COMPSCI 325, 3 Credits, Fall 2019

Project title: Designing a Human-centered Interactive Computational Technology

Description: 

Throughout the course, we will explore and apply different methods that are appropriate for designing and evaluating an interactive computational technology that closely meets human needs. Examples of potential technologies are mobile applications, online platform, interactive 2D interfaces, interactive 3D devices, and so on. Your team will choose a topic from the list provided below which will seed your project. You will identify a clear problem to be addressed (or potential design opportunity), and will then create a working prototype that meets their needs, which you will evaluate. Following the design thinking process, there are approximately 6 project milestones, as well as a final demo session to showcase your working prototypes. Meeting the project milestones is crucial in completing the project successfully. 

Team formation:  

The first step in the research project is to form a team. There is not a lot of time for this, so you will need to move fast. You are free to work with whomever you choose, but you should strive for as multi-disciplinary a team as possible. Your team will choose a project topic listed in the project description. Groups will be set up for each team in Piazza. Once your team is formed, you will need to complete a team contract and submit it to gradescope. The due dates for these steps are noted in deliverables on the Schedule page.

Project Topics: 

Potential design problems/opportunities/situations: 

Category: Study

1. An app dedicated to finding available study spaces throughout UMass – which floors of the libraries are less crowded and/or which classrooms are empty. 

2. An app that shows the number of computers available in the library or whether the resources (printers/scanners) are functional. 

3. An App to form and organize Study Groups. 

4. Tool for real-time student-teacher interaction during (office hours/scheduled). 

5. A tool for better future projection for UMass graduates dependant on their course selections and majors to guide new students. 

6. An app to help students study effectively.

Category: Traffic

1. Interactive campus map – with construction notifications, trash can locator, possible detours, and guidance to prevent getting lost inside the campus

2. Bus scheduling and deployment tool – Maintain real-time bus schedules, tracking, collect metrics to better predict congested times and deploy extra buses accordingly.

3. Campus congestion – Manage walkways between classes to reduce congestions

Category: Website and SPIRE Alternative

1. Better scholarship website allowing filters based on the student profile

2. Replacement for SPIRE that allows better navigation options

3. Centralize school websites – Most professors have to use multiple different websites for the same class because of their different features.

4. Tool for better class picker and schedule builder

5. Gym class signups rework (IMLeagues)

6. A tool for UHS appointment and waitlisting

Category: International and Out-of-State Students

1. Information for students: which store to go to for buying a specific item.

2. Information on non-academic activities such as banking, transportation, and housing.

3. A chat application with a discussion board

4. Anonymous emergency chat helpline

Category: Organization

1. A tool for organizing clubs

2. Campus event management app with student notifications 

3. Tool for organizing information for on-campus resources (food pantry, care closet, stonewall center, etc.)

4. A tool for planning trips

Category: Communication

1. Tools for students to communicate with teachers

2. Campus Watch: an app that allows people to report stuff around campus (such as fire drills, damaged utilities, etc.)

3. Deliberation on Campus Constructions: An app where students can vote/give their opinions on certain campus renovations/construction projects before they take place

4. An app for reliable services to find and review local musicians and bands

Category: Dining

1. Interactive dining commons app with a map that provides the exact location of food being served on the menu.

2. App for easy check-in/out to accurately keep track of the number of people currently in the dining hall.

3. Online ordering at Blue Wall to reduce waiting at lunchtime

Category: Miscellaneous

1. An app to use UCard as a digital ID.
2. A service (like craigslist) for loaning and renting.
3. Reduce energy waste in UMass – automatically turn off the lights or display possible power wastage areas.
4. Cross application photo organizer.
5. An app to track the number of people in the recreation center.

*Notes*

• some of these would be difficult to observe in situ
• some would involve participants who might be more difficult to access

Project Milestones: 

Please see course schedule for tentative dates for each milestone. A draft outline of what might be required for each of the milestones is given below. These will be refined and provided to you as you approach each milestone.

1. Empathize You will employ different data collection techniques (interview, observation, and questionnaire) to gather data around your chosen topic and will synthesize the ethnographic data and preliminary findings. You will need to transcribe the data, highlight the key findings, and submit them as part of the deliverable. 
2. Define In this stage, you will craft a meaningful and actionable problem statement or design focus through analyzing of the information gathered about user needs and context. In addition, you will develop a persona (or personas), which is a model of a user that focuses on the individual’s characteristics and goals when using an artifact. The personas should be based on thoughtful analysis of data you’ve collected through research you’ve completed with your participant groups.
3. Ideate You will develop a conceptual design of your potential interactive computational system, considering your participant group requirements. You need to submit a design requirement document with detailed description of a system to be developed. This stage provides source material for building prototypes and innovative solution to the problem. Ideation is about incorporating volume and variety in concept generation through visual representations. So you need to sketch some ideas that represent the interactive computational system visually.
4. Prototype Prototype creation requires an iterative process and can be created for the early exploration phase (low-fidelity artifact) or the final phase (high-fidelity artifact). At this stage, you will create a working prototype or prototypes (first iteration) of a computational technology according to your concept. The prototype(s) of your concept needs to detail how the concept will be experienced and used. The medium of the mock-up depends on the solution and may show an interface or a physical/tangible 3D mock-up. 
5. Test You will test your prototype(s) with participants who are representative of the group of people you are designing for. There will be relatively informal usability testing, after which you may improve and refine further the prototype, followed by more formal experimental design, running the experiment, and doing the analysis. You will need to write up the experiment report, which includes the analysis, discussion and conclusions. 

Submission: 

Details and templates are provided in individual milestone descriptions.