Technologies: semantic mark-up and XML

Who are your users (approx 15 minutes)

• Carefully read your ePortfolio project brief.
• As a group, brainstorm the potential users for your project (One of the group should be the recorder for this process)
• 
  Compare the list of users you have identified with list outlined in the Who Are the Users PowerPoint.
• Add to your list where necessary.
• Represent your users graphically (in powerpoint or similar)  using the primary, secondary and tertiary classification

Case study: IDEO (approx 20 minutes)

IDEO have developed a set of fifty one cards that their staff uses in design projects to find out about the people for whom their project is intended.

• Check out the four sample cards online
• IDEO’s cards have been organised into 4 areas:
  • Learn from the facts you gather
  • Look at what users do
  • Ask them to help
  • Try it for yourself
• 
  View some examples from Moggridge’s (2007) Designing Interactions
  • As you read these examples, think whether any of these would be appropriate to find out about your ePortfolio audience.
• Read about how they can be used in this Fast Company article
  • As you read this article, think whether any of the activities suggested would be appropriate to find out about your ePortfolio audience.

Research Process (approx 25 minutes)

Saffer (2006) notes that essentially the design research process has three phases: you go to them; you talk to them, you write stuff down. A couple more steps refines the efficiency of this approach.

• Jones & Marsden, (2006) suggest that the research process has the following steps:
  • Focus the study – they recommend 4 questions that are to do with: people. context, activities and technology
  • Find the people to study considering:
    • sampling techniques
    • recruiting participants
    • ethical issues ( what are you going to do with the information you collect?)
  • Choose a technique/s for finding out
  • Decide how the data will be collected?
  • Make sense of the data you have collected (analysis)
  • Decide what is the best way to communicate this data to relevant stakeholders in your team/client etc
• 
  Read the short extract from Jones and Marsden and/or similar information in your text. (View the PowerPoint
  
  summary for an overview)
• Identify the research process that you will use for the ePortfolio project
  • Write a set of focus questions to guide your study. (keep it short)
  • List the possible participants you can use for your finding out process.
  • Are there any ethical issues you will need to consider
  • How will cost and time impact on what you can do?
• Post your tentative plan on your blog for feedback – email your lecturer if you don’t have RSS installed.