INTERACTION DESIGN METHODS
Data Analysis using the Elito Method
URVASHI GUPTA KERRI ZHANG
Photo by: Kerri Zhang
Background Information Research method Ethnography
Data analysis method Elito Method
About the subject Female, around 60 years old, working in School of Education in Indiana University Bloomington. She is a graphic designer. She moved to Bloomington in 1980. But she has only lived in this house for two years. Before moving to Bloomington, she lived in Germany for nearly five years. The house was redesigned and redecorated by her and it is painted in aqua and most of the furniture is white. She loves to recycle so a great part of furniture is from secondhand store or yard sale. The stuff in the house is mostly hers and her daughters. The older daughter lived here before but already left. The younger one is still living there but she is leaving for Vietnam in March.
10 CONCEPTS
Photo by: Kerri Zhang
1. Moody home Description This concept is of a house which changes its “Mood” according to the mood of the subject, the time of the day and . •
The house changes its color on the outside based on the time of the day Dark in the night and blue in the day.
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The house changes the color on the inside - walls and floor tiles; based on the mood of the subject.
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The house changes color based on the location of the person from the family who calls her on the phone.
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The house also simulates similar environment as the subject’s previous house. House changes color on the outside based on time.
The wall and tiles change according to the location where the phone call is from.
The wall and tiles change according to the person’s mood.
Rationale Research From the Ethnography study, we understood that • The subject moves often and she tries to keep the same feel of the house as her previous one. • Also, She had personally decorated the house. Most of the kitchen furniture was white in color except the floor which was colorful which she mentioned she had hand picked. • She is extremely attached to her family. Her family is scattered; in the United States and other parts of the world.
Insights • House to have similar feel as the previous house. • So she can keep her memory in a dynamic way. • She likes to play with colors sometimes to break the monotony. • Because her profession is graphic design , a house that can be aware of her mood and the environment will fit her needs. • Giving her a sense of the location of the person calling her will make her feel closer to the family. • In this way, she can be in the same environment with her family member and be connected to her family more.
2. Self-Organizing Bookshelf Description • This concept is of a smart bookshelf which will categorize and organize books placed in it based on the criteria entered by the user. • The bookshelf will have a small interactive screen, on which the user can enter the criteria in the order they want • See how many books they have in any category • Get information about the book - book edition, current market price, abstract etc • Search for a book
Rationale Research • From the Ethnography, we understood that • The subject likes to collect books - She has several books from varied authors, genres, and parts of the world. • These books are currently disorganized and the subject mentioned that she wants to organize them after retirement when she has the time. • The subject said that she prefers print over online books and she does not want to throw them because “print is threatened by technology today” and she may not be able to buy them again in the future.
Insights • An automatic system to organize books that will save her time • Keep the books in print format only
3. Smart Chef Description This Smart Chef concept is of a smart recipe system which
Scan the recipes on the magazine
• organizes new recipes for the subject • suggests her recipes based on the time it will need to cook • picks up recipes online and adds to her collection • remains in the cane basket style
Sync the recipe to the Smart Chef According to her time, it suggests recipes to her.
Rationale Research From the ethnography, we came to know that • The subject likes to collect recipes however, she does not cook often because she does not have the time. • She has a big collection of recipes that she cut from newspapers and magazines however, they are disorganized.
Insights • A system that scans the recipes from newspapers and magazines and creates online versions of them. • It organizes the recipes according to time it will take to cook • It will also collect recipes online for her based on her current collection - tastes and preferences.
4. Interactive Memory Wall Description • This concept is of a Smart interactive memory wall which creates a timeline of memories - photo frames, magnets, letters, etc. • The magnets can hold recordings from her children and grandchildren which she can listen to from time to time. • Photo frames which can tell a story of when and where the picture was taken • Smart letters - She can listen to the content of the letters
Rationale Research • The subject is very attached to her family and she has several mementos from them • She has a huge collection of magnets on her fridge, which have been given to her by her children and grandchildren • She has a huge collection of letters, which she wants to read through after retirement. She wants to keep them safe for her children and grandchildren to read • She also has many photo frames from her family which she still hasn’t hung up in the walls because she is still trying to figure out where she wants to hang them. Insights •
A wall which will keep all the memory items together
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Smart items to hold audio and video which will add value to the memories
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A auto created timeline that keeps these memories always fresh
5. Fuzzy Description This concept is a system that makes the things in the house can show different level of fidelity and even hide them. When the owner doesn’t trust the guest and have the need to protect her privacy, the system is triggered and make the stuff in the house “fuzzy” until the guest gains the trust of the owner and the owner feels comfortable.
Things hide themselves when the owner feels awkward
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Things show when the owner feels comfortable
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Rationale Research The subject was hesitant for the researchers to take pictures at pictures at first but complied later. It shows she needs time to get comfortable with strangers. Insights • It is necessary to build a comfortable zone by protecting privacy. • How much to protect the privacy can be changed by trust.
6. DJ Art Description Scan CD/DVD and sync to the cloud
• This is an application that scans her music currently present on the physical CDs and DVDs and creates an online music library for the subject. • Mother and daughter can share a same music cloud. Updates the music to each other what they’re listening to. • She also can scan her paintings/graphic design pieces as well to represent her mood and feelings. The application will suggest her music based on the art pieces.
Mother and daughter can share the cloud
Suggest music based on art pieces
Rationale Research Through our research, we found that •
The subject has a huge collection of music in her living room in CDs and DVDs.
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The subject mentioned that she wants to transfer the collection to iTunes however, the collection is huge and the process is time consuming. She will like to do the transfer after her retirement.
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Some of the music belongs to her daughter and the two share taste in music. However, her daughter will be moving out soon.
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She is a graphic designer by profession and much of her taste in music is also influenced by this fact.
Insights •
It’s easier to organize music online.
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• A system that can scan the cover of the music CDs and create an online library Family members share the same taste in music.
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• The system can update her about the music her daughter is listening to Perspective in other field also has influence on the taste in music. •
Suggest her music based on her tastes in graphic design
7. Painted Stories Description • These are smart paintings where the person can record audio and video with the paintings while painting them. • Detects the way how the person is holding it. If it senses something wrong like that person may drop it, it will give sound alerts.
Be careful!
Painting will warn the person holding it wrongly.
Rationale Research • We found a huge collection of paintings in her bedroom. Some of the paintings were done by her daughter and some of them were bought from art galleries. • She got very excited while she was showing the paintings done by her daughter because she has several memories associated with them. She talked about how her daughter made the painting and the story behind it. • She handles her paintings very carefully. • She mentioned that she has to hang those paintings on the wall but she hasn’t done it yet because she has not decided yet which painting she wants to put where. Insights • Paintings have memories and stories associated with them. • Paintings are precious because they’re one of the kind.
8. Weather Detecting Closet Description This is a smart closet that • Detects the weather outside and rearranges the clothes in the rack. • Rotates and brings the clothes ideal for the weather in the front for the subject to use.
Winter clothes will be rotated to the front when it’s cold outside.
Rationale Research Through the research, we found that • The subject has many clothes for different seasons. During winter, she packs all the summer clothes in boxes and keeps them in the storage room. • Every time the season changes she has to take out the stored away clothes and put in the clothes she is currently using. • This creates problems during untimely weather; when she is not prepared for the weather and she has to take clothes out of boxes which is very cumbersome. Insights • Switching clothes from storage and closet is time consuming. • A smart closet that can detect the weather and rearrange the clothes accordingly.
9. Smart Flower Pots Description These are flower pots which • turns red whenever the plant needs water • turns green when it does not.
Rationale Research During the ethnography we found several plants in the living room which were unmaintained. The subject talked about how she loves to keep plants inside the house but always forgets to water them because of her busy schedule. Insights • The process to grow plants is fun. • Taking care of plants needs patience and time. • Smart flower pots that detect when the plant needs water (in intervals of time) and alerts the user by changing its color.
10. Follow-You Lights Description • A network connecting all the lamps in the house and they virtually “follow” her around in the house. • The network detects human presence in the rooms and switches on/off respective lamps. • According to the person’s mood, the lamp can adjust the color of the light.
Light follows the subject.
Light changes color according to the subject’s mood..
Rationale Research • We found a huge collection of lamps in the house placed in the living room and the bedroom. • The subject mentioned that she loves collecting lamps • She also has a hand made lamp which belongs to her daughter. the lampshade was made by her daughter’s friend. But it has been sitting at the subject’s desk since then. She is very fond of the lamp as it brings back fond memories.
Insights • Color of the light have influence on people’s emotion. • The lamp may attach to her memories so it is useful to create an better environment under the lamp to intervene her emotions. • Switching on/off the lamps is inconvenient. • All the lamps connected together in a network.
Reflection On The Elito Method The Elito method is a very good tool for data analysis after research studies like Ethnography where the data obtained is huge and needs to be broken down. Even though it is very time consuming, it helps to dig into the nitty-gritties of observations.
When to use the Elito method We think that the Elito method should be used when the data to be analyzed is huge.
Pros • The Elito method is an extensive data analysis method which digs deep into every minute detail captured in the research • Each observation is studied in detail which makes it easier to develop concepts • Initially when we were writing the logic lines, the concepts were not making sense as they were too scattered. But after we cluttered them together according to theme, the concepts took shape. Cons • Subtle difference between “Value” and “Judgement” . Many a times it becomes difficult to differentiate between the two. • The Worksheet method is very cumbersome. The logic lines have to be printed and cut which consumes a lot of time.