete a family diary for my study but she had to back out because of a family emergency. Well our lunch conversation was a bit noisy but it was still a great conversation.

Most of the conversation centered on her teenage son who is not much of a communicator, he’s bright as all get out. When it comes to communicating he fulfills the obligatory I’m home text to dad but doesn’t text mom to much. This family is unique because they use technology more than most families.

Each family member has a Google calendar that is viewable by all family members, iPhones are their chosen mobile tool, the kids and dad do lots of online world of war craft together – what is very interesting about this family use of online games is they use a system of text-ed gestures they use during gaming, somewhat bridging the communication gap. , . Next step – transcribe the good parts and start coding. wish me luck!

Short update on the family diaries, I have one out that I should get back any day now, I chatted with the dad who I work with and he said everything is going smoothly and he only had one clarifying question. Not bad if I say so myself.

What I have accomplished thus far

geodezinr — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 00:27:35 +0000

Well, what do I have to show for 5 weeks of work…2 survey’s, 13 study families willing to let me invade their homes and 5 families completing a week long journal.

One of the survey’s was used to establish desirability of a family organizational system was published late last fall. The second survey looks into how connected families feel in different situations . Both surveys where used to generate further research participants with an opt in at the end of the survey.

The 18 families involved in additional research are divided into 8 contextual interviews, 3 lunch interviews, 5 family diaries, 1 extended ethnographic interview and 1 phone interview. However, these are not the first families I have discussed this project with and gotten feedback and guidance. I have been working on this project off and on since spring break of 2010 talking to anyone that would listen and offer feedback. That slow evolution may not be considered ideal but it did allow for the project to evolve nicely into a project that is interesting and exciting.

So, here I sit waiting for all the wonderful families to let me know when is a good time to invade their space. In the mean time I am using the knowledge I have gained over the last year to create a “Pre-Research” family persona. It is based on the undocumented research and is resulting in what I believe to be an archetypal family. I plan to compare/contrast this family to data based persona’s.

A lot has happened since my last update

geodezinr — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 00:04:52 +0000

Well, I completed developing the diaries then took a bit of a sabbatical. I really needed a break from school, it’s harder than you think to balance a family, a job and school and I had worn out. The break was over when I returned from #ixd11. It was a great trip, I learned a lot and met some of my design hero…Bill Verplank, Dick Buchanan and Alan Cooper. That was 5 weeks ago and a lot has developed.

One of my school peers pulled me out of the weeds of my thesis project and helped me realize that my project wasn’t just about creating a simple family organization system using future technology. It was developing a virtual social family network and needed to understand the architectural concepts of space and place. After diving into a great publication on creating virtual places I was ready to get going again with a new sense of direction.

User Diaries

geodezinr — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 21:33:01 +0000

I am starting to pull together the user diaries…initial pass is a bit shallow. Basic name, age, family demographics, photo diary. I’ve spent sometime today researching user diaries and haven’t found any examples yet.

Wondering if people are willing to blog online or would rather just do a conventional diary… an online diary would have be very simple and easy to use…..hummmmm. what to do, what to do.

Building a representation to explain the project

geodezinr — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:26:09 +0000

Last Friday I had a thesis research course where we get together and discuss our progress. My instructor pointed out that I was representing the project to user differently each time i presented the project. Which is true, the reason for this is that since i discovered this subject I have been in a cyclical design process.

I started with an idea, presented it to my adviser who had feedback and BANG the process began. Each and every time I talk about my thesis and get feedback the I go through the design cycle. It has been a divergent/convergent process of represent, evaluate and generate.

But, I think Micheal is right I need to nail down a tail of the beast so I can start to narrow down the scope. So, I started creating a representation that could stand on it’s own. Ugh, I am finding it labor some to document the many features of this beast. I probably should have conceived a smaller project for my thesis.

I went forward with this project intending the knock the socks off the UxD world. If this was my day job and a team project it would be. But, I struggle with balancing this with work and family.

Been to busy to update

geodezinr — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:07:14 +0000

So, I think I finally got this project off the ground.

Still trying to catch-up on some reading my professors have suggested. Maybe I’ll get it accomplished over the break…

On the positive side have a survey posted and I am gathering quantitative data and volunteers for observation. So far the data is not as overwhelming weighted toward my theory as I had hoped. But it is still in the right direction. There was an obvious lack of emotion and enthusiasm on the survey. I note when i get people talking they get quite anxious and excited.

Back to work.

geodezinr — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 20:35:28 +0000

The 1×1 i had with my committee members went well. Some had more direction than others but all in all they went well. I took a short pause in my thesis project to spend some time with my family. We created many wonderful halloween decorations for my son’s school carnival. Now that halloween is over I am back to it.

Next step, find users….I am reaching out to my family, friends, using social networks, craigs list and meetup to find users. Eventually I will find enough varying people to talk to and observe that I wont know what I was so worried about. Before I get to far down the that path I need to put together a simple business card and literature that I can give to people explaining my project.

I have been working on creating a simple statement that I can use with user that explains the project. “I am working on designing a system that will enable families to stay connected, communicate, and organize family life.” Not bad if I say so myself…. on to the next part creating diaries and questions for brainstorming/focus groups.

ok, on to the next step…. 1×1 meetings

geodezinr — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 00:51:55 +0000

well this is going slower than i had initially intended….mostly because I am trying to juggle to many things. My husband got a job where he is gone from 6a to 6:30p 6 days a week, so i am left as main child care, full time grad student, full time employee and not really doing any of them very well. Work literally blew up in my face last week, we had a very busy weekend chasing my son from soccer to a sleep over. All very lame excuses.

After the events at work last week i have determined that my 2nd order design thinking is unwanted by my current employer, so i had better get my crap together and get this thesis done.

On another note, i was totally excited when the latest week when the latest Bill Buxton interview. In the interview he declared that Surface technology will be used within the home within the next 3 years.

Waiting for feedback

geodezinr — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 03:13:33 +0000

After a bit of a break, I have finally wrapped up an initial draft my thesis proposal. I am not quite pleased with the methods section. I think it needs better definition of the generative methods and how data from the ethnographic methods will be analyzed.

I submitted the proposal to my committee chair, I expect some good feedback later this week. I really need to get moving. Next step, draft some people to do a brainstorming of potential features and start working on designing user diaries.