HCI  Assignment  T2/I2  Name:  Yang  Huang  

Team:  UnlockBoston  (Team2)  

Copy  of  notes:  (See  appendix)  

The  five  interview  questions:    

1. How  many  hours  do  you  spend  going  out  rather  than  staying  at  home  in  your  

spare  time  weekly?  

2. What  do  you  mostly  do  at  home  in  your  spare  time,  for  example,  reading  papers,  

surfing  on  internet,  playing  games,  etc.?  

3. Do  you  think  your  current  lifestyle  is  healthy  or  not?  Why?  

4. What  kind  of  factors  do  you  think  would  really  motivate  or  interest  you  to  go  

out?  

5. What  kind  of  activities  do  you  prefer  most  when  going  out?  

                             

Complete  filed  notes:  

Before  Observation  

As  our  project   is   to   focus  on  people  who  have   sedentary   lifestyle,   therefore   I   first  

came  up  with  the  idea  to  watch  people  who  study  in  the  library.  We  had  discussed  

and  made  our  assumption   to  summarize  our  target  people  as  three  general  types,  

with  minor  specifications:    

1) Those  who  sits  and  reads  books  or  be  fixed  on  computer  screen  for  a  long  

time.  They  might  be  either  of  the  following:  

a) High  GPA  Student    

This   type  of  people  might   focus  most  on   their   study  performance,   so  

they  may   suffer   high   pressure   from  doing   large   bundle   of   studies   as  

well   as   they   may   enjoy   this.   However,   some   might   be   introvert   or  

isolated  or  non-­‐social  people.  

b) Last-­‐minute  Student  

This  kind  of  people  may  suffer  from  high  pressure  too  as  they  hand  in  

their   homework   just   before   the   due   time.   Also   bad   sleep   and  

unbalanced  routine  may  happen  on  them.  

c) Self-­‐discipline  Student  

Their   time  usually  well   spent.  They  will  make   sure  everything  under  

their   control.   And   because   of   this,   they  may   not   prefer   adventurous  

lifestyle.  They  may  also  have  a  tight-­‐schedule.  

2) Those  who  sits  and  talks  for  a  long  time  

a) Talker  

This   type   of   people   would   like   to   talk   most   time   during   discussion.  

They   sometimes   may   act   as   a   leader   in   that   they   are   active   among  

other  people.  They  may  be  deemed  as  social  promoter.  

b) Listener  

Not   to   say   silent   is   not   a   good   virtue,   but   those   people   may   need  

initiator’s  accompany  to  do  something.  But  some  may  also  be  introvert  

and  isolated  people.  

3) Those  who  spends  half  time  doing  study,  half  time  doing  other  stuff  

This  group  of  people  is  hard  to  specify  in  minor  groups.  But  they  are  

likely   to   be   diverted   by   some   other   stuff   easily.   And   they   may   be  

interested   in   new   things.   Some   of   them   may   be   addictive   to  

entertainment   and   some   may   be   bad   time   manager   and   suffered  

disorder  routine.  

About  Settings  

I  chose  Tuesday  (February  05,  2013),  as  I  believed  some  people  would  come  to  the  

library  for  regular  study  and  courses  preparation  and  some  people  would  craze  with  

their  due-­‐day  homework.  

At   the   very   beginning   I   decide   to   start  my   observation   on   the   third   floor   of   Snell  

Library.  I  expected  that  people  on  this  floor  would  do  their  study  most  time  and  talk  

for  a  while   sometimes.  However   I   found  my   thoughts   incorrect  as  at   there  silence  

dominated   large  amount  of  people.  Only   those  standing  at   the  gateway  would  talk  

aloud.  

Therefore  I  switched  to  the  second  floor  where  I  saw  some  groups  of  people  doing  

their   jobs  quietly,  some  others  were  having  discussions  aloud.  All  the  situations  fit  

what  we  expected  to  see  

I  sat  on  the  red  couch  in  front  of  the  Information  Kiosk  (see  the  sketch  below)  

 

First  Round  

 

When  I  came  to  the  spot,  A,  B,  C,  and  D  were  already  at  their  position  for  some  time.  

1. A  and  B  

a) Observation  

A,  a  girl,  wears  quite  casual  garment  with  boots  on.    

B,  a  boy,  wears  casual  coat  but  with  sneakers.  

I   asked   their  permission   for   the  seats  next   to   them,   they  both  said,   “Go  

for  it”.  

They  chatted  and  discussed  over  many  topics,  ranging  from  education  to  

mobile  provider  and  to  daily  lifestyle.  Though  hard  to  catch  what  they  were  

talking  exactly,  I  still  saw  they  are  holding  an  iPad  mini  and  talking  over  a  

piece  of  sheet  listing  with  several  points.  

Most  time  A  was   leading  the  topics.   It  seemed  that  A  asked  B  questions  

all  the  time,  and  B  just  answered  it.  But  sometimes  I  could  hear  that  B  was  

also  asking  A  something.  

A  combed  her  hair  once.  

A  and  B  sometimes  brought  their  mobile  phones  out.  A’s  is  iPhone,  B’s  is  

an  Android  phone.  

A  used  gestures  in  quite  exaggerated  manners,  such  as  hitting  the  surface  

of  the  couch  just  next  to  B.  (That  hit  even  scared  me)  

A  and  B  sometimes  put  their  feet  on  the  table.  

A   somehow   brought   her   earplugs   out,   started   to   listening   music.   She  

sometimes   hummed   or   sang   out   the   song.   (At   first   I   didn’t   catch   she  was  

wearing   an   earplug,   but   then   I   heard   she   singing)   At   the   same   time,   she  

started  to  shake  her  body  rhythmically  like  dancing.  

After  50  minutes  since  I  came,  they  left.  

b) Implications  

Based   on   their   actions   and   wearing,   I   can   guess   B   is   used   to   sporting  

sometime.  He  might  have  an  athletic   lifestyle.  A  should  enjoy  social   life  as  

she  expressed  herself  by  singing  and  dancing.  

These  two  people  seemed  to  be  close  friends  or  they  knew  each  other  for  

some   time,   as   they   were   in   very   casual   conditions.   But   based   on   their  

talking,   I  still  don’t  know  whether   they  are  classmates   trying  to   figure  out  

their   homework   or   one   is   asking   another   one   question   as   performing  

interview.  

They   should   be   good   time   manager,   as   they   can   focus   on   their   listed  

topics  one  by  one  and  finished  in  time.  

c) Conclusions  

This   two  people   can  be   categorized   in   second  group   in  our  assumption  

(sits  and  talks  for  a  long  time).    

Roughly  summarize:    

A  is  Talker:  She  is  active,  social  

B  is  Listener.  

2. C  and  D  were  not  worth  mentioning   in  details  (due  to  the   length  of   the  report,  

but  I  did  track  their  actions  and  activities),  as  they  left  after  several  minutes.  

 

 

 

 

 

Second  Round  

 

After  the  first  round,  A,  B,  and  C  changed  to  different  people.  (X  means  some  people,  

but  not  in  my  focused  observation)  

1. A    

a) Observation  

A  is  a  girl,  wears  quite  similar  to  the  previous  A  in  first  round.  

She  sat  down  and  brought  her  laptop,  setting  up  earplugs.  She  was  

doing  her  homework  and  listening  to  music  at  the  same  time.  

There  was  a  drink  of  Targo  Tea  beside  for  refreshing  sometimes.  

She  brought  a  course  book  called  “Media  Making”  out.  

She  seldom  typed  message  on  her  iPhone.  

She  read  her  book  and  sunk  into  deep  thoughts  and  started  typing  on  

her  laptop.  

Then  she  brought  out  some  documents/paperwork.  (And  the  same  time,  

I  noticed  her  handbag  was  full  of  course  books  and  documents)  

She  looks  like  got  stuck  in  something.  She  rotated  her  chair  to  fit  to  a  

more  comfortable  gesture  (she  is  facing  to  me  but  keeping  reading  on  the  

table)  

She  kept  thinking  and  reading  the  paper  until  I  leave.  

b) Implications  

This  girl  may  be  very  hard  working,  as  we  can  see  her  fixed  on  her  jobs  

all  the  time,  seldom  looked  over  other  walk-­‐around  people  or  got  diverted  

by  mobile  phone.  Her  handbag  is  full  of  books!  Which  can  also  prove  the  

assumption.  

She  cared  about  their  physical  comfort,  as  she  rotated  the  chair  and  

drank  sometimes.    

c) Conclusions  

This  girl  can  be  categorized  in  the  first  group  of  people  (sits  and  reads  

books  or  be  fixed  on  computer  screen  for  a  long  time)  

Roughly  speaking,  she  might  be  a  self-­‐discipline  student  

2. B  

a) Observation  

B  is  a  girl,  also  worn  a  pair  of  boots.  

She  was  chewing  gum,  worked  on  her  laptop  for  a  while  then  left  away.  

But  soon  she  came  back.  

She  started  to  talk  to  the  people  around  her.    

She  always  picked  up  her  iPhone  and  texted  messages,  and  then  went  

back  to  her  laptop  again.  This  was  repeated  several  times.  

Afterwards,  she  left  again.  But  I  caught  her  laptop  screen  showing  that  

she  was  reading  something  on  it.  Soon  she  came  back.    

Whenever  there  was  a  people  walking  by  or  there  was  some  sound  

bursting  somewhere,  she  would  head  up  and  looked  around.    

b) Implications  

This  girl  might  be  hard  to  focus  on  something;  at  least  she  was  not  focus  

well  on  her  jobs  on-­‐hand  at  that  time.  Her  attentions  got  diverted  easily  

and  she  gave  me  a  sense  that  she  was  trying  to  catch  other’s  attentions.  

She  may  suffer  a  bad  routine,  as  her  time  management  was  not  good  

enough.  

c) Conclusions  

This  girl  can  be  categorized  as  the  third  type  of  people  (spends  half  time  

doing  study,  half  time  doing  other  stuff)  

3. C  is  not  worth  detailing  as  he  came  in  the  observation  period  late.  (But  I  did  jot  

down  his  activities  and  actions)  

 

About  Interview  

I  chose  a  Chinese  boy  who  also  spent  lots  of  time  doing  his  homework  at  the  library  

for  the  interview.  He  has  about  30  hours  weekly  of  spare  time.  But  2/3  is  spent  on  

study  including  extra  reading  and  learning.  Only  1/3  is  spent  on  physical  exercises,  

movies,  shopping  and  eating.  He  thought  his  lifestyle  was  not  healthy  enough  and  if  

he  could  has   less  homework  he  would  prefer   to  go  out  a   lot  rather   than  sitting  all  

day.  But  also  he  blamed  his  situation  as  bad   time  management  and   low  efficiency.  

While  going  out,  he  prefers  eating  and  watching  movies.  

 

Another  participant  is  an  American  boy  who  said  he  seldom  come  to  the  library.  He  

has  20  hours  weekly  to  spend  but  the  scale  between  sitting  and  going  out  may  vary  

by  all  the  jobs  he  encountered.  He  enjoyed  surfing  the  Internet,  browsing  Facebook  

and   listening   to  music.  Sometimes  he  would   text  his   friends  or   just  drops  by   their  

dorm   to   ask  out   for  playing  Ping  Pong  or  other   sports.  He  deemed  his   lifestyle   as  

moderate  as  healthy.  If  he  has  enough  money  or  there  are  cheap  deals  then  he  will  

go   out.   Most   time   he   prefer   to   go   out   with   his   friends.  When   going   out,   he   likes  

sightseeing,  walking  and  wandering  downtown  and  just  window-­‐shopping.  

 

Implication  for  Design  

As   from   the   observation,   interview   and   with   our   assumptions,   we   generalize   the  

following  points  for  design  improvement.  

1. High  pressure  

When  suffering  on  this  symptom,  people  really  need  something  to  trigger  their  

motivation  to  go  out.  Presenting  more  relaxing  and  attracting  events  or  activities  

through  our  application  can  intrigue  them  to  move,  or  at  least,  want  to  move.  For  

instance,  presenting  beautiful  view  spots  advertisement.  

2. Non-­‐social  

People  maybe   shy   in   face   but   active   online   because   of   they   can   get   rid   of   the  

social   responsibilities   without   revealing   their   actual   identities.   Therefore,   our  

application  can  lead  them  in  two  ways:  first,  encourage  them  to  join  the  events  

discussion  online  by  giving  prizes  or  gifts,  such  as  “commenting  on  xxx  can  win  a  

big  prize”;  second,  lead  them  to  take  pride  in  good  social  events  which  can  fulfill  

their  social  responsibilities  and  reveal  their  actual  identities  (by  making  friends),  

like   asking   them   to   do   social   charity   which   others   can   compliment   their  

behaviors.  

3. Sedentary  lifestyle  /  bad  time  management  

We   can   add   some   notification   features   to   ask   our   users   keep   going   out.   For  

example,   the   system   catches   that   one   user   hasn’t   “unlocked”   Boston   for   two  

weeks,  then  the  app  will  alert  him  about  this  issue,  notifying  that  it  may  concerns  

their  health  problem.  

4. Active  buddies  /  Inactive  buddies  

For   active   type   of   people,   we   can   add   an   event   promotion   feature   to   our  

application.   Those   people   can   easily   initiate   others   to   join   certain   “unlock”  

activities.    

For   those   inactive,   they   can   quickly   find   the   events   that   they   interest   in   and  

follow  the  promoters.  

5. Interested  in  new  stuff  

Adding  Augmented  Reality  feature  to  the  application  can  make  the  system  more  

interactive   and   intrigue   those  who   enjoy   getting   involved  with   new   stuff.   Also  

with  the  newest  technology  feature,  they  can  show  off  to  their  friends  which  can  

fulfill  their  social  satisfaction.  

                                                             

Appendix