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We consider 6 high-level tasks related to our problem. Three compose the central experience: reading, filtering, and configuring the display. The other three are required for our interface to be used with third-party services: identifying themselves to our service, initial setup, and managing connections to third-party information sources.
Essential Tasks
Reading
Besides viewing the content, users also need to be able to organize the content (such as with tags or a directory structure), and control the lifetime of the content (marking items as read, marking as “read later,” etc).
- Why is the task being done? The user wants to know what’s going on in their world.
- What does the user need to know or have before doing the task? That what they’re about to read is likely to be interesting/useful
- Where is the task performed? in a smart phone’s web browser, potentially on the go
- What is the environment like? Noisy, dirty, dangerous? potentially
- How often is the task performed? Within a session, repeatedly and rapidly, and they may have several sessions per day
- What are its time resource constraints? As fast as possible (as quickly as a few seconds), but perhaps lasting several minutes for longer content
- How is the task learned? in situ
- What can go wrong? accidentally lose the item they just read and having to find it again
- Who else is involved in the task? no one
Filtering
Users will often be interested in only a subset of information (written by a specific person or persons, or covering a certain topic)* Why is the task being done? The user wants to restrict the given information to that subset.
- What does the user need to know or have before doing the task? They need to be logged in, and know enough about the subset to describe it or pick a filter.
- Where is the task performed? Either on a desktop/laptop, or on a phone browser.
- What is the environment like? Noisy, dirty, dangerous? It could be, if the user is on the go with their smartphone or tablet.
- How often is the task performed? This depends on the user’s profile; some may do it all the time, others only once or twice per session.
- What are its time resource constraints? The feedback loop should ideally be less than a minute so refining the filter is easy.
- How is the task learned? The user can learn it by recognition; we plan to design the interface so its controls are very similar to Google Instant search or other similar mechanisms.
- What can go wrong? The filter could be incorrect (too broad or narrow), or it could have a typo. A fast feedback loop will improve safety by ameliorating these issues.
- Who else is involved in the task? No one else in this case.’
- What subtasks are there? Navigating to the textbox (or other form element used for filtering, entering the author name or topic to keep (or reusing an old filter), scanning the subset displayed, and revising the input if needed. Optionally, users could save the filter for future usage.
Configuring the Display
Initial Setup
Users will need to be able to specify what information they want to manage using our interface, preferably as quickly and easily as their existing techniquesWe anticipate that one interface will not fit all, so we will need controls for display settings like changing the font face and size. This will be more important in the phone interface than on the desktop, where browsers expose convenient settings for the font size.
- Why is the task being done? The user cannot read our interface comfortably So that we know what they want to read
- What does the user need to know or have before doing the task? That they are uncomfortable, and that settings are available What sources they want to add, and their authentication information
- Where is the task performed? in a smart phone’s web browser on a phone or PC, potentially on the go
- What is the environment like? Noisy, dirty, dangerous? potentially yes
- How often is the task performed? ideally only once per information source
- What are its time resource constraints? none fast (less than a minute)
- How is the task learned? in situ
- What can go wrong? an inappropriate option is chosen that doesn’t improve readability forgot password, typo. don’t know what the service is or how to add it (ex: RSS feeds). want to add a source that we don’t support.
- Who else is involved in the task? no one
Initial Setup
- the 3rd party in question
Non-Essential Tasks
Configuring the Display
We anticipate that one interface will not fit all, so we will need controls for display settings like changing the font face and size. This will be more important in the phone interface than on the desktop, where browsers expose convenient settings for the font sizeUsers will need to be able to specify what information they want to manage using our interface, preferably as quickly and easily as their existing techniques.
- Why is the task being done? So that we know what they want to read The user cannot read our interface comfortably
- What does the user need to know or have before doing the task? What sources they want to add, and their authentication information That they are uncomfortable, and that settings are available
- Where is the task performed? in a smart phone’s web browser , potentially on the goon a phone or PC
- What is the environment like? Noisy, dirty, dangerous? yes potentially
- How often is the task performed? ideally only once per information source
- What are its time resource constraints? fast (less than a minute) none
- How is the task learned? in situ
- What can go wrong? forgot password, typo. don’t know what the service is or how to add it (ex: RSS feeds). want to add a source that we don’t support. an inappropriate option is chosen that doesn’t improve readability
- Who else is involved in the task? the 3rd party in question no one
Identity Creation and Authentication
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- Twitter** Follows 600+ accounts** Keep general tabs on various groups of people/areas of interest* Phone interface is most natural** In the morning, scroll back as far as the client will go to catch up** Wouldn't want tweets going to e-mail because it's harder to Mark All as Read (don't want to miss out) than to be limited by Twitter's scroll-back history* Receives tweets from important people as text messages** Favorites tweets she wants to revisit** Occasionally would want a tweet via e-mail
- Google Reader** Doesn't want to think about how many unread items she has** Wants to split the feeds into Good and Meh (my words) so that she can regularly read the good without feeling bad about ignoring the meh
- E-mail** Uses e-mail as a TODO list (regretfully)** Would see tweets and RSS items as TODOs and doesn't want that* Sometimes, when she's expecting a stressful e-mail, she doesn't want to open her e-mail client at all
- Has never used an automatic filterer that worked well. She's the best judge of what she would find interesting and feels the investment is worth it.
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