User Experience Test

Next to the results of the user test, prototypes with a subset of functionalities were created and deployed in a family home with the objective of getting feedback on the user experience of the guiding interaction.

The deployment home

The deployment home had three floors and was located in Almere. The home had three permanent occupants. Of the three permanent occupants one was not part of the family, but rented a room in the home. Therefore, two prototypes were deployed with the two remaining occupants: A father (54 years old) and his daughter (17 years old). They had the most stable life pattern and matched the situation of the Chabots the best. (Appendix I)

The Setup

The prototypes were placed on two separate floors. The father had the prototype placed on his desk in the office and the daughter had the prototype placed on her nightstand in room 1. The deployment was carried out over a period of five days and the participants were asked to keep an observational log based on their experience of living with the system (See Appendix K). These diaries were then used as a basis for a follow up interview as prescribed by the “diary method” (Zimmerman & Wieder, 1977). Having the prototypes fixed to a specific location in the home meant that planning using direct user input was not possible. A schedule was instead implemented by having the family plan out the time-period in advance which was then pre-programmed and set to trigger the system events from the location of the designers. Changes in plans would then be communicated to the project group in order to adapt the pre-programmed schedule. Finally the participants were prepared through a brief introduction. (see Appendix J) Fig.13: Prototype used for deployment

Findings

Following the deployment, the diaries were reviewed. These were the findings regarding the functionality: • When people are aware of what the scheduled activity was, they would be able to interpret the meaning of the light. Due to the fact that the prototype was not portable, participants had problems figuring out what the lights were pointing at. • Higher levels of engagement with the prototype resulted in awareness about social activities in the home and an increasing level of participation in the family. • Participants would also use other ways to organise and delegate tasks using different for instance sticky notes. The bump interaction would allow for participants to plan this sort of activities spontaneously.

The findings regarding the family setting: • People assume they do not have enough time to plan family activities due to being busy with their own responsibilities. The prototypes made them aware of possibilities to still do so by prioritizing family time. • Families are highly flexible and would plan in time when an activity is arranged. • There are multiple ways in which people are together. For instance when both participants were at the dinner table where Participant 1 was working and Participant 2 was doing homework. Which shows that even when both are busy they could still be guided together.

Conclusion

The deployment showed diverse results. It did not only test the usability in a home setting. It also uncovered new opportunities for the concept. As mentioned before, families need a dynamic and casual way of planning activities with each other. Most family activities and chores were initiated spontaneously during the deployment period. The prototype did not play a significant role in any of these spontaneous activities. If more functionality was implemented, participants could have used the devices to plan activities together. It showed that the device needs to be just as dynamic as the family.

Participant 1 showed to be more active in checking what was set on the agenda during testing. This participant was able to understand most of the light messages. While participant 2 had a hard time linking the signals with the intended activity. The fixed position of the prototypes made it hard to intuitively understand the pointing of the devices. Portable prototypes could result in a better understanding.

The deployment proved that the basic functionalities of the concept have a proper place in the family setting. The eventual product should however have more functionality to better blend with the dynamics of a family.

QUOTES FROM PARTICIPANTS

“We’re all busy and no one’s slowing down and >_< and that’s my problem, I don’t have time for movie nights or to go out and I know it’s very bad… thing?” - Participant 1

“Oh also I went out today with papa, “person S” and “person K” we went to Almere. Plan to buy a christmas tree. I hope the tree will turn all ok. If that ain’t quality time I don’t know what is” - Participant 1

“I’m making my homework on the like hahaha Eating? table in the living room. My sister is also working on her macbook. And my father who just arrived is also working beside me on his pc.” - Participant 1