Daniel Lee Blog 6

As I was paying my credit bills online on chase.com, I thought the design by Chase used some of the techniques described in chapter five of our textbook. First is that the website provides instructive design. On the first step page of the credit card payment page, the user is only required to fill out or choose 3 fields. These fields include pay from, payment amount, and payment date. Pay from section is default to your chase bank account so the users really do not have to worry about. Payment amount has four different options to choose from and each option has instructive text on the right side of the option that teaches the users how to fill in that field. Payment date automatically default as the current date but user can change easily. By having the default current day, the user can see what format of the date is required to fill in.

Chase also provides help documents for the users to fully understand. Next to every required field, there is a picture of a question mark in a green box. Once the user clicks this box, help center on a new window pops up and the users are able to read more in detail about the field user have questions about.

Derek Schutz Blog #6

In chapter 5 of Designing the Obvious, Robert Hoekman talks about getting users up to speed with applications in a way called "up to speed" aids. For project 4, we designed a fridge that could interact with its users. For a beginner or a first time user, the way the fridge works, and how the fridge is working and interacting could be very confusing. Users are going to want to know what the fridge is capable of, how to maneuver around it, and what it is actually doing. A good way to update and inform the users of this information it to use the "up to speed" aid. Simply installing a short video guide that is initiated as soon as the fridge is first used, and is accessible at anytime, would benefit the user immensely. The video could show the user how the device operates, along with how to get started, and what its capabilities are.

Tarana Patel (Blog 6)

Designing the obvious book is very interesting. I am learning lots from the book that will help me in future. This book is very easy to read, useful information and very well organized by step by step with lots of examples this will help reader to follow easily.

After reading chapter 5 in Designing the Obvious, for our refrigerator the techniques I would apply to our project 4 the category of using an Up-to-speed aid. Users might face problem like how to start, how it’s work, what to do and so on and on because they don’t know how to use it. Use Up-to-speed Aids can provide a video tour that shows users a quick overview of the how product work and product’s main feature and also will provide a getting starting point to users and tell how they can log in and log out and all other important information.

--- Tarana Patel

Chambers - Blog 6

Because our refrigerator in project 4 does mostly everything automatically and without user commands, it doesn't leave a lot of room for helping the user out. Though if I had to choose, I would pick the "fill the blank slate with something useful" or "provide helpful tips." Perhaps by pressing a button on the side of the refrigerator, the refrigerator could state its functions and suggest activities to the user such as "try opening the refrigerator when you don't know what to eat!" This seems to be the only way to give the user something to start with given the lack of interface.

L. Smith - Blog 6

For Project 4, our set of keys offered some security settings that may frustrate some users if they were unsure how to modify or properly use them. Our device was operated by a touchscreen. After reading Chapter 5, I believe offering tips in the form of a question mark icon would be the best solution. This would make it clear and simple for a user to touch the icon which would bring up tips and hints. These would be concise but very helpful in explaining how the device operates.

By the way, this book isn't too bad. I usually find myself reading for this class before I do my others because it is easier to follow along and stay awake.

Week 06 Blog Assignment

This has been a busy week with a major project due and the first exam. But we need to keep moving forward in our book, Designing the Obvious. I hope you’re enjoying it and that you agree it’s better than reading most textbooks. Please let me know!

For this week, we turn to Chapter 5, “Turn Beginners Into Intermediates, Immediately.” It’s an interesting topic with a number of challenges. A user can be naive about a new application but an expert in something else. Or a user can be naive in general about technology.

For this assignment, select one of the techniques in Chapter 5 and show how it might be applied to your Project #4. OR… if you’re tired with Project #4 (!), find an online application (tell us what it is and provide a link) and explain how one or more of the techniques are used effectively in that site. (Do not choose one of the examples in the chapter.)

Nick Swan (Blog 5)

The mental model is how the user perceives the object based on his or her experiences. This is something that does not have to be true but is thought by the user to be. A great example of this and one which we talked about in class is the trash can and thermostat examples where the user thinks that the trash can actually deletes the item and that turning the thermostat up higher actually increases how fast the room warms up. This contrasts with the implementation model because the programmer designs the product for the programmers benefit and not the users.

Austin Frink Blog #5

What is the user’s mental model with respect to an object's personality and surrounding interactions?

The user's mental model of an object is essentially the user's intuitive descriptive understanding of and relationship to an object's personality and interactions. The user may not truly understand the nuts and bolts of the software, but they may be extremely skilled at using the software. A good example would be the pallete feature in Photoshop. You select a color from a vibrant transitioning gradient of all the colors of the rainbow, but what is actually happening is RGB values between 0-255 are being altered to add or subtract from the red,green, and blue color values (or hex values, or HSB).

How might this mental model contrast with the implementation model of the programmers?

As in the above, the color pallete of Photoshop is an easy intuitive color selection system for artists and users, but it is far from what is actually going on digitally deep inside the computer. Ones and zeros, trues and falses are all that exist when at the bottom of what makes these apps tick.

Daniel Lee Blog #5

The user’s mental model is what they believe to be true.  According to our book, it is generally based on the user’s experiences, and how they assimilate new things into their existing knowledge.  Although the users believe to be true, their perception is not necessarily the truth.  Their perception is only based on their feelings and their experience.  The users tend to think whatever works and fulfills their goal whether it is true or not. 

 

This mental model strongly contrast with the implementation model of the programmers because the programmers are thinking about how the actual programming works.  They are thinking about how to program so they know how it exactly works.  The programmers do not know about individual user’s mental model and the uses do not know how the actual programming works.  They only focus on what it is important to them.  

Josh Roberson Week 5 Blog

As you begin to think about project #4, what is the user’s mental model with respect to an object's personality and surrounding interactions?

A user's mental model of an object's personality will most likely mirror that of how they view people's personalities because it makes it easy to understand instead of understanding it is a complex series of preset responses. Like in the book when they talked about how people view deleting files of a computer they think of it as throwing something away not removing data from a hard drive to be written over later.

How might this mental model contrast with the implementation model of the programmers?

They programmers implementation model is just the opposite, they view the object's personality for what it really is, whats under the hood. Just a program set to respond in certain ways in given situations.

Derek Schutz Blog #5

A mental model is what we the user believes is true about the way something works, rather than how it actually works in the technology world. Hoekman helps describes what a mental model is by explaining how in real life we throw things away in trash cans, and how on computers we have a picture of a trash can that would drag files into to get rid of them. In most peoples heads, all we are doing is simply throwing files in the trash can to get rid of them, but that is not how it actually works. We are actually just moving those files into another folder labeled as something else that we decide is not important. A mental model is what we believe to be true about how somethings works, regardless of whether that is right or wrong. Our mental model just helps us to understand how to use a computer, rather than learning what is really going on behind the scenes. This mental model contrasts with the implementation model of the programmers in that the programmers model would be much more specific and much more detailed dealing with what is actually happening inside the computer or with the object. The programmers would have to know exactly how something works.

Elaine Fath Blog #5

The primary thing to take away from this chapter about user mental models is that people are wired to look at familiar experiences and relate them to unfamiliar or more complicated experiences that seem “similar”, even if in reality the two have very little in common on the level of execution. For example, I just used the term “wired” to describe how people think, even though human thought, evolution and experience have almost nothing in common with the literal wiring of a machine or device. But the wiring of a machine is easier to grasp, so the term has come to mean both. Even the term “mental model” falls under its own mental model—mental modelling doesn’t really have anything in common with literally “modeling,” aka sculpting. But the two seem similar to us.
The way this contrasts with programmer mental models is, because the design will be more familiar to the programmers, they are more likely to think of the design in literal terms and less likely to come up with a mental model to represent it.

Tarana Patel (Blog 5)

As you begin to think about project #4, what is the user’s mental model with respect to an object's personality and surrounding interactions?
User’s mental model is user’s individual thinking and understanding that something they think is right because of their personal experiences but in reality it does not right always or all the time they think is true as an example we discuses in class “Recycle Bin” trash can. Users are not always right this is what we learned in chapter 3 but as a designer you have to keep in mind users needs and suggestion because if you created an object that is eye catching but if your user’s have hard time with the object it’s going to waste time and money because at the end users need to understand what they are doing so they can use object easily without facing any trouble or problem.
How might this mental model contrast with the implementation model of the programmers? (Don’t get too involved with this one.)
Designer needs to keep in mind that users don’t know nothing about object they are first step of learning about object so should keep it simple so it’s easy to use and explain how the object works in simple words because users is not the designer.
--- Tarana Patel

Chambers - Blog 5

As you begin to think about project #4, what is the user’s mental model with respect to an object's personality and surrounding interactions?

A user's mental model is how they perceive an object or program to work. Someone whose knowledge of computer programs is limited will have a vastly different mental model of how things are done from how they really work.

How might this mental model contrast with the implementation model of the programmers? (Don’t get too involved with this one.)

The mental model of a user contrasts from the implementation model of programmers because the programmer knows the ins and outs of the program and exactly how the functions get done. The user, on the other hand, does not see the backend of the program and usually only gets a GUI so they don't see the detail of what's going on.

Andy McColgin Blog #5

When a user sees an object with "personality" they legitimately think that object has personality. However, as the creators of the objects, we realize that all that the personality actually is ends up being nothing more than programming. We have not created the capacity for actual artificial intelligence yet, just a resemblance of the idea. So, it is possible for the user to do something outside of the pre-programmed stimuli. This means that it is possible to frustrate a user because the product would not be able to be fully interactive and intuitive. Ideally, the creators would be able to produce a product that would be capable of interacting with all of the relevant questions, and even a good chunk of just social questions which would allow the product to emanate a human aspect.

Nathan Potts's Blog Post #5

The user's mental model with an a object can influence how the user perceives its personality and interacts with object in many ways. Take for instance a child and a stove. A child's mental model of a stove may be incomplete, and when he or she fails to understand how a stove heats a pot of water, the child places his or her hand on the burner he or she quickly realizes that the stove is hot and heats the pot. However, if the child puts his or her hand on the stove while it's cold. He or she will think nothing of it and may think that it heats a pot via magic or something else. These two interactions are just two simple examples on how a user's mental model can be differ from the interactions of that piece of technology.

Taking my previous example, a designer of a stove may be focused too hard on what is the most efficient way to heat a pot of water to boiling and may forget that children may try to grab at the stove, thus forgetting to put indicators that the stove is on. This causes a problem with a child's realization that a stove gets hot and burns if it is touched.

Kevin Noone Blog 5

What is the user’s mental model with respect to an object's personality and surrounding interactions?
The users mental model is the users own understanding of what they are actually doing when they perform a certain action on an object. It is not always wrong and it is not always right, but it helps the user understand what exactly they are doing.

In relation to project 4, that users mental model could be completely changed if the object they are acting on, responds with information concerning their current action, which would allow the user to always know exactly what they are doing.

How might this mental model contrast with the implementation model of the programmers?
The users mental model would contrast with the programmers because the programmer knows exactly what is happening. The user uses this mental model to help them, in their words, understand the process of what they are doing. The programmers mental model is the process, it is exactly what is happening.

Blog #5

A user's mental model refers to the internal reference point that he or she uses to understand the function of an application's process. For example, it is the metaphor of using a trash can to delete files on a computer. It is not essential for the user to know how the computer goes about eliminating a file from it's memory, just that putting a file in the trash gets rid of it, just as putting trash in the trash can at home gets rid of it.

A user's mental model with respect to an object's personality and surrounding interactions will be based upon that person's perceptions of similar constructs in reality. For example, if it is a refrigerator, they may expect a similar experience to what they would receive when interacting with a convenience store clerk.

This mental model may contrast with the designer's implementation model, which would be task and hierarchy focused, creating elements of the personality based upon the basic tasks the refrigerator would perform as opposed to some of the conversational elements that a user might expect from a convenience store clerk (or maybe not. Often, clerks aren't all that conversational.)

CMWORLAN BLOG 5

What is the user’s mental model with respect to an object’s personality and surrounding interactions?
The users mental model would be to look at the object in question and to think of how they assume it works with having no prior experience. In other words, it is what they believe to be true about the object and how they intend to accomplish a certain task with that object.
How might this mental model contrast with the implementation model of the programmers?
The user’s mental model, I believe, would have very little in common with the implementation model of the programmers. The programmers implementation model would go into great detail about what the object does, what the object can do, and how they anticipate the user to achieve certain goals while using the object. I don’t think this would match up with the type of things that the user thinks they would do certain things.

Tom Davidson blog #5

What is the user’s mental model with respect to an object's personality and surrounding interactions?
The user's mental model is how the user thinks something works. As with the trash can example, this model can differ substantially from how the object actually works. An example other than the trash can used in the book, was one we used in class. A thermostat. People think that they can turn the dial down further and it will get cold faster, but in reality that's not how a thermostat works.

How might this mental model contrast with the implementation model of the programmers? (Don’t get too involved with this one.)
Programmers have to know exactly how something works, from the most basic level to the most advanced. If they didn't, the object wouldn't exist. The model of the user will almost always differ from the programmers' unless the user is a programmer.