Welcome,

HCI project, ErrandMate (01/2010~03/2010)

(team member:Nai-Hwa Chiang | John Jarosz | Stefan Keir |

Clifton McIntosh | Dan Meyer | Roy Torres)

Project Overview

This app is for those who are out and about running errands and need to locate a business within walking or driving distance from their present location. The errandmate^TM app allows the user to select a business, such as cleaners, grocery store, bank, major department store, etc., or if you know the name of the business - you can type it in. The maps feature will "queue" them up in order by distance from you in nearest to farthest and offer directions between the (in this case ) 4 map points (grocery, laundry, video, home).

Unlike apps like Google's 'My Location' on Google Maps, this app will be able to seamlessly plan a day’s worth of errands or tasks. The user will be able to store a profile that keeps track of their history and preferences.  Also when you select a business you will see the star rating and user reviews. This can help you to avoid a bad experience. In addition, businesses can be involved by offering special coupons, interacting with customers, and more - thus becoming a source of revenue. The rest is run by the community in terms of recommendations, votes, critiques, and so on.  The above features offer in an increase in value from the other applications currently available.

Value Proposition

Designed for the user on the go who would benefit from a tool that can manage tasks or errands and integrate it into a location and social based context. The errand mate is a lifestyle application that helps organize, plan, and discover new businesses. Unlike Yelp or TripIt, our product allows the user to create tasks and find the nearest preferred locations based on a profile the user creates, as well as having user reviews and a trip organizer.

 download final report for ErrandMate

               

 
                         

          (program used: OminiGraffle.)

DEMO project, Observation filmming (01/2009~08/2009)

(team member:Nai-Hwa Chiang |Naveen Ravikumar)

How to get into user’s shoes and feel their pain or problems?

In ID, we believe that through observation, we can collect the information from user intearction with the environment and the products. However, we might need to ask ourselves, are the data we gathered has been contaminated because people put on acting when camera’s around? Then how to make the observed object feel more comfortable of being watched and documented? (Less reactive effects.) How to balance between natural setting and artificial setting in order to get the helpful informations?

Grandparents raising grandchildren is a national phenomenon with statistics at over 2.4 million. In Illinois, the figure climbs above 104,000 and Chicago alone has more than 41,000 grandparent-headed households. Grand Families is a Chicago-based 501 (3) (c) not-for profit organization serving 150 families helping provide information services and support to grandparents and their grandchildren. Grandparents have to work within the court system
regarding matters of custody. The process is confusing and difficult for stressed grandparents to navigate. One aspect of this project will be understanding the structure of the custody court system, the process and the obstacles within it and how it can be made to work better for both users and administrators. Another aspect of this project will entail the development of a toolkit for new participants in the program.