Deconstructing an Interaction - Peter, Stefan, Syd & Terry

Our project aims to analyze the interaction between a person and the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) website. http://www.ttc.ca

The site is designed with the administrator/corporate user in mind, with a lack of a "front-end" interface for the common user. The lack of a "trip planner" option is also an issue. The user is given the raw data (a giant, resource-hogging PDF map of the entire TTC system) and is expected to glean their required information with little help at all.

Our group recorded the interactions of 12 people with the TTC site, and were able to deduce the following:

- Users have trouble even locating the map they need for route-finding;
- Once they have found the map, there is so much data that it is difficult to find or understand anything specific right away;
- The PDF file is massive and requires much moving around and a prior knowledge of the city to find any destination, location or transit route;
- The links on the site are confusing, misleading and difficult to find.

Using the example of another major city's mass transit system site (Chicago Transit Authority, www.transitchicago.com) it is painfully easy to find any route. Not only does it give you the location, schedule, and walking distance to the nearest transit stop from your origin, it will give you the cost of travel and walking distance to the exact destination. If the TTC took even just the trip planner as a good example and framework, interactions would improve greatly. Also beneficial would be a consolidation of all pages into one easily-readable and attractive front-end page.

interview

Eve, Jiyeon, Hanbi, Naree, Mihyung's project 1

Exercise Six: A Meeting in a Supermarket

This exercise is designed to get you thinking in narrative. In future classes, we'll discuss the relationships between narratives and fun, scenario planning, positive user experiences, and most importantly, Project Three: Activate the Park!

Using the attached grocery store receipts as your inspiration/evidence, create two narratives for each (four in total). Post your narratives to the blog. At least two of these narratives should consist of more than just prose. Consider images, video, poetry and sound. Be creative!

The receipts and some examples have been uploaded to My Courses. You will be assigned your receipts in class.

Project by Shaheer, Jeyson, Fatima, Mark

- Printing Process at OCAD -

The printing process at OCAD is terrible and it’s a problem that every OCAD student faces. To get anything printed, one has to save the file on some portable device, which is compatible with the OCAD system.

Then one has to walk to the red building, then go to basement floor, wait in the line to pay the amount one wants on their account which itself is an interaction problem:
One has to pay in cash, which gets taxed, and in return one gets “OCAD money.”

Once you are done getting OCAD money, one has to go the main building (100 Mc Caul street), go to the third floor, which is yet another problem:
When one walks in from the front door one expects to get into the elevators to go to the 3rd floor BUT the elevators in the front lobby goes straight to 5th and 6th floor only and if one ends up on the 5th or 6th floor, the stairway that is next to the elevators takes one straight back to the first floor.
The secret passage to the 3rd floor is to go to the elevators that are at the back of the main elevators or take the spiral staircase to the 2nd floor and den go the back to use the other stairs that will take one to the 3rd floor.

Once one is on the 3rd floor, there are no signs or directions that directs one to the booth where one has to hand “OCAD money” which is then loaded on the student’s account which enables a student to print anything.

Now if one wants to get coloured prints done, the normal printers won’t print any colour files so to get a coloured print one has to save their file on a USB storage device or a CD-rom and take it back to the booth where one paid in the first place to get money on their account. And then they will print the colour files.

This process of getting something printed alone is at least a 20 minutes process, so anyone who wants to get a print urgently and there is no money on their account, there is no easy way around it.

Addison, Joseph, Elizabeth, and Adam's Group

Project I overview - Facebook

Facebook.com, as many of you know, is a social networking site, where you can meet people, make friends with them, share lots of information and above all, have fun with people you know. You can find new friends through the browse tool and join groups that share similar interests as you. Facebook's mini-feed, which is a relatively new function, shows you what your friends do, when they do it and who is involved on top of your Facebook homepage as soon as you logged in. It is certainly one of the most efficient types of interaciton you can experience with people all arond the world. Most importantly, it is free and simple to use and therefore virtually anyone can enjoy it. Facebook makes you feel like you belong to somwhere and that there are others who are like-minded as you and care about you. No matter where or when you are, Facebook offers you possibly the best interaction tool for keeping in touch with your beloved friends.