INTERVIEWS
4.9.2015
What: A preliminary interview to gain an understanding of the problem, identify user needs, and further define the project space.
Who: Cheyenne, her mother, and her sister
4.9.2015
What: A preliminary interview to gain an understanding of the problem, identify user needs, and further define the project space.
Who: Cheyenne, her mother, and her sister
What is the context?
What is the flow or structure of the activity?
What are their goals, motivations, desires?
What problems do they have?
What problems do they have with tools and other contextual elements that influence the activity?
- A Soccer Game
- Surrounded by other games, audience etc. A lot of additional noise.
What is the flow or structure of the activity?
- Quick-paced. Steps: Coach sees as situation, then yells directions, then Charlotte hears the directions, then Charlotte follows directions
- 3-5 second timeframe
- Breakdown: she doesn’t hear the coach
- Group activity with multiple elements. Not just coach communication, but also potentially fellow players need to communicate as well.
What are their goals, motivations, desires?
- Cheyenne: to be able to understand information to ultimately be able to play unimpeded, while having a discrete solution.
- Mom (aka parents): First on their list, is for Charlotte to have an enjoyable and normal experience. Second, is to supporting their daughter. They want their daughter to have a good learning experience. They would love to just have the experience to watch. HAVE FUN, BE NORMAL, and LEARN
- Coach: Be able to communicate easily to all players. Have an uninterrupted coaching experience. Goal is to win (while developing a good team).
- Fellow Players: To have fun and have the team work well together for the main goal of winning the game.
What problems do they have?
- COMMUNICATION
- Ambient Noise
- Discretion/”Normalcy”
- Cooperation of coach and ease of communication
- Cost
What problems do they have with tools and other contextual elements that influence the activity?
- Tried the mic and it didn’t work
- Problems with not using the microphone - ambient sounds of whistles, yelling parents, etc.
FIELD RESEARCH
4.20.2015
On Saturday, our team visited Cheyenne's soccer game. Our on-the-ground approach gave us some great new insights.
First, ambient noise was everywhere. Some major sounds came from:
1. The Metra train which stopped right by the field twice during her game
2. The wind, which may be the main problem Cheyenne deals with during her games. Not only is Evanston a windy place, but she says that it sounds particularly loud whenever she is running.
3. Loud drilling from home repairs nearby
Second, when the Coach currently tries to give her instructions, he often has to say her name twice for her to respond to him, i.e. "Cheyenne!...Cheyenne! You're a forward, so move up!"
Third, Cheyenne uses the most hand signals of all the girls, and often lets her teammates know verbally where she is on the field, i.e. "I'm open, I'm open" with hands held up high.
Moving forward, we will be working on the wind problem. We see two ways to address it - either to put some sort of wind screen on her hearing aids, or to make the Coach's voice louder through a direct mic system. We are excited to start prototyping this week, and are interested in whether we can use a headband or something that attaches to her sport glasses to help solve her problem.
Our initial storyboard needs to be revised based on our new understandings, so look out for an upload of it soon!
4.20.2015
On Saturday, our team visited Cheyenne's soccer game. Our on-the-ground approach gave us some great new insights.
First, ambient noise was everywhere. Some major sounds came from:
1. The Metra train which stopped right by the field twice during her game
2. The wind, which may be the main problem Cheyenne deals with during her games. Not only is Evanston a windy place, but she says that it sounds particularly loud whenever she is running.
3. Loud drilling from home repairs nearby
Second, when the Coach currently tries to give her instructions, he often has to say her name twice for her to respond to him, i.e. "Cheyenne!...Cheyenne! You're a forward, so move up!"
Third, Cheyenne uses the most hand signals of all the girls, and often lets her teammates know verbally where she is on the field, i.e. "I'm open, I'm open" with hands held up high.
Moving forward, we will be working on the wind problem. We see two ways to address it - either to put some sort of wind screen on her hearing aids, or to make the Coach's voice louder through a direct mic system. We are excited to start prototyping this week, and are interested in whether we can use a headband or something that attaches to her sport glasses to help solve her problem.
Our initial storyboard needs to be revised based on our new understandings, so look out for an upload of it soon!