I’ve started working at a Design Research/User Experience Design Firm in Columbus. It’s been a great experience so far, and tomorrow I get to take part in my first professional usability test. I’ll be playing the role as the notetaker over the course of the next two days.
I’ve been a part of a couple usability evaluations in the last year, but never any with any real implications. Today we did a pilot test for the evaluation. It was much harder than I expected. Making sure you get every item of importance noted properly is challenging task.
It’s been really interesting seeing how it all works though. I now have a good understanding of the set up of a test and all the parts that are needed to make it successful.
My thesis has shifted ever so slightly. Mostly transitioning away from the more scientific idea of legibility in to the world of User Experience Design. Here’s some stuff I’ve been thinking about…
The question I have been asking lately is, “How can course content be managed, organized and distributed in a digital environment.” This takes the emphasis off of the design of a digital “textbook” and starts to explore the possibilities and allowances associated with a digital transition.
Other questions that have arisen recently:
Is an instructor a stakeholder or a user?
How do textbooks get used in a course?
What is the relationship between a textbook and its course
Is there a division of textbook-dependent vs. textbook-supplement models? How do I define those?
How does the textbook historically relate to a course and, how has been impacted with the advent of digital interactions?
What I need to do now:
Build a rationale for what course I am working with.
I have to do this by defining a textbooks relationship to a course. Is the course dependent on the information and structure of the textbook? Does the textbook just supplement other lessons or activities in the course? Which scenario works better for what I am trying to achieve.
Compare a traditional course (textbook-dependent) and a modified course (textbook-supplementary)
Build a rationale for why I am approaching a solution via a digital environment
Define the relationship between textbooks and courses historically
Explain how digital technology has been integrated into the classroom
How can a digital environment change the way we address the management, organization and distribution of course content.
Flipboard markets itself as “your personalized, social magazine”. It attempts to make your digital social life more enjoyable by combining RSS feeds, or Facebook and Twitter accounts into a magazine-like experience.
Initial Thoughts
Flipboard is initially very impressive. They have set up their interface so that you “flip” through the information you load into it. It is similar to Apple’s iBooks in that you are virtually turning the page, but it has a very different feel because of the type of page they portray. Their “pages” are rigid, giving you the feeling that you are flipping through an old childhood storybook. This app mostly gave me another example of how to display information in a clever way, although it tends to not be very usable. Here is a promotional video that highlights their features.
Pros
The nicest thing about Flipboard is the unique page turning animation. Secondarily, the layouts they present are nice, but not ultra-impressive. I will say that they made a valiant attempt to combine your social life into one place. The idea is nice, but the implementation isn’t quite there. Here is an example of my Facebook wall loaded into Flipbook:
Cons
As a whole, the application feels very limiting. Your are restricted to only 9 content sections to your Flipboard, and because they filter everything through their design, you have to pick from their pre-determined options.
While you read the “articles” they limit the amount of content that is loaded on each page, forcing you to open it in the browser. Additionally, within the stories, there are several option to share or comment on the entries, but it isn’t clear where those comments are being posted to, leaving you vulnerable regarding privacy.
Another disappointment is the treatment of the layouts. They are trying to make it feel like a newspaper layout, but it tends to lack hierarchy and is often hard to differentiate between the stories.
