#UQExlpore DECO3500/7350 - Social and Mobile Computing

UQ Explore

Sharde Nel - 43190234

Sofia Grijalva - 43351875

Rhys Mckenzie - 43914823

Shireesh Shrivastava - 43799011

Due Date: 30th - October - 2016

Final Report

Promotional Material:

Our promotional material is in the form of a website, showcasing the highlights of our application and strong selling points. The files for our website can be found on our Github page. They need to be downloaded to be viewed.

Link to the prototype:

https://invis.io/Y78LVJQME
Our prototype is in the form of an Invision file. The final version can be viewed by the link supplied above. To use the prototype, click the hot spots on each page, and if it is a function we covered, it will take you to the corresponding page.

Summary:

UQ Explore aims to address the lack of ways users can get local news delivered conveniently to them while also presenting itself as interesting and entertaining. We achieved this by creating a mobile app that allows users to quickly and easily access their local news while also enabling users to explore fun and social activities. We chose UQ because we all unanimously felt that local campus news was abundant but means to access it was not. However, we didn’t want to create an environment where emails from the UQ Union were the only way that students could receive local news as these emails do not appeal to the vast majority of students. We all felt that the academic news is thoroughly covered through official UQ and faculty announcements so the decision was made to focus more on Clubs & Societies and Food & Retail news.

Process:

To tackle the problem of presenting campus news to students and staff in a more engaging way, we decide to create a social/mobile app that permit the students connect between them, share and find events.
- First we thought of the possible news the university may produce:
- General information(Holidays, Security, General changes, others)
- General events(Market Day, Conferences, others)
- Societies and clubs news
- Faculties news
- Students events

Before starting to work on the design we had to choose the type of news that we will show. We decided to focus primarily on the ‘student’s social life’ aspect in place of the academic aspect, so information provided by clubs/societies and general uni events were planned on being displayed in the app.
The design started with a brainstorm of the different features the app could have, however initially we came up with too many features and had to cull it back for the sake of time and the quality of the app. After some discussion we decide to focus on 3 main features:
- Sign Up Section (authentication)
- User interests to personalize news feed
- Game section (Gamification)

Sign Up section:

Since the application focus on the university local news thus the app’s audience are UQ students, to Sign Up it’s necessary to have a student or staff UQ id, email, and a password. In the beginning there were a few ideas of how this could be done, for example using student id or student email, also to authenticate the user a code was going to be sent as either a text message or an email. While working on the design for the initial login page we underwent user testing with UQ Students on campus. During the user testing many users voiced their concerns about privacy and security, especial where their student number was concerned. Another concern was that sending an SMS required the mobile number of the user and most were hesitant to hand them out to an unfamiliar application. Users also mentioned that the usage of multiple forms of UQ identification (student number and UQ email) seemed both unnecessary and unsafe. After evaluating the feedback gathered from the user testing the team decide that the combination of a UQ email and confirmation code, sent to the aforementioned email address, would be both the safest and most efficient options.

Furthermore this combination allows users to be uniquely identifiable in the case that their friends search for them and the removal of anonymity reduces the chances of users spamming within the application. Also during user testing a few users raised a concern that they might want to experience the application before committing their details to the application. To solve this issue we decided that the login/sign up screen should have a skippable option so that user can explore the application without having to hand over any personal information. We also felt that users who don’t have an account with UQ Explore shouldn’t have full functionality within the application otherwise this removes the need for a user to create an account in the first place, so to counter this we decided that the user will only be able to access a limited number of features before being prompted to log in or sign up..

User’s interests /News Feed section:

This section originally was split in two that consisted of a screen where the user would select their interests, and then a news feed screen that would be at the core of UQ Explore. In the beginning we thought to display a list of generalised interest categories (ex. Sports, Food, Music, etc.) that were gathered from a survey sent out to potential users. However after some test sessions and feedback from tutors, we realize that some users would find this tedious and unnecessary so a ‘skip’ option was added. We also found that users felt that having the customisation screen made the entire application feel dated, so we began to research ways we could still tailor the experience for individual users without having the users explicitly state what it is they wanted to see more of. Through this research of new technologies, we found out that some other applications (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) personalise what appears on your feed through an algorithm that tracks what posts you like and will present types of posts similar to what you like often. We then decided that this could be implemented in a similar way by tracking what events users 'check in' to often and presenting them with events or articles with similar tags. The tags feature is also used when users search for articles as the search function will scan the tags of articles and display them back to the user, allowing users to search for more articles within the same topic.

Rewards Section:

In this section we decided to implement a game that gives students access to deals and discounts in some food outlets of the campus, enticing them to continue using UQ Explore. To decide how we would go about implementing a game/rewards system we did user testing by presenting users with 3 different ways to play. Our participants were students from a DECO1800 tutorial. We showed them an augmented reality based game, QR Codes system, and a 'spin the wheel' game. For the augmented reality game, we used Aurasma to test the camera function and used a poster from Boost as the target image. A riddle was presented to the user to help them find the ‘hidden coupon’ in the poster. Most of them preferred the augmented reality game, with the 'spin the wheel' concept being a second choice for most users, however the QR codes concept was mostly ignored. You can see some pictures of the user testing here:
[https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-HOtvAkRuyHTjdZdlJvZlJYRnc] After the users tried the 3 methods, the users completed a survey:
[https://goo.gl/forms/YS6AvhM12p5UJMY33]

Scenarios

Link to 1:[https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-HOtvAkRuyHSzdBRWFBaDRSTlU]

Link to 2:[https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-HOtvAkRuyHV2NXckR4TjRSeFk]

Link to 3:[https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-HOtvAkRuyHM2llajJOcGdxaUU]

What each Team Member did:

Sharde:
Created the final prototype, all of the mockups and functionality hotspots in Invisiton.
Made the promotional website.
User tested the 3 types of games to choose one for the rewards section.
Created the mockups used for the first round of reward testing (The Spin Wheel, The boost page and QR codes).
Help in Github documentation and reports
Assist to team meetings to elaborate documentation or practice stand ups.

Rhys:
Created mock ups for the scrapped ‘Customise Your Preferences’ screen and the ‘Feed’ page.
User tested the preferences that users would like to be displayed (though through further user testing the idea was scrapped.
Researched ways we could still tailor the experience for the users without explicitly asking for their preferences
Assisted with the design behind the final prototype for the ‘Feed’ screen.
Help in Github documentation.
Assist to team meetings to elaborate documentation or practice stand ups.

Shireesh:
The initial project idea was mine and then discussed with the team to further enhance this idea.
User authentication feature development, scrapped mock ups and personas.
On campus user acceptance testing for authentication and confirmation code feature.
Business development of this application (UQ and UQU).
Help in Github documentation.
Assist to team meetings to elaborate documentation or practice stand ups.

Sofia:
Created mockups for user testing of reward section.
Link[https://www.fluidui.com/editor/live/preview/p_JArmINJaMdADa9nT7nDfDdfOuqW7S8e2.1473817524975] Create QR Codes and Aurasma development for testing and prototype.
User tested the 3 types of games to choose one for the rewards section.
Create mockups for scrapped rewards section(welcome page/tutorial).
Create scenarios and do storyboards of them.
Help in Github documentation.
Assist to team meetings to elaborate documentation or practice stand ups.

This marks the end to our final report

#UQExlpore DECO3500/7350 - Social and Mobile Computing

DECO3500/7350 PROJECT PROPOSAL | Social Mobile Computing

Semester 1

UQ Explore

Sharde Nel - 43190234

Sofia Grijalva - 43351875

Rhys Mckenzie - 43914823

Shireesh Shrivastava - 43799011

Due Date: 5th - September - 2016

1.0 Introduction

News and information broadcasted around the University of Queensland has two major flaws. There is a lot of it, and only a small percentage of that information actually reaches its intended marketed audience. There is not enough awareness of UQ social events and many things on offer that may be of interest to students get overlooked. With 50 000 potential individuals to connect and inform, broad UQ Union emails send out at the end of each week simply isn’t enough.
To solve this issue, we have proposed a mobile application that aims to advertise local news and social events to the students of UQ in a fun and engaging way. We will introduce features such as food discounts on the campus via interactive games through the app, a notification system that notifies you of social events in your surrounding areas and maps on market day that outline locations of stalls and attractions. All of these aspects will be found under UQ Explore, where students will be able to broadcasts every side of the university from the palm of their hands. We will create a social network that caters primarily to a university body.

2.0 Concept

2.1 Outline

The use of mobile phones is one of the most popular forms of electronic communication. The majority of young individuals use their cellphones to organise and maintain their social networks. This is the perfect means to be tapped into as a platform to broadcast events to a person, in this case, the students. (Campbell,2005 )
By using this kind of app, the student will enhance their navigation experience around uni by using interactive campus maps. It will facilitate a connection with classmates and faculty, not only by helping make new friends through social media integration but by having more access to social events around campus. (TapWalk,2010).

2.2 Project Aims and Audience

For this project, the intended audience is students and possibly staff of UQ, across all campuses. Students will be able to sign into the app with their student ID, and staff with their staff ID. Presidents of clubs and faculty will be granted access to post about upcoming events. Otherwise, there will be a forum where students can place a request to post, which will be decided upon via an admin group. The application aims to raise awareness about UQ based events making them more discoverable by students, as well as providing more information about these events which include Market Day, Election Day, Come-and-try events, and Sausage Sizzles. UQ Explore will also allow students to participate in limited time offers provided by participating food outlets across campus. These offers will require the students to participate in a game that will see them shaking their devices to receive discounts on food items. Students will have only a certain amount of time to retrieve their discount. The application will also notify the users about events that are taking place near them according to the interests that they selected upon signing up. This helps create an environment where students receive news and information they enjoy, so that more continual use can be reached.
UQ Explore will aim to establish partnerships with businesses and the UQ Union to fully deliver on its intended functionality, with such partnerships allowing revenue to be generated through the integration of vouchers for businesses within UQ. Election day vouchers received from voting can be received through the app, cutting down on paper cost and waste.
While current aims are targeted to social events, future implementations could aim to include facility updates and information nights more specific to degrees. UQ has a lot of information on offer and there are many different facilities and boards that could use this app to really broadcast their institutions. To begin with however, we are primarily focusing on the social and networking aspect and only after we have this foundation can we expand the functionality of the application.

2.3 Comparing to Existing Systems

UQ Explore works on ideas closely related to both the Hungry Jacks and Meetup applications, but it differs in how these features will be implemented. In this application, users will login using their UQ student or staff details and select their interests from a variety of options. The application will then search for events, discounts, or news near the user that relates to his/her interests and will notify the user about such events through push notifications or in app alerts. This will work similarly to how the Meetup app presents information and events that cater to the user’s interests. The user will also be able to play a mini-game where they can shake their phone to receive a limited-time discount on food items a la the Hungry Jacks application.
An example of a social networking app that has been successfully implemented, is the one developed by the University of South Wales (2015). The students can chat with surrounding individuals, meet people with mutual interests, find students or tutors to help them with assignments and projects and all round keep connected.

3.0 Team

3.1 Team roles and responsibilities

Sofia Grijalva | 43351875 Role: Content and Investigator
Responsible for finding evidence and new technologies that support the creation of the app. Create team discussion and brainstorming.

Rhys McKenzie| 43914823 Role: Back end and information Systems Responsible for creating and managing any back end functionality and database design for the application.

Shardé Nel | 43190234 Roel: Team Leader and Project Manager Responsible for the design and any front end development for the application. This includes the logistics side, equipment, meetings, transport, etc;

Shireesh Shrivastava| 43799011 Role: Business Analyst Responsible for the business approach to the development of the application. If team leader isn’t present, responsible for logistics such equipment, meetings, transport, etc.

3.2 How will we work together

We will model our work ethic after the Scrum Methodology. We will have sprints every two weeks and ‘daily’ scrums twice a week. In this time will delegate new roles and revise current work being done, as well as discuss improvements, resolve any difficulties within the scope and work to resolve concerns outside our control. We will utilize the scrum values of Focus, Courage, Openness, Commitment and Respect. We will base the sprint workload on the outlined discussed in section 5 below.

3.3 How decisions will be made

Major decisions will be decided upon with a vote from the team. If there is a hung vote, we will openly discuss and include additional tutor input. Once a tutor has given feedback, based on that feedback we will reevaluate and continue from there.

3.4 How will the team handle poor performance and resolve conflicts address?

Firstly, we will discuss with that particular team member if they are capable of doing and/or happy with the work they are assigned and possibly change that role to benefit the team. If further poor performance or conflict occurs, we will seek out tutor help and input.

4.0 Communication

4.1 Meet

Friday during practical. Additionally, once a week on Tuesday at 5pm in GP South room 221

4.2 Communication

We will communicate through our slack channel: https://deco3500.slack.com/messages/uqexplore/ as well as our facebook group page and email. A Google Drive folder will be used to store and share files. Folder’s will be named after each piece of assessment, and any contents will be named according to what it is.

4.2 Social Platforms

Facebook has been chosen as our platform of choice because of its accessibility and it is easy to be notified, as well as allows all team members to message each other and upload files. We will also use slack as it is a tool recommended by the course and allows for communication between group members. Google drive allows for multiple edits on the one file at the same time, so is useful for collaborative reports and documents.

5.0 Plan

5.1 Plan Breakdown

The “UQ Explore” project worksheet has been divided into seven phases, with tasks, deliverables and milestones outlined for each phase. These tasks will be monitored and measured based on the five parameters.

1. Plan Start – Start week for the project e.g. “1” denotes the beginning of the week for that semester.
2. Plan Duration – It denotes how many weeks required to complete the task.
3. Actual Start – It denotes when the assigned task started.
4. Actual Duration – It denotes total time taken to the particular task to get completed.
5. Percent Complete – It denotes that how much work completed during that assigned week. The worksheet has five labels which help to indicate and measure the actual status of the project. These labels are “Plan”, “Actual”, “% Complete”, “Actual (beyond plan)” and “%Complete Beyond Plan”.

The following task have been identified as crucial milestones for the brief and mentioned in the Gantt Chart bellow.

• Weekly meeting at Tuesday
• Weekly Meeting at Tutorial
• Grammar & Plagiarism Check - Proposal and Presentation
• Project Idea Submission
• Topic Selection and Confirmation
• Oral Pitch
• Project Proposal (Oral Pitch Feedback Included) - High Level Requirement
• Project Proposal Presentation (Milestone)
• Design Discussion - Features and Research
• Design Implementation - Diagrams and Architecture
• Design Completion (Milestone)
• Prototype Development
• Prototype Implementation
• Prototype Completion (Milestone)
• Break Time - Holidays
• Testing and Optimization
• Project Completion - Deliverables (Milestone)

5.2 Technologies

Our initial take on how we are going to build a prototype that mimics the features of UQ Explore is by building a web application using HTML, CSS and Javascript. We can also utilise PHP to build the login page and if we find it necessary, implement a scaled down database that will hold the ID’s of the students. We will also use google maps API to mimic the interactive map for UQ market days. Different technologies will be used as a result of the challenges we face during build.

6.0 Tags

#Awareness #UQCampusNews #Events #Students #Social

7.0 Bibliography

TapWalk Mobile App Features, 2016, TapWalk [Online] Avaialbe at http://tapwalk.com/ Date accessed: 1/09/2016

Uni-Verse and UNSW Soical apps, 2016, Australia UNSW [Online] Avaialbe at https://student.unsw.edu.au/universe Date accessed: 1/09/2016