My part in the last moments of the final report was quite small in comparison to the other reports that we made - I had to write about the challenges that we encountered in the process of making our website, the successful and unsuccessful aspects of the website and any implementations that we couldn’t actually input to the final website.
For the challenges portion of our report, I wrote about the difficulty the group faced when we were trying to align the dates from Trove to dates that the user had entered. This was an issue that was resolved in the final moments of the semester; showing it was quite an adversary in comparison to the other parts of the website.
For the successful portions of the website, I wrote about the aforementioned date alignment, the location filter and the mapping on Google Maps - all of which were successful aspects of our website. However, I also had to write about the unsuccessful aspects as well - in which I discussed the major issues with NearMe. One of these was the fact that Trove would grab events from outside of Australia if the location was outside as well. This became a problem; for example, there are two cities named Ipswich - One in Europe, the other in Australia.
In regards to the unsuccessful implementations, there were quite a few that we couldn't implement successfully - this was due to complexity and/or time constraints. One of these was the fact that we didn't use a timeline to alter the date filter, like originally planned - instead we had to use the text boxes to allow user input for this filter. Another implementation that couldn't be successfully finished was the fact that Trove could not separate actual major events from minor happenings. This resulted in Trove displaying things like 'Local Shop has had a break-in' and this is something that unfortunately could not be fixed for the final website.
Monday, 9 November 2015
Week 11 - Digital Prototype and Test
The Digital Prototyping Session was one that allowed us to see what our peers thought of our website, NearMe. Overall, the results were positive than negative - and even then, the 'negative' results are based around problems that are extremely easy to fix. The results of the survey (with the questions asked in it) can be found at this link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Nlep2HlCf6Vk0CeUqZKXetoC0yKpnbq2ZI-pZ53NO6o/edit?usp=sharing
Overall, it was fairly nerve-wracking, seeing my peers review our website, as from what I had seen, several groups had produced work of an immensely high quality - and appeared much more professional than ours. However these worries were essentially removed after talking to some of our peers in the discussion. There was a large amount of people who agreed with our choice of making the website work, before making it look aesthetically pleasing.
Next week will have the conclusion of the final report, in which I will be covering what my part was in the report.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Nlep2HlCf6Vk0CeUqZKXetoC0yKpnbq2ZI-pZ53NO6o/edit?usp=sharing
Overall, it was fairly nerve-wracking, seeing my peers review our website, as from what I had seen, several groups had produced work of an immensely high quality - and appeared much more professional than ours. However these worries were essentially removed after talking to some of our peers in the discussion. There was a large amount of people who agreed with our choice of making the website work, before making it look aesthetically pleasing.
Next week will have the conclusion of the final report, in which I will be covering what my part was in the report.
Wednesday, 4 November 2015
Week 10 - The Date Filter and the Splash Screen
Team Hermes finally made the breakthrough that resulted in the resolving of a persistent and difficult error that had been a thorn in our side for a very long time. The date filter that the team wanted to implement was for a long time unsuccessful as any attempt to make the filter work would result in search results being completely different from what was searched or the filter not running at all.
However, a solution was finally found by researching and looking at past examples. By re-working old code that was essentially designed to do what we needed to do, the search function finally became fully operational with both location and date being used as filters to narrow down events. While there still are a number of bugs in the system (for example, Trove grabbing international events), this was still a huge step forward.
Furthermore, NearMe has had a visual update added on: the Splash Screen. Team Hermes felt that simply presenting the user with the main screen would be quite disorienting. Thus, they will be presented with this:
This screen will hopefully provide them with some clarity about NearMe and not confuse them immediately.
However, a solution was finally found by researching and looking at past examples. By re-working old code that was essentially designed to do what we needed to do, the search function finally became fully operational with both location and date being used as filters to narrow down events. While there still are a number of bugs in the system (for example, Trove grabbing international events), this was still a huge step forward.
Furthermore, NearMe has had a visual update added on: the Splash Screen. Team Hermes felt that simply presenting the user with the main screen would be quite disorienting. Thus, they will be presented with this:
Week 9 - Work Report for NearMe and the Progress Demonstration
This week was filled with deadlines for NearMe - firstly, the team needed to make sure the website had reached a standard fit for presentation. Secondly, the group needed to finish the progress report - one which would outline everything the website was capable of, what we were planning to add/remove and any major changes made to our website. Thirdly, the group needed to prepare a presentation which would essentially put our report into our progress report into a demonstration.
There wasn't really anything major we needed to do for the website; the core website had been done - however, there were still gimmicks with the date filter. Despite this, we reasoned that the website could still perform a standard search which, after all, was all the presentation needed to do. We added the basic CSS which would become the skeleton of our final product and continued to work on the report as that was a higher priority at the time.
Unlike the previous documentation, the whole group was unable to collaborate on the progress report, due to the presentation and the website itself needing attention. Thus, the team split up and left two members to complete the progress report while the other two attended the website and the presentation respectively. Overall, the report was well structured and answered all the questions the rubric had outlined - which left the team satisfied at its quality.
In regards to the presentation, the team actually prepared an adequate speech for the presentation - which allowed for a more structured demonstration to be presented. While there were a few small issues regarding the presentation appearing on the monitors, the overall presentation ran smoothly, with the team successfully showing what NearMe was capable of.
Next week should hopefully bring a solution to the date filer issue!
There wasn't really anything major we needed to do for the website; the core website had been done - however, there were still gimmicks with the date filter. Despite this, we reasoned that the website could still perform a standard search which, after all, was all the presentation needed to do. We added the basic CSS which would become the skeleton of our final product and continued to work on the report as that was a higher priority at the time.
Unlike the previous documentation, the whole group was unable to collaborate on the progress report, due to the presentation and the website itself needing attention. Thus, the team split up and left two members to complete the progress report while the other two attended the website and the presentation respectively. Overall, the report was well structured and answered all the questions the rubric had outlined - which left the team satisfied at its quality.
In regards to the presentation, the team actually prepared an adequate speech for the presentation - which allowed for a more structured demonstration to be presented. While there were a few small issues regarding the presentation appearing on the monitors, the overall presentation ran smoothly, with the team successfully showing what NearMe was capable of.
Next week should hopefully bring a solution to the date filer issue!
Tuesday, 3 November 2015
Week 8 - Work on Progress Report Commences
The team put work on NearMe to a pause to commence work on the planning of the Progress Report. Overall the structure of the of the planning is quite straighforward: While the actual writing will be done by only one or two members (to allow for work on NearMe to re-commence), each team member will add their information about the respective parts of the report in a dot-point list to allow for the writers to have a clear list of things to add to the report.
Furthermore along with the report, there will be a demonstration of NearMe and thus the tutors have requested that we ask three questions of them in regards to our website. After careful consideration, Team Hermes will be asking the following:
1. What are your general thoughts on the aesthetics of the website?
2. How efficient do you think the filter options of using location and date are?
3. In regards to the demonstration of the events, are they well placed? If not, how might you suggest we change that?
Furthermore along with the report, there will be a demonstration of NearMe and thus the tutors have requested that we ask three questions of them in regards to our website. After careful consideration, Team Hermes will be asking the following:
1. What are your general thoughts on the aesthetics of the website?
2. How efficient do you think the filter options of using location and date are?
3. In regards to the demonstration of the events, are they well placed? If not, how might you suggest we change that?
Experience with Paper Prototyping
Overall, the paper prototype of NearMe that Team Hermes produced was a success - the prototype was (according to the testers) clear and easy to understand - and this was essentially proven by the large amount of feedback we received.
The paper prototype is shown below:
After letting the testers play around with the prototype, we asked them 3 questions:
1. What did you think of the general interface?
The general consensus was that there should be a page leading to the map to allow users to have a bit more clarity in understanding what was going on. Furthermore, a large amount of users insisted that we add a help button to ensure that even if the user had no idea what was going on, there was a source of information that would help them.
2. What are your thoughts on the concept of NearMe? Can it be refined in anyway?
While the majority of testers agreed that the concept was interesting, a very small fraction of people suggested that we try and make the results that appear vary in size, in accordance to how important they were. However, this would essentially be impossible as Trove had no way of outlining events let alone their importance.
3. Can you think of any potential bugs that we may have to deal with?
There were two main answers to this question - the first answer was that Trove was an international database - as we had no way of restricting the results to Australia, Trove would be grabbing results from across the globe. A secondary problem that was pointed out was that we had no way of removing results that weren't 'events' because, as mentioned previously, Trove does not outline events in any way.
Overall, the results gathered from this prototyping session went a long way in helping Team Hermes refine NearMe and will prove to be a a major step in removing issues that will hinder the user experience.
The paper prototype is shown below:
After letting the testers play around with the prototype, we asked them 3 questions:
1. What did you think of the general interface?
The general consensus was that there should be a page leading to the map to allow users to have a bit more clarity in understanding what was going on. Furthermore, a large amount of users insisted that we add a help button to ensure that even if the user had no idea what was going on, there was a source of information that would help them.
2. What are your thoughts on the concept of NearMe? Can it be refined in anyway?
While the majority of testers agreed that the concept was interesting, a very small fraction of people suggested that we try and make the results that appear vary in size, in accordance to how important they were. However, this would essentially be impossible as Trove had no way of outlining events let alone their importance.
3. Can you think of any potential bugs that we may have to deal with?
There were two main answers to this question - the first answer was that Trove was an international database - as we had no way of restricting the results to Australia, Trove would be grabbing results from across the globe. A secondary problem that was pointed out was that we had no way of removing results that weren't 'events' because, as mentioned previously, Trove does not outline events in any way.
Overall, the results gathered from this prototyping session went a long way in helping Team Hermes refine NearMe and will prove to be a a major step in removing issues that will hinder the user experience.
Friday, 2 October 2015
NearMe Continuation Report!
NearMe is coming along nicely, with the map and Trove being successfully implemented into the core program. The website is now capable of extracting small amounts of information from Trove and putting in the dialogue boxes provided by Google Maps. However, at the moment, these capabilities only work properly with the 'Location' filter - if the user attempts to input a date, the website will simply state that 'There are no events with these conditions'.
The progress report is also underway, with the team hard at work at completing each section. The work has been divided equally to remove any chance of negative feelings within the team and hopefully the pieces of the report will come together and fit perfectly.
Currently, the team is also preparing to make a paper prototype of 'NearMe' which will show the other teams what our project is designed to do and to gather feedback. Team Hermes has decided to use the software Balsamiq to create the prototype and hopefully it will represent NearMe well enough for the users to gain a basic understanding of the website.
The progress report is also underway, with the team hard at work at completing each section. The work has been divided equally to remove any chance of negative feelings within the team and hopefully the pieces of the report will come together and fit perfectly.
Currently, the team is also preparing to make a paper prototype of 'NearMe' which will show the other teams what our project is designed to do and to gather feedback. Team Hermes has decided to use the software Balsamiq to create the prototype and hopefully it will represent NearMe well enough for the users to gain a basic understanding of the website.
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