Lecture 8
●
Make sure you have your interview notes from
the interview exercise started in class on
Tuesday, September 9.
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
1
Outline
●
Finish PHP
●
Project Overview, CGI Prototype assignment
●
Briefly review contextual inquiry
●
Chapter 4 - Contextual analysis
–
Synthesizing work activity notes
–
Work activity affinity diagram (WAAD)
–
In-class exercise
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
2
Review: Contextual inquiry
●
●
●
Inquire into structure of users’ own work
practice
Learn about how people do work your system is
to be designed to support
Most general case, domain-complex systems
–
High technical content
–
Elaborate work flow and inter-role communication
–
Need to avoid risk
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
3
Introduction
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
4
Contextual analysis
●
●
Systematic analysis of contextual user work
activity data
–
Identification, sorting, organization, interpretation,
consolidation, and communication
–
For the purpose of understanding work context for
new system to be designed
Contextual analysis does not directly yield
either requirements or design
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
5
How to do contextual analysis
●
Identify work roles, user classes
●
Build initial flow model
●
Synthesize work activity notes
●
Consolidate data
●
●
Build work activity affinity diagram (WAAD) from
work activity notes
Communicate results to team via walkthroughs
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
6
Contextual analysis process
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
7
Flow model
●
A “big picture” diagram of work domain
–
Shows interconnections among components of
work domain
–
Work flow among components
–
Information flow among components
–
Components include key work roles and machine
roles (e.g., central database)
–
In essence, shows how things get done in domain,
how entities communicate
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
8
Sketch initial flow model
●
Draw nodes of diagram to represent work roles
–
●
Add additional labeled nodes for other entities
(e.g., a database)
–
●
Label nodes with work role names
Anything involved in flow of work practice
Add arcs indicating flow
–
Label with what flows (e.g., order information)
–
Include flow outside system and label with flow
channel (e.g., phone, email)
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
9
Example flow model for MUTTS
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
10
Starting analysis
●
Transcribe interview and observation recordings, if
used. Start with whole team session to get in sync
–
Review data
●
●
●
Break into groups with moderators
–
●
Each interviewer and note taker reviews notes with group
Retell stories, events
Refine flow model sketches. Synthesize work activity
notes
Get back in team session
–
Consolidate/merge flow models. Share, discuss, and
adjust work activity notes
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
11
Synthesizing work activity notes
●
●
IMPORTANT: Doing this well is key to rest of
contextual analysis
Tag each work activity note with source ID
–
●
●
Unique identifier of person observed or interviewed
Paraphrase and synthesize, instead of quoting
raw data verbatim
Make each work activity note a simple
declarative point
–
–
Not quote interviewer’s question plus user’s answer
Filter out all noise and fluff
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
12
Synthesizing work activity notes
●
Make each note
–
–
●
Each note should be brief (1-3 succinct
sentences and contain
–
–
●
Compact, concise
Easily read, understood at a glance
Just one concept, idea, or fact
Possibly with one rationale statement
Break a long work activity note into shorter
ones
–
Make each note complete and self-standing
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
13
Synthesizing work activity notes
●
●
●
Disambiguate pronouns, references to context
Refer to work roles rather than individual
people
Avoid repetition of same information in multiple
places
–
Do not include information from flow model in work
activity notes
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
14
Example: Work activity notes
for MUTTS
●
User (ticket buyer, id=u17) raw comment:
It is too difficult to get enough information about
events from a ticket seller at the ticket window. For
example, sometimes I want to see information
about popular events that are showing downtown
this week. I always get the feeling that there are
other good events that I can choose from but I just
do not know which ones are available and the ticket
seller usually is not willing or able to help much,
especially when the ticket window is busy.
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
15
Example: Work activity notes
for MUTTS
●
Break up raw comment:
It is too difficult to get enough information about events from
a ticket seller at the ticket window. For example, sometimes I
want to see information about popular events that are
showing downtown this week.
●
Synthesize work activity notes:
It is too difficult to get enough information about events from
a ticket seller at the ticket window.
I want to see information about current popular downtown
events.
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
16
Example: Work activity notes
for MUTTS
●
Break up raw comment:
I always get the feeling that there are other good events that
I can choose from but I just do not know which ones are
available and the ticket seller usually is not willing or able to
help much, especially when the ticket window is busy.
●
Synthesize work activity notes (with some
interpretation and further discussion):
I would like to be able to find my own events and not depend
on the ticket seller to do all the browsing and searching.
There are potential communication gaps because the ticket
seller does not always understand my needs.
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
17
Example: Work activity notes
for MUTTS
●
User (ticket buyer, id=u17) raw comment:
It is hard to judge just from information available at ticket
window whether an event has been well received by others.
●
Synthesize work activity notes (with some
interpretation and further discussion):
It would be nice to get reviews and other feedback from
people who have already seen the show.
[Design idea] Consider including capability for people to add
reviews and rate reviews. Question: Should this be located
at event venues rather than kiosk?
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
18
Organize work activity notes
as you go
●
●
Best to print work activity notes (e.g., on Postit™ stock)
Extend anticipated data bins to accommodate
emerging categories
–
Start putting work activity notes into corresponding
bins
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
19
The work activity affinity diagram
(WAAD)
●
●
●
A work activity affinity diagram is a way to sort
data into categories and sub-categories when
you don’t know in advance what the categories
will be
The data determine the categories, not
preconceived notions
In practice, it’s both
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
20
Prepare to construct WAAD
●
●
●
●
Need a big room with plenty of wall space
Tape up large “belt” of paper around walls of
room
Have in hand huge stack of work activity notes
Need enough team members to make it go fast,
but not so many to get bogged down in
discussion
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
21
Prepare to construct WAAD
●
●
Shuffle the work activity notes, for variety
Deal out dozen or two work activity notes to
each person
●
Allow time to read notes
●
Start slowly, working together
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
22
Getting started on the WAAD
●
●
Read note, discuss, post on work space
(butcher paper on wall)
If there is related note or notes already posted
–
Post this note next to it
–
The physical proximity represents affinity
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
23
Note clusters
●
Do not talk about implementation yet
●
Grow clusters of related work activity notes
–
●
Move notes to related affinity piles
Label cluster temporarily
–
Capture gestalt
–
So don’t have to re-read notes to know what cluster
is about
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
24
Example: MUTTS
●
Newly hatched
cluster with
temporary
topical label
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
25
Post more notes in clusters
●
●
●
As clusters start forming, team members can
look through notes in hand for ones that relate
Often effective to compartmentalize everything
by work role
Soon clusters will mature into real affinity
groups
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
26
Example: MUTTS
●
September 23, 2014
Topical label that has
grown in scope during
affinity diagram
building
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
27
Pick up the pace
●
After everyone gets it, speed it up, work in
parallel
–
●
Stay flexible
–
●
Ask for discussion when needed
Clusters move and morph
Set aside outlier or “maverick” notes in a corner
–
Don’t waste time on them
–
They might fall into place later
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
28
Democratic process
●
Anyone can post or move a label or note
–
●
Just have to discuss
Don’t get invested in data ownership
–
No note/cluster/group is “owned” by anyone
–
Everything is driven by team consensus
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
29
Managing groups
●
●
Don’t have huge note groups (4-5 to 12-15 is
normal)
Find ways to split large groups
–
●
Labels must have high descriptive power
–
●
Capture “meaning” of group concisely
Find groups that are related
–
●
Different sets of commonalities
Group together with higher-level label
Can color code levels of labels in hierarchy
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
30
Example: building group of groups
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
31
Example
●
Second-level
labels for groups
of groups shown
in pink
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
32
Walkthrough of WAAD
●
●
●
Consolidation and communication
Share appreciation of user work activities,
issues with all stakeholders
Explain your process in a nutshell
–
Goals
–
Garner more input
–
Discuss to unify WAAD and flow model
–
Achieve shared understanding of user work issues
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
33
Example: WAAD for MUTTS
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
34
In-class exercise:
Build a limited WAAD
●
●
Materials
–
Yellow Post-it™ notes for work activity notes, one
pad for each person
–
Purple Post-it™ notes for cluster labels, one pad for
each group
–
Sheets of paper
The sheets of paper will make up the
workspace. Work activity notes with affinity are
to be "posted" to the same sheet of paper.
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
35
In-class exercise:
Synthesize work activity notes
●
●
●
Use interview notes for smart fridge exercise
from last time.
The whole group (previous interviewers and
interviewees) works together as an analysis
team.
Review the raw contextual data. Each
interviewer and note taker should lead a quick
review of their data.
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
36
In-class exercise:
Synthesize work activity notes
●
●
Synthesize work activity notes per the process
described in the book and in lecture.
Write each work activity note directly onto a
(yellow) Post-it™ note.
–
Paraphrase and synthesize, instead of quoting raw
data verbatim.
Make each work activity note a simple declarative
point understood at a glance.. Each note should
contain just one concept, idea, or fact.
–
Disambiguate pronouns, references to context.
–
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
37
In-class exercise:
Build a limited WAAD
●
●
●
After you have your work activity notes, build a
limited work activity affinity diagram from the
work activity notes.
Start by each group member grabbing a few
work activity notes on Post-it™ notes.
Take turns introducing a work activity note to
the group, reading it and entertaining brief
discussion, if needed.
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
38
In-class exercise:
Build a limited WAAD
●
●
●
Then post the note on a sheet of paper
If there is a related note or notes already
posted, post this note next to it on the same
sheet of paper, so that the physical proximity
represents affinity.
In this way you will grow affinity clusters as you
work.
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
39
In-class exercise:
Build a limited WAAD
●
●
●
As the clusters become more well-formed, start
labeling them with temporary topic labels
(purple Post-it™ notes).
Use a cluster label (purple Post-it™ notes
again) to capture the gestalt of the cluster, so
no one has to read the notes again.
Everyone on the team looks through their notes
for others that relate to existing clusters.
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
40
In-class exercise:
Build a limited WAAD
●
●
●
As clusters expand, if their scope grows, modify
the cluster label accordingly.
Clusters graduate into real groups. When you
see groups that are related, create groups of
groups and label accordingly.
If there is time, we’ll have each group report to
the class about your WAAD-building process
and any difficulties.
September 23, 2014
CS 350 - Computer/Human Interaction
41