The number of assignments in the course will be less than or equal to 3. The first two are both due next January 13th.

Assignment 3
Group Assignment
Due: Friday, January 30th, 2009

This assignment is designed as a project checkpoint. By the end of January, you should have interviewed all of your subjects at least once. You should also have begun the analysis of your data. As a result, this assignment is essentially a freebie. In other words, there is no additional work needed to complete this assignment.

As a component of your data analysis, you are building models of the work done by your interviewee. For January 31st, for one of your subjects, post one model of each of the five different types of model on the course Wiki. So, for one subject, do a flow, sequence, artifact, cultural, and physical model.

Please ensure that all detail is anonymized for your subjects. As well, recall that these models are to be done without the use of computer. Therefore, I expect you to produce pen and paper models, and then to capture these models using a digital photograph. The photograph (and any necessary explanatory text) should be posted on a page for your group. You may also add some initial narrative describing, in general terms, your target subjects. Ensure that you do not mention a specific location (e.g. no "campus newspaper"; instead "local newspaper", even if it is the on campus newspaper).

Grading will be done on the S-/S/S+ scale.

Assignment 2
Group Assignment
Due January 15th, 2009

The goal of assignment two is to provide some oversight on group selection. Your goal is to select some options for target users to study.

For next Tuesday (perhaps during your field trip) take some time to discuss with your group options for a target set of users. The goal is to have at least two users in any group that you study. This has two benefits. First, you get some mixture of data, which simplifies the process of seeing across work practice rather than within on person's work. Second, you have some safety net if something goes wrong with one of you participants (e.g. they leave the region, they decide they no longer wish to participate).

The goal at this stage is not to have identified a formal group to study, but to come up with at least two different options based on people your group may have access to. These people can involve people you've worked on co-op with, community service organizations you're involved with, parents, friends, friends parents, etc. The single most important component of the target group must be that you can study the target group while they do at least a significant portion of their work. What I mean by this is that a target group of daycare workers would probably not be appropriate, as you might not have access to the facility when children are there, and these people do all of their work with children present. In contrast, teachers have worked well as target groups in the past because they do a significant amount of work after school and on weekends, particularly involving assessment and lesson planning. Wet lab scientists or field scientists have both worked well, but on a couple of occasions, they have worried about confidentiality, and have not been able to provide data. The goal is to have access to these people in the environment in which they work. Ideally, you'd like to be able to watch at least one, and preferably all, of your participants while they do real work, and interview them about this work practice.

The members of your target user set must have similar jobs. It is important that both members of the target group do similar things. So, for example, two local municipal managers might not be appropriate because they do slightly different things, but a manager from Cambridge and from Kitchener might be OK because they have similar jobs -- for example dispatching snow ploughs.

For this assignment, you must email the professor and TA the following information for each of your potential target groups (minimum 2):

• Who the target group is.
• What role the target group shares in common.
• How you can access these people (in general terms) without revealing the identity of the target group. In other words, how you can obtain entree.

The list of potential users to study should be ordered based on your preference. Note that we won't over-ride your preferences unless we have concerns about the final quality of the overall project. Both Matthew and I have some experience with target users, and, if we have concerns, we will express those concerns with you and may suggest your second choice. The goal of this exercise is to ensure you have the best target group possible.

Assignment 1
Group Assignment
Due: January 15, 2009

In this assignment, you must leave campus with your group and go to a grocery or home improvement store. Try to go during the week, during a period when queues are not too long. You will need to bring with you pen, paper, and a digital camera.

All major grocery stores, some home improvement stores, and many other large box merchants are introducing self-checkout lanes. In this assignment, go to one of these large retail stores and watch (from a reasonable distance) as people navigate these lanes. Focus, specifically, on the process for paying once all groceries have been scanned and weighed correctly.

Note whether people have any problems, and identify the frequency of problems. Observe two or three people.

Each group member should go through the self-serve lane and buy something. If you need groceries, buy them. If not, buy a chocolate bar, soda, or your lunch from the deli. Have one group member pay with a credit card, one with a debit card (with cash back), and one using cash. Another group members should take pictures during the process, capturing the screens that the purchaser needs to traverse and the devices that the purchaser needs to use. Feel free to tell the employee in the area and/or the people behind you in line that you are taking these pictures for a class project to try to learn to design the devices better. Note that you should try to go when lines are shorter so you don't hold people up.

Back on campus, put together a one page document (with pictures) describing the process for paying with each system, any problems that you had, and any problems that you saw others experience. Identify, in particular, problems with the interface for selecting payment type, the device for doing debit or credit transactions, and with the process for paying by cash.

Post this document to the course Wiki. Reserve some space at the bottom of page 2 to snap a picture of your group, and introduce yourselves (name is enough) to the class.