GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
- all people on laptop go to Google News-- we should look at it
- some people would like to sit (8 min. too long to stand?)
- but these tended to be the people writing! can't see map while sitting?
- role are very divided and not much sharing of object or trackball
- two people on left can share object but third person on right usually doesn't
- two people on right can share trackball but usually third person controls
- people point to the vertical screen to gesture, seems like they want to be closer
- people lean on the table to look at the map more closely
- share object during free time, but not during task
- visited more sites and countries on Map Table
- problems with group use
- third person on right (see above)
- hard to communicate to others what you are looking at on vertical screen
- discord between those reading and who is clicking
- discord betwen who is clicking and who is telling where to click
note: these discord things only verbalized in one group
TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS
- trackball is bad
- sometimes clicking doesn't work: people have to click twice to get news
- fix coutnry name display so doesn't display all clicked but only most recent
- have to explain top, bottem, and small islands don't work
- problems clicking on little countries in NW Africa
- "United KingdoN "
- check Central Af. Rep. and Nigeria websites
Things people wanted...
- every country
- back button function?
- keyboard?
- multiple windows (used a lot on laptop)
- cross hatch on object/ more exact way of selecting country
_______________Written Observations: Full text
Group 1
Map Table:
- said didn't like the trackball
- person in front of trackbal is the one who uses it
- someone pulled up a chair to sit it (don't like standing)
- person who writes works the trackball
Laptop:
- returned to news saw from before on the Map table
- keep returning to google multiple times
- tried different international newspaper websites (al jazeera)
- used multiple windows to tab through
- a lot of discussion about where to go (more so then on Map Table)
- set up defined roles: 1 person writes, 1 in control, 1 on lookout
Group 2
Free time:
- played with clicking on a lot of countires very quickly: messed up country name display goes through all of them
- thrid person had to be offered before tried using object
Map Table:
- fixed roles: 1 person writes, 1 trackball, 1 object
- searched entire page, scrolling through map trackball
- third person writing awkwardly pushed to side by person using trackball |_____| o_|
X X X
- people suggest which countries to go to
Laptop:
- suggest specific stories to search for (prior knowledge)
- open new indows
- look into and read stories in detail
- discussed level of importance of stories, if they were a "big deal"
- ask each other if they agree
- more tension: task or laptop?
Group 3
Free time:
- people all lean on table to see the map more clearly
Map Table:
- search for news by region/continents, i.e. all the countries in South America
- split up control in the beginning
- had trouble using the trackball
- mentioned lack of ability to type
- evaluated countries by "who would care"
- said it was "nice to know which counties are close to each other"
- scrolled through news searching
- "being so close to the screen makes it hard to read it"
- only one change of trackball control and was verbally decided
- person who was "scanning" tried to encourage others to look at news as well
Laptop:
- need to arrange chairs and move around for eveyone to see: lean/shift chairs towards central user
- users issue "commands" to the central keyboarder: play the mouse with gesture, lean back and verbally dictate
- delegate who does what role to start with
- discuss which countries are in the region and which news stories they have heard of
- also go to international newspapers- saw that previous group went to al jazeera
Group 4
Laptop:
- designate positons - computer, no.2 and backseat driver
- google news
- uses news listings and not into coverage much
- runs out of options, lots of repetition after a while of sites
- looks at international newspapers afer intial google search
- is sustained interst/particpation in activity an indicator?
- finished witth nearly 2 min. left
- central person at keyboard has control, others dictate what to type, where to point mouse
- discussed types of news sites to go- can't go to foreign language ones don't understand
Map Table:
- click and step back to digeset
- one for trackball and one for object
- collects data before writing trends on sheet of paper
- date of news important
- some disagreements about equpiment
- person writing sits down
Group 5
Laptop:
- afer searching for ______ (lora?) News, Taiwan Times, Int'l sites one by one, specefic newspaper pages
- look at NPR
- Google, lists countries from sources there
- very quiet, little speaking or gesture, mostly mouse and all watch the screen
- gesturing ____ freed from search engine, more vocal
Free time:
- thrid person on right never does much
Map Table:
- people point to the vertical screen a lot to gesture
- people lean on table a lot to rest (would like chairs?)
- said pointer needs to be more accurate
- asked "what has ties to the Middle East?"
- mentioned lack of a "back" button: clicked on country again to perform or right click on trackball
- disagreements about what is the Middle East
Group 6
Laptop:
- used google to search for news sources for different countries, i.e. "[country] news" (didn't know about Google news?)
- positioning problems with chairs
- look at each news website using the search function
- decided to go by region, "pick a continent"
Free time:
- said "the map is tiny"
- lean over map to see better
- impressed by Bhutan
Map Table:
- take notes, the top three stories from each country and then match up
- assign roles
- no back function
- pointing/ gesturing to veritcal screen: hard to indicate/point
- disagreements: clicked on different country while others still reading news
- apologizing because one person using object and other telling where to go don't always match up
___________________________________
Task 1
Laptop more succesful at task 1
Map Table: 7, 6, 5
Laptop: 14 13, 6
- generally their countries spanned more continents
- most used a search function to find mention of it
- advantage because more newspapers for each country
Task 2
Map Table more succseful at task 2
Laptop: 5, 3, 2
quality scores: 4, 2.5, 1.5
Map Table: 5, 4, 4
quality scores: 2.5, 2.5, 3.5
Group 1
- 2 suicide bombers in Israel
- Israel agrees to hand over cities to Palestine
Group 2
- Israel withdrawing from 4 West Bank cities within 2 weeks
- US apology for mosque-flag incident
- ongoing chaos in Iraq (clerical condemnation, GIs dying)
- UN okays Iraqi Governing (?) Council
- Libya owns up to Lockerbie
Group 3
- Isreal released 75 Palestinian prisoners
- Baghdad riot over flag, mosque, stones
- Israel assassinated Islamic Jihad leader
Group 4
- Libya deal
- soldiers killed in Iraq
- Isreal peace plan not working
- two Al Qaeda operatives arrested
[ not a ME story... Power outage in NYC]
Group 5
- Reports on 2 attacks US with Baghdad
- Lockerbie Deal with Lybia
- Sharon v. Abbos (?)
- Palestinian prisoners - 75
- Saudi diplomat expelled
[ sixth answer can't read... slists rolley?]
Group 6
- Libya acusses France
- Brit soldier killed in Iraq
- Saudi Crown Prince uproot terror
- Troops kill Jihad's Hebron chief
Something to note-- the people who preferred to sit were usually the people who were doing the writing. If this table is somthing where people come to casually process information, standing hopefully won't be a problem, but if it's a matter of formally recording or formally reading the news (perhaps for a more extended period of time), then seating could be an issue.
Posted by: Lora at August 19, 2003 11:16 AM