My ICM Weblog

Usability Testing

In my ICM 503 class, we’ve been covering usability testing for a couple weeks now. It is important to get feedback about a product that is looking to be sold on the market. The feedback should help the designer/company decide whether the item is complete or flawed, and if it’s flawed, how to fix it. This is done with focus type groups in a specific setting where viewers can be viewed behind a two-way mirror and are recorded for further review. It’s important for companies to run these tests because after all, their objective is to sell to and please the customers. Who better to get input from than the customers themselves? By paying a small fee for opinions, the company would not loose revenue, but rather gain public opinions to help enhance their product and ultimately, the sales.

To test…or not to test?

In Kangas’ article “Applying User-entered Design to Mobile Application Development,” there are two specific case studies of applications on mobile phones. One study shows the entire process, and then does usability testing, while the other tests midway and makes changes to the product prior to shelving. Both techniques have their flaws: testing at the end does not allow for user feedback and testing midway, allows for feedback and changes to occur before being marketed, but usually at a later date than first projected. By testing at the end or getting feedback on a product through a blog or what have you, allows for the company to make modifications to a second generation of the product. Take the iPhone incident. Flaws have been found. They dropped the price I believe 3 months later and those that bought their phone in that two-week window were refunded $200. Those that bought it in the first three months were screwed, not only in terms of price, but also with the earlier bugs. Look at the evolution of the ipod as well. I know for nano, they are now on the third generation. Each time it comes out, it’s different in shape and size, and now the latest one includes video and more storage space. Apple obtains information from customers and focus groups asking how to make these products work better for them. The public’s ideas along with engineer’s and a slew of other Apple staff member’s ideas combine to make each of these new generation products. The iPhone was also released much later than scheduled…perhaps because more usability testing was conducted? It seems apparent that if you want products to sell, test often and worry about the deadline less. Start on next year’s Christmas products this year by manufacturing, testing, and revisiting now.

The “Digital Memories in an Era of Ubiquitous Computing and Abundant Storage” article kinda…weirded me out a little. Made me think of R2D2 and if we really were that far along in technology now. Technology is great, I really think we’ve come such a ways with it and for the most part, it has benefited our society. However, this article makes me go back to a point I’ve been making most of the semester: we are really lazy. The whole finding his hat through his photographs on his fancy shamancy wall cameras…I don’t know how to respond to that. I feel we’ve found this great gift of technology and we think ‘how can we use this to better our lives?’ but that has turned into ‘how can I possibly be more lazy and have technology do things for me?’ I wouldn’t think I’d need an arm strap biometric sensor to know if I felt sick.

They then spend the rest of the article discussing the digital memories and what to do with them and what their purpose is. This portion I found more useful than the introduction. The authors ask “Why bother collecting the ‘digital memories’ and what should I do with it?” They answer: memory (the earlier example of finding the hat and general aid for remembering things), to share personal experiences (communicating trips with someone who did not attend), personal reflection and analysis (allows for growth), time management (making the most efficient use of time), and security (legal and safety reasons). (Czerwinski, 46-47)

Most kids want to see pictures from when they were kids to remember the memories and what they were like younger. Parents feel they have an obligation to hold onto these photos, records, reports, etc. For this reason, it’s important to hold onto these things. However, if someone has had a traumatic accident, there is no need for every memory surrounding it to be captured for later review.

Ever see those people on tv that have sooo much clutter in their houses? Newspapers from 20 years ago, clothes from 30 years ago, toys from when they were children themselves? I think its safe to say, these people have a hard time letting go and perhaps have some control issues, however, I believe this is the same idea the article is trying to get at. By storing these memories virtually, those clutter bugs can have their living room back!

A few weeks ago, we discussed where do these memories go when we’re gone. If they’re online or a usb thumb drive, they just stay there. The next of kin can take it for their own keeping. The same is done with physical memorabilia; it’s passed down. Physical things have a more emotional link to it though, because the deceased person has had a relationship with it. The same can’t really be said about a usb drive. I think its great we have usb drives to store memories on. I take a lot of pictures but don’t necessarily print them all. Those that don’t get printed still have a meaning, they help explain the (for example) vacation or situation.