Steps in the Process: Interview with a Prospective End User

Now that I am starting to make some headway on my iPhone app coding (baby steps count) it is time to talk to a possible end user to see what his/her thoughts are about having an app for the college. It's always a good idea to conduct studies like this early on in the process to uncover what a user really wants or does not want before you begin coding and have to throw it away or start over again. I compiled a few questions and found a subject who was willing to participate. I felt that selecting someone who already had an iPhone or iPod touch would be helpful since they would already be comfortable with the device and understand its capabilities.

The Interview:
I have interjected my thoughts about the answers under each response.

Question 1.
If you could have an app on your iPhone or iPod touch about the university what would you like to have on it?

I would really like to have access to directory information (student, faculty/staff and departmental phone, email and address listings) as well as access to my email, PeopleSoft accounts, university stored file space. I would be nice to have one portal to access all of clarkson accounts in one spot.

My thoughts:
I had thought about adding an email link or functionality to the app at the beginning because George Mason's app had it on their when I did my initial review. I rejected the idea because I felt it unnecessary given that ability to pipe your email through the mail app itself. When questioned about this, my subject suggested that he would find it very functional to have all of his university interaction within one device.

Although this is now a consideration again I think it will be for a future version of the software and is currently beyond the capabilities that I have in the time I have to complete the project. I would have to do some serious exploration on security issues and interacting with the AD/ldap system that we use for authentication because I think just adding a link to access the email client with safari is pointless and less functional than just having be part of the mail app built into the device.

Question 2.
If you could download a university app that offered you access to the calendar on your mobile device would you like to see all the available options for calendars or would you like to be able to add and delete calendars based on your needs?

I would like to be able to add and delete based on my needs much like what I can currently do with the calendar version online.

My Thoughts:
I thought this might be a nice feature to have the other day when I discovered that there were functions that would allow such capabilities. I had not tied the functionality of this idea to the current capabilities of the online calendar though. It looks like I will have to continue to dig and figure out how to do this one.

Question 3.
Would you find a campus map of the university that offered additional information about buildings or landmarks useful?

It would be cool, specifically for incoming freshman.

I would really like it if it was interactive enough to help me find locations in building that are often hard to find. Some of the rooms in buildings on campus are numbered oddly and make it difficult to find my class. If I could click on buildings and view floor maps that would make it easier to find those hard to get to classrooms.

My Thoughts:
I had the same thoughts here. I think this would be the piest de resistance if I could pull it off. So far this has been much harder than I originally thought and I have been struggling through figuring out how to do it. I did find a ray of hope yesterday, The Pragmatic Bookshelf has some nice video tutorials that are only $5 a piece. I downloaded one on the mapkit and will see soon if it helps or not. I may end up tabling this until a future version as well.

Question 4.
Are you interested in news feeds from the university?

Not really. Some people would but they don't particularly interest me.

My Thoughts:
This didn't surprise me. I figured this will be a nice add to the app for content and some will like it and others won't care.

Question 5.
If an app had a few modules on it that did not meet your needs but one or two that did would you still use it?

Yes, I just wouldn't use the app portion that I didn't like.

It would be nice if I could move the modules around within the app to best suit my needs like I can do with the apps themselves. I would also like to be able to add links to some of my favorite university sites or others that I visit a lot.

My Thoughts:
I wanted to make sure having modules like the news or a campus map would not be a hindrance to users if the portion of the app didn't interest them. I'm glad to hear that it wouldn't matter. If it did I would have to consider making apps with a little more tailoring towards specific audiences. Moving modules around inside the app is a very interesting idea. I suppose it could be done since the main interface does it and I should be able to access any of the same functionality inside the app. The biggest hurdle to accomplishing this would be finding the functions to make it work. I think this is a bit beyond me at this moment but again would be something to consider later. If I could add the ability to delete a module this would also take care of the tailoring problem from question 5.

Question 6.
What are your favorite apps and why?

I use the mail and Safari most with the rest of my downloaded apps being games. I do have an app called RemotePad which is a touch pad for your desktop. It works as a mouse for your desktop. I like it because I got used to using the touch pad on my laptop and miss it on the desktop. With the wireless capability it allows me to use the controller anywhere without it taking up space on my desk.

My Thoughts:
I asked this just out of interest and to see if I could glean any information about how this user uses their mobile device. I figured through a better understanding of this I could tap into this need to make my app more useful.

In the interest of time and the difficulties that I have had getting started I am going to focus on creating the calendar module for now and if time permits I will move on to the map.