Prototype III

So far the proposed products are all made from existing technologies, however, our project outline does not mention such a restriction. We are not required to create this product, but only approach it in a HCI aspect and so using futuristic technologies could aid in designing a product that

benefits the end user most.

I propose a device that has scales in which the user places the food into, allowing an exact measurement to be taken. The packaging can be intact as i believe it to be negligable. This is a quick and easy way for the computer to measure how much of the food is going to be consumed in the meal - offering advice to whether you need such a big amount/small amount. Kitchen scales can be found in most homes and are very easy to use, so there is no new technology for the user to learn. However, being able to weight the food tells the computer nothing about the nutrition content of the food. This is where scanner comes into it.

The scanner will be able to detect exactly what is in the food, so it could be a home baked cake and an accurate measurement of what the cake contains can be extracted. This would then be able to calculate down to the carb/calorie what your intake should be. A bit out of the realm of science at the moment but such an invention would prove invaluable to such a device.

The information is then retrieved and processed in the digital display, whereby the user can view how much they have eaten that day and what they need to eat more/less of. The display has to be clear and easy to use, possibly with a touchscreen so no external devices are needed to navigate round it. This will save on space, but will mean that no skills needed to use a mouse/keyboard are required.

There are several other opportunities for addons that could be included. An example of such a thing, would be a handheld device which can be carried around on the person and used to scan what food is eaten throughout the day. The weight will have to be entered and not measured, however, most packages hold such information on them.

Another idea is for another scanner to be included which scans your skin and detects its current state. It is widely believed that your diet is reflected on your weight and skin condition. By being able to detect the hydration and other characteristics of your skin, the computer will be able to reajust your diet to ensure you stay healthy, or even suggest contacting a doctor if certain conditions can be detected.

This design may stretch our imaginations a tad too far, however, i think it brings several ideas to the table that we should take into consideration. Something to discuss in our next meeting.

Meeting 20th Feb

Due to unforeseen circumstances the meeting yesterday was cancelled as Simon was ill and some of the other group members hadn't quite finished their prototype ideas.
Tris, Dave And myself decided to have a mini meeting still looking at some of the aims of the meeting and tried to address them. The prototype could not be discussed in great detail as we felt it necessary to have all group members present as we felt that finalising the prototype would take ideas from everyone. The questionnaire also couldn't really be started as it is going to be based on decided for the final prototype.
Although we did get around to allocating a few different tasks for this week with Dave actually finalising the problem definition, Tris will be doing the questionnaire when we have discussed the different prototypes of our product. I decided that i will create a more defined task analysis to help our product solve the tasks at hand.
We will meet tomorrow to discuss the different prototype design so that we can press on with finalising the product.

Rough Prototype Stuff

I've just done some quick drawing the graphics package that I said to one or two of you about. The product I did here was quite simple but it should give you an idea of what can be done on it. So not sure but was thinking when we decide on a final design I could do a full 3D modal, all I would need is some rough measurements.

Prototypes I

Meeting / Reminders

Hi Everyone this is just a message to remind people that we are going to have a meeting tomorrow at 2pm. The aims of the meeting are entirely based on the prototypes that we are supposed to have done this week so REMEMBER TO DO THEM.
Aims of Meeting 20th Feb 2007:

• Run through prototypes - discuss ideas
• Finalise Prototype - Get a final design prototype based on the different ideas
• Talk about questionnaire
• Posting on blogs - more comments / regular posts
• Extend Personas / Design Ideas
• Product Research
• Problem Definition - What is it that our product is going to solve.
  

(feel free to add to list if there is something you which to discuss)
Also just a reminded mainly for Dave that HCI lecture is today at 5pm.

Task Analysis - Food Nutrition Device

Wikipedia Defines Task Analysis as:
Task analysis is the analysis or a breakdown of exactly how a task is accomplished, such as what sub-tasks are required. This information can then be used for many purposes, such as improving the design of tools or procedures that aid in performing the task. These tools can be either physical implements or software.

The task analysis below is based on the product definition formed earlier in the blog. It has feature that could possible be extended but take a look.

HCI Meeting - 13/02/07

Aims of Meeting - 13 Feb 07

• To all agree on final product idea.
• To define a set of 'broad' requirements for chosen product.
• To create a questionnaire based on our final product choice which helps define more specific requirements.
• A review of the personnas.

Meeting:
Following on from a previous meeting a few weeks ago about the different product ideas. It is required that we chose a final product quickly because of the time restrictions. It is also necessary to start prototyping our idea this week so will be added as a goal for next week.

Having been actively posting on the blog it was decided that we would rule out the Remote Security System and the Interactive Soap (see Product Decision). There was a little bit of discussion on the rest of the ideas with myself in favour of the Interactive Walking Guide and the majority of the group in favour of the Barcode Scanner Food Intake Device but, instead of making the Food Nutrition Device a barcode reader we decided to take a step back and allow for it to be any hardware so that we could come up with the better solution.

Now requirements needed to be defined for this product idea but, these have to be broad as we decided that a goal for next week was for each member to come up with a refined set of requirements in the form of a prototype. This would allow us to merge ideas to create the best possible solutions to the problems that are encountered based on the 'broad' requirements. We wrote the requirement on the whiteboard so that a picture could be taken (see Requirements for Designated Product)

Another one of our aims was to create a questionnaire but after a lengthy discussion it was unanimously decided that we wouldn't create a questionnaire just yet as we have a list of broad requirements which will be expanded by us. After the expansion with addition of different features we felt would the best time to ask questions and change aspects of our design based on the general user opinion.

Our final point was about the personas. We have decided to each edit the persona based on the post - Thinking About Personas by dave. We have all decided to go away and add more specific information to our personas.

For next weeks meeting:

• Create prototypes of Food Nutrition Device.

Requirements for Designated Product

We have chosen to design a product around the barcode nutrition idea posted by Shaun. We have, however, decided that we are going to broaden the idea to consider other types of inputs rather than restricting ourselves to a barcode scanner. By broadening our scope for the product we are hoping to be able to propose better solutions, refining them to our final choice in the later stages of this project.

Product Decision II

To follow the last post, as a group, we have come to a conclusion on the product we are designing as part of this module. We chose to implement the barcode scanner device because of the potential it could have as a project and for the target market. The elderly, no matter what their age are always careful with their health. A simple change in diet could extend their life by a number of years.

The Idea

As almost all foods have barcodes on them, this device would allow the user to scan the barcode of the food they are going to eat and it would tell them how much of their daily intake it would allow for. They could take the device to a supermarket too, or they could use it in the home. As the day or week progresses it would allow the user to know what is lacking from their diet and could also possibly make suggestions as to what else the user could eat to better balance their diet. The device could build up a database of either what they like, what they need or what they might like, and then could connect to either a catering company or a firm like tesco's to order the food from the database.

Requirements

We are planning a meeting soon, to broaden the requirements of the product. This way we can build a number of prototypes, each with different requirements, and see which direction the product could move in. For instance, we could rely on something else other than scanning the barcode for input.

Product Decision

We have come to a conclusion on the product which we want to develop. During the meeting, we discussed the pros and cons of each design idea and discussed the possibility's and potential each could bring to the project and also the target market.

Tris - I felt that the first design idea, the Interactive Walking Guide by GPS, could be aimed at a number of age groups, not just the retired 65+ people, and so I was not sure it was something I wanted to develop further especially as the project definition was to design something for either children or the elderly. The idea was sound, and it had a lot of potential to develop but the market was not concise.

The remote control and home security system was basically to collect all home device controls into one PDA style device, to let the elderly operate them easily. The only problem here was that the device didn't had any potential to develop. It was not very original and something like it may already exist.

The interactive soap was software orientated and i would rather develop a physical device than one developed on a screen.

The same is also true for the community website idea on the television, but it had more potential. It had the familiarity of the television and the concept was good but it was going to be hard to develop.

This leaves the barcode scanner intake device, which we will discuss in a following post.

Ben - Adding to what Tris said about the Interactive walking
Guide it is a product aimed at tackling the issue of keeping
the Elderly active, as the majority of Elderly peoples exercise
comes from walking (to and from local shops/ buses etc.). The functionality of the product could be such that it would allow
for bus stops and shops to be added as well as showing walks from the local area. Although i do agree with the fact that the scope of the product isn't age specific and could do equally as well with other age groups.

Having thought of the idea for the remote control security system my position on choosing it as a design idea has changed after some thought. There already exists systems (see links) maybe not controlled by a single device but agreeing with tris' point that there isn't much room for development.

Thinking About Personas

I haven't written my persona, but we are yet to decide on our product. For our personas to be successful, we need to set them relevant goals, skills and attitudes to in turn develop a relevant set of requirements.

From Cooper:

"Use the right goals
Each persona should have three or four important goals that help focus the design. Keep in mind that goals and tasks are different: tasks are not ends in themselves, but are merely things we do to accomplish goals. Not just any goals will do, though, so it's important to understand which types will help you make design decisions."

"... personas must be context-specific—they should be focused on the behaviors and goals related to the specific domain of a product."

It is important to make sure that we can identify these critical goals, and that we don't have these goals covered by multiple personas.

Persona - Harold Carter

Overview

Name: Harold Carter
Age: 66

Harold has only one son (Chris, 25), and two grand-daughters (Milly, 4) and (Claire, 2). Harold divorced his wife, seven years ago, because their relationship broke down and they went for days without speaking to each other despite living in the same house. He lives in a small rural town, on the edge of a commuting area for London. Harold has no physical disabilities, and is perfectly fit.

A Day in the Life

Harold usually gets up at around 8.30am, and has a nutritious breakfast, of orange juice and weetabix, while reading his favourite newspaper, the Times. His morning routine is usually clockwork and by 9.30am, he is ready to begin his day. Since he retired a year ago, Harold has found time for many sporting activities and likes to socialise and take part in community activities, daily. He is a trusted leader of the local neighbourhood watch scheme and very popular in his local community. Each day usually contains a different activity, ranging from golf, to tennis, and bowls. He also enjoys the odd game of poker with his pals fortnightly. He generally has a healthy lunch, usually consisting of salad, which means his dinner can be more substantial. On his nights off, he has a quiet night in and watches TV. He usually heads off to bed quite early, in preparation for the next day. He is visited weekly by his family on Sundays, the day Harold puts aside as a day of rest from his leisurely life.

Work Activities

Harold retired at the age of 65 having spent most of his working life as a carpenter for a local firm supplying building materials to different businesses. He believes real jobs involve manual labour and despises people earning millions from one good idea.

Household and Leisure Activities

Harold is a very keen tennis player and still plays tennis for his local club despite his age. The club arranges 50+ senior days where the courts are booked for members over a certain age, to act as a social community centre for the elderly. In between playing tennis, he enjoys playing golf with his pal (Grandpa Sully, 64) who is also a divorcee. Harold enjoys the banter during his golf games and has been known to wear slippers around the course which has angered the golf management at the club. Another one of his social pastimes is bowls, which he usually plays on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Harold is a keen bowler and has represented his county at national level. As well as the sporting activities, Harold enjoys other activities on a community level, attending weekly poker games arranged by a friend in his garage. Due to his heavy sporting regime and appearance at community meetings, Harold finds little time to watch TV and relax at home. He tries to spend as much time out the house as possible to make the most of his life. When he does have time off, he enjoys listening to the radio and watching Panorama. His views on the household are that it’s designed for rest and rest only.

Goals, Fears, and Aspirations

Harold’s aim since retiring is to make the most out of life while he is still fit, hence taking part in a range of sporting activities and his involvement within the community. He also wants to spend time with his family while he is still mobile. One of his prominent fears is becoming injured somehow, meaning his social life will never be the same again. He also fears for his son’s health who is a maniac while driving on the roads. Harold aspires to continue his sporting prowess, and represent the clubs for which he plays. He also aspires to live as long as he can, proving a healthy lifestyle is the key to living longer. He despises old people who spend their retired years in the pub, wasting their money.

Computer Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities

Harold is computer illiterate and struggles to use his home computer when he needs to, which was built by his son, a computer science graduate. Once he has mastered a device such as the video recorder, it provides no obstacles for him in the future. His main problem is that he usually struggles getting started with most devices. His knowledge on technology is ever growing as he enjoys cutting out newspaper articles for his son to read.

Demographic Attributes

Harold lives in a detached cottage, in a quiet town, and has plenty of garden space. The majority of other people in the area are also retired. There is a local train station which means access to the larger towns in the area is possible. The local bus service was decommissioned a couple of years ago, after the majority of people in the area use the train to travel.

Technology Attributes and Attitudes

Harold uses little technology in the home, but once he has mastered a device, he has no problems with it there after. He is neither a fan nor a hater of technology and believes technology should be embraced on certain levels.

Communicating

Harold usually contacts people by telephone, but in some cases such as friends who moved abroad, he is also fond of writing mail. He has yet to master e-mail, because he keeps forgetting his password for his e-mail account.

Quotes

“It’s the taking part that counts”

Persona III - Eilleen Stone

Name: Eileen Stone
Age: 99

Eileen Stone is a very opinionated, and optimistic person,although there have been setbacks in her life she has soldiered on which is probably one of the reasons she has reached the grand old age of 99. Eileen is disabled due to chronic arthritis and a fall about 15 years ago which left her needing both legs to be amputated.

Family

Eileen feels very luck as she is a mother of 3 children (with deceased husband Dick), grandmother of 6 children, and a great-grandmother of 2 children, she really enjoys it when her great-grandchildren visit.

Occupation

Retired at the age of 60 having spent most of her life working as an Author of childrens books. One of her biggest achievement in her working life was to get a contract from Bloomsbury at the age of 34. She wrote many successful novels under her publisher Bloomsbury.

Demographic Attributes

A retirement/nursing house in Devon.

Health

She is disabled thus is in a wheelchair people in the nursing/retirement home help her with day to day tasks. She also has chronic arthritis for which medication is taken. She is generally in good health for her age though.

Household and Leisure Activities

Due to her reliance on other people Eileen isn't as active as she would like to be but, her hobbies include knitting which she tends to do everyday, the clothing she knits tend to be given to family or to various charities. Eileen also likes her puzzles which she has done ever since she was a young girl with her grandmother. Although she is a retired author Eileen still find time to write (both letters and short story's for her great grandchildren).
Eileen loves going to church as she is a very religous lady and like to see friends who also go to the church. Eileen also enjoys and watching her favourite TV shows.

Goals, Fears, and Aspirations

As Eileen is retired now her goals in life have mainly already been achieved but, Eileen would like to continue to keep as active as she possible can and make the most out of the rest of her life by seeing her family. Eileen biggest fear of all is to have to be completely reliant on carers at the moment she has got used to the fact she needs help but if she was fully dependent on other people she would lose the will to live. Eileen aspires to continue her life and try to get out of the nursing home a bit more if possible.

Computer Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities

In Eileen words Technology and her go together like "chalk and cheese". She lose patience with a lot of new technology and find it hard to remember even the simpilist of modern technologies. Although Eileen has be taught how to use a VCR and now fully understands how to use it. Eileen doesn't care much about technology and doesn't have a lot of motivation to try and understand.

A Day in the Life of Eileen

As Eileen relies on carers to give her a helping hand she wakes up at a similar time everyday at 6:30 am. At about 9:30 am she goes to the living room where most of her friends in the home are having a morning coffee. Today the topic of conversion is pensions as some of them are going out to the local shops to withdraw money and have a browse of other shops. Eileen is going to the shops with some of the staff on the Ring & Ride service. After shopping Eileen watches some TV in the lounge including her favourite program Diagnostic Murder . Eileen will then have diner around 5:30 - 6 pm where on some Sundays her family join her and Eileen cooks a roast diner, which is her favourite. Eileen continues to watch programs on TV or listen to music until around 10 pm where she gets help to go to bed.

Persona II

NAME:

Raven Miur

AGE:

79

ORIGIN:

Jamaica, Kingston

CURRENT LOCATION:

North Yorkshire, Northallerton

HISTORY:

Lost her husband in 1957 in "JAMAICA'S WORST TRAIN CRASH". In 1960 she emergrated to UK - just before the restrictions were placed in 1962 - needed a new start

PERSONALITY:

Spends most her time cooking and watching day time tv and is consequently overweight. Only gets out to go to church , amazingly keeping her faith in the church after the loss of her husband. Raven is very patient with people but is also very lonely with only her two children visiting on sundays.

SKILLS:

Her english isn't great but she hasn't had much opportunity to improve it. Mrs Miur
is a very impressive cook, cooking for her two children and 3 granchildren every sunday(her best day of the week). Singing is one love that has never faded, she used to sing in a choir in Jamaica

ENVIRONMENT:

With having sold her business in Jamaica she has just enough to finish paying the mortgage but will need to improve finances within the next two years if she is able to carry on supporting herself.

GOALS:

Raven would like something new to fill her days, making the days pass quicker. Improving her english is also very important if she is to socialise. A dream of hers is to one day go home to Jamaica to visit husbands grave but its an expensive trip that she cannot afford. Raven would also like to carry on with her choir singing as nothing says praise the Lord like a hymn.

Problem Definition

Having looked at problems and opportunities for the elderly, we produced a series of ideas for potential products. We've chosen to go with the 'Barcode Scanner Food Intake Device', as a health and well being device, and this is the formal product definition.

Many of the elderly live alone and cook their own meals but may not be fulfilling their dietary requirements. Some of those may be at additional risk from diabetes or osteoporosis and it would be useful if they could somehow monitor their intake of food and identify deficiencies. The device will need to process input, information about food consumption, and produce output of some form for both the user and anyone else with interest - doctors or peers.

As a secondary problem, we believe some people have a monotonous diet and the device could suggest new meals and foods for the user - to both combat tedium and to provide dietary requirements.

Persona I

Name
Arthur Rawlings

Age
78

Family
Has been married to his wife, Joan, for 56 years. They have one son named John who moved to America over 7 years ago and has since got Samantha. John and Samantha have since had a son of their own called Luke who is now 4 years old.

Job
Arthur used to own "Rawling & Son Printing", which was originally started by his father. He has since sold his company and has now been retired for over 15 years.

Environment
Arthur and Joan live in Longdon, Gloustershire. They have a medium size house which was built in the 1930s and originally belonged to his father before he passed away. Their house is surrounded by large amounts of farmland and only has access by small country roads.

General Health
Arthur has generally good health and mobility but suffers from high blood pressure. He also requires glasses for reading and has an hearing aid as he has lost much of his ability to hear without it.

Interests
One of Arthur's most enjoyed leisure activities is fishing and he often does so about twice a week. Arthur also enjoys walking with his wife around the local area which is also beneficial for his blood pressure.

Goals
Arthur now hopes to enjoy the quite life with his wife. He also hopes to see his son and grandson more often.

Behaviour Patterns
Arthur has worked most of his life and now enjoys taking life slowly and enjoying it. He has a very strong sense of family which he has inherited from his father and would do anything for them.

View on Technology
Arthur perfers to have things simple which he believes technology rarely is. He is still confused by the microwave and can't understand why people use technology to complicate matters.

A Day in Arthur's Life
Arthur wakes up and joins his wife for breakfast. After breakfast he leaves to go fishing while his wife goes food shopping. Arthur returns home for lunch and he and his wife have a sandwich after which they go for an afternoon walk. On their walk they stop at their local pub for a drink and then return home. Arthur and Joan have a dinner in front of the tv watching Countdown. They clean up then continue to watch TV, mostly soaps and dramas which Joan enjoys. They usually go to bed at 10pm but tonight stay up till 11pm as their son John calls them from America.

Design Idea V

Barcode Scanner Food Intake Device

As almost all foods have barcodes on them, this device would allow the user to scan the barcode of the food they are going and would tell them how much of their daily intake it would allow for. As the day progresses it would allow the user to know what is lacking from their diet and could also possibly make suggestions as to what else the user could eat to better balance their diet. The product could store all the information so that doctors would be able to download the information at check ups to ensure their patients are eating healthly.

Design Idea IV

Many eldery people are very familiar with the use and controls of their tv, however, are less familiar with new technology such as home computers and the internet. My idea is to combine the familiarity of the tv with the new technology of the internet. Due to the complexity of the internet the tv will only allow limited use, however, if a specific domain is set up for such an idea, we can open the internet up to a new generation, or more accurately the older generations.

Each community will have independant sites, whereby the tv conrol with be used to either select a topic or navigate to the next screen. Within the sites the user is able to view what is happening within the community, local news and any articles that may be relevant. This will enable the older generations to find out about societies and other opportunities to venture out of their homes as well as any announcements that they would otherwise miss.

Another aspect of the technology would allow for the more advanced users to logon to the internet via their computer and personalise the sites - choosing what information they want to see more of -adding it to their homepage.

Although rather simple this could bring the advantages younger generations have from the internet to tv screens, pushing new technologies to the boundaries to incorporate a greater proportion of society.

Design Idea III

Interactive Soap

A large number of elderly people enjoying watching soaps which are shown on television. The idea is to make software which the elderly could easily use to interact with a soap type program. The soap would progress and at set intervals the person watching it could chose what would happen next or what decision someone in the program would make.

Design Idea II

Remote Security System

It is clear to see that these days people are living longer meaning that there are larger numbers of elderly people around today. Having brainstormed some "needs" of the elderly, security and their mobility became an area where a product could be developed. This product has a lot of scope it could be used to control many different items in the house from turning on the kettle to answering the door (through some kind of video feed and special lock).The device to control all of the different functions should be an easy to use PDA system or something similar. The assumption that will be made when designing this product is that the elderly doesn't really understand or have the patience to deal will complex technology, so the GUI will have to be very basic and allow them to access different function easily and quickly. The actual hardware must be easy to use and durable.