DTUI Booksite Project 1: LoFi Prototyping [Projects Menu][Project 2]

The exercise is to be the work of a group of students, but the submission for marking will consist of both a group report and an individual report as detailed below. Since it is commonly accepted wisdom that user interfaces should be developed by an interdisciplinary team, I will place students in groups which as far as possible provide a range of years of study, course of study, sex, etc. The marks awarded to an individual will take into account variations in performance by individual members of each group as well as the overall performance of the group.

Please read "Prototyping for Tiny Fingers", Marc Rettig, Communications of the ACM, Volume 37, Number 4, April 1994, pages 21-27. This discusses the merits of so-called LoFi Prototyping and describes how LoFi Prototyping techniques can be used to develop user interfaces without the need for costly experimental computer implementation. Your task as a group is to construct a LoFi prototype user interface and to demonstrate this user interface in action. No computer implementation will be accepted, but you may use computer aides for drawing, printing, etc. of interface components if you wish. I will not accept demonstrations based on Hypercard stacks, slide presentations, or video tapes.

Norwich and Norfolk are currently seeking funding under the aegis of the Technopolis Project for a replacement of the City Library and the establishment of "information superhighway" access to the new library and other centres across the count. Clearly the new library will be expected to be based on modern IT with all the new opportunities this provides but it will also have to cater for conventional users in an easy-to-use way. You are asked to design an interface which will allow access to library facilities for a range of users from run-of-the-mill borrowing to reference to archive exploration and research. Thus your interface should cater for both information retrieval and browsing. Your design should be based on a knowledge of library use, observation of library users, and modern developments such as the World Wide Web.

The Group Report will consist of an Illustrated Overview and User Guide to your system together with an Assessment on how your group organised the work in terms of assigning responsibilities to team members, the methodology used, a history of the development of your prototype, and details of testing and user reaction to your prototype.

The Individual Report will consist of a personal view of the work of the group and the prototype developed by it together with an assessment of the part played by the individual in the work of the group.

You will be asked to give a brief demonstration of the working of your prototype.

Assessment

The marks for the Group Report and the Demonstration will be allocated identically to all members of a group unless either the group suggests a different disposition of marks in the Group Report or an individual makes out a strong case for different treatment in the Individual Report in which case some consultation with other members of the group may be necessary.

Please send comments and suggestions to the Booksite Director Last Updated: 12 March 2000