1. LIS7470 - Assignment I
Site: College of Engineering
Wayne State University
Nick DeNardis
February 23, 2011
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2. LIS7470 - Assignment 1 Personas overview
Name Junior Jimmy Community Cathy Researcher Rob Ivy League Irene
Currently attending
Role/Job title High School Junior In Community College Current Grad Student
Cornell
Age/Gender 17/Male 20/Female 26/Male 28/Female
“I have always been good “I have to pay my own “Sometimes I stay all night “Always looking for great
Quote at math and science” way through school” working on projects” faculty research”
• Lives in an apartment and • Current graduate • Current graduate
• Grown and raised in has a job student
student at Cornell
Michigan • Knows she wants to be a • In the Electric-Drive • Doing research in
• Likes math and science Mechanical Engineer Vehicle Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
• Has one more semester program
• Applying for colleges
• Has a project he needs •
before transferring to a Writing her final thesis
soon
Goals four year college
to work on • Looking for
• Looking to see what • Looking to see how to collaborators on some
Wayne State has to transfer to the Wayne • Looking to get a good research
offer State College of grade in this class
• Goal: Engineering
• Goal: • Goal:
Find faculty and
Request Information • Goal: Find an open lab with
research
Apply to the school MATLab software
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3. Wayne State College of Engineering Navigation Diagram
Home
Departments Current Faculty &
Admissions & Programs Research Alumni About Us
Students Staff
Currently Funded
Admissions Process Academic Advisors Faculty Profiles Projects Board of Directors Message from Dean
Department &
Program List
Admission Requirements Office of Student Affairs Faculty Research Research News Bylaws History
Transfer Equivalencies Student Organizations Faculty in the News Computing Facilities Hall of Fame Facts
Choose a
Program
Deadlines Courses Room Scheduling Labs & Centers Donations & Grants About the Dean
Computing Resources Associate Dean for Join the Alumni
Forms Job Postings Research Association Contact Us
(Program Name)
Honors Program Forms & Policies News & Announcements
Gradstart Program ROTC
Faculty Listing
Financial Aid & BE 1050 Orientation Project Listing
Scholarships Overview
Choose a
Apply Online Concentrations View Schedule Faculty Member Choose a
Research Project
(Faculty Member)
Curriculum Reserve a Room (Research Project)
Choose a
Facility
Information Meetings Facilities & Capabilities
Contact & Bio
Application Information Name & Amount
Description & Hours
Research
Degree Outcomes Faculty Member
Software
Publications
Request Information Policies Project Information
Workstation Layout
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4. Find a program and apply Compiled Task Analysis
Getting ready to graduate from High School means finding colleges and submitting an application
Before Scenario After Scenario
Jimmy has looked at a few competing college websites, Jimmy will continue to look for schools and apply at other
found the program he is interested in and applied. institutions.
Scenario Path through current site Path through new site
1. Homepage
2. Academic Programs
1. Homepage
3. Electrical Engineering
1. See if the college has an electrical engineering
2. Departments & Programs
program
4. Degree Information
3. Electrical Engineering (B.S.)
2. Check to see what the degree requirements are
5. Undergraduate
4. Curriculum
3. Request information
6. ECE Curriculum (PDF)
5. Request Information
4. Find out how to apply
7. Homepage
6. Application Information
8. Prospective Students
9. Admissions
* inspired by Todd Warfel's task analysis grid
4

5. Find a program and apply Compiled Task Analysis
Getting ready to graduate from High School means finding colleges and submitting an application
Before Scenario After Scenario
Jimmy has looked at a few competing college websites, Jimmy will continue to look for schools and apply at other
found the program he is interested in and applied. institutions.
Justification
The new navigation focuses on the prospective student with the main “Admissions” area that explains everything a future
students would need to know about applying to any of the College of Engineering programs. The information is published by
the main student services office instead of by each department like it is now. This keeps the requirements consistent and
reduces redundancy.
The “Departments & Programs” menu item does a good job fulfilling the needs of two audiences. They prospective student
who is looking for information based on programs and then current student/faculty member is who looking for the
departmental sites. The landing page would be a filterable and sortable list of links to further information.
Jimmy will not have to go far to find consistent and comparable information about the programs in the college since they
each will have standard information provided. Currently each department maintains their own level of information for each
program which can vary from a few sentences to multiple pages. The calls to action will either be consistently in the menu or
in the side bar of each page. He will not have to look far to take the next step.
* inspired by Todd Warfel's task analysis grid
5

6. Transferring to a four year institution Compiled Task Analysis
Cathy is looking to transfer to a four year institution to graduate with a B.S. degree
Before Scenario After Scenario
Cathy has been taking classes at her community college Cathy will look at other area colleges to transfer to, she
and looking for a place to transfer to get a full degree. has to stay close because she has a job.
Scenario
Sub-task Path through current site Path through new site
Scenario
1. Homepage
2. Academic Programs 1. Homepage
1. Check to see if there is a program in Mechanical 3. Mechanical Engineering 2. Departments & Programs
Engineering
4. Degree Requirements 3. Mechanical Engineering (B.S.)
2. Check to see what the degree completion
requirements are 5. Prerequisites 4. Curriculum
Functionality what the transfer equivalents are
3. Check to see 6. Homepage 5. Admissions
4. Request information 7. Prospective Students 6. Transfer Equivalencies
8. Admissions 7. Request Information
9. (Dead end)
* inspired by Todd Warfel's task analysis grid
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7. Transferring to a four year institution Compiled Task Analysis
Cathy is looking to transfer to a four year institution to graduate with a B.S. degree
Before Scenario After Scenario
Cathy has been taking classes at her community college Cathy will look at other area colleges to transfer to, she
and looking for a place to transfer to get a full degree. has to stay close because she has a job.
Justification
Sub-task
Scenarioknows that she is going to transfer to a larger school and just needs to find the one that offers her the best transfer
Cathy
plan. She has invested a lot of time and money into her schooling and doesn’t want to loose it. The goes straight to the
program information to make sure WSU offers the program she is interested in. She then looks for the degree completion
requirements. From here she can also get information about degree outcomes and possibly explore current student
projects.
After ensuring WSU has the degree she is interested in she goes on to the admissions area. The “Admissions” menu item is
meant to be a one stop shop for anyone interested in applying. It explains the admissions process and has a list of transfer
Functionality
equivalencies. Cathy is interested in the equivalencies since she is transferring. The link will probably go off to a separate site
at the university but it will get her what she needs. There is a “Transfer Credit” department which handles the complicated
task of matching courses from any other school to WSU’s.
Cathy will be able to make an informed decision by taking these steps. If she needs more information she can request it
from the menu.
* inspired by Todd Warfel's task analysis grid
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8. Finding a lab with specific software Compiled Task Analysis
Rob is a hard worker and often needs to find a computer to do research on, finding one that is open should be easy
Before Scenario After Scenario
Rob is looking over the requirements of his project and he Rob is going to the lab to work on his project.
needs to do some programming in MATLab. He needs to
find a campus computer to do his work on.
Scenario
Sub-task Path through new site Path through new site
Scenario 1. Homepage
1. Homepage
2. Computing
2. Current Students
3. Engineering Computing Center
3. Computing Resources
4. Software
1. Check to see if the school offers MATLAB
4. Facilities & Capabilities
software use
5. Software Availability
5. Software
2. Check to see if the what labs have that software
6. MATLAB - List of Rooms
Functionality 6. MATLAB
3. Check to see if there is availability in those labs
7. (Click each room)
7. (Choose a lab)
8. (Back two pages)
8. Description & Hours
9. View Schedule
9. View Schedule
10. (Find rooms)
* inspired by Todd Warfel's task analysis grid
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9. Finding a lab with specific software Compiled Task Analysis
Rob is a hard worker and often needs to find a computer to do research on, finding one that is open should be easy
Before Scenario After Scenario
Rob is looking over the requirements of his project and he Rob is going to the lab to work on his project.
needs to do some programming in MATLab. He needs to
find a campus computer to do his work on.
Justification
Sub-task
Scenario
Rob has been to the College of Engineering website before. He is a current student so he knows that information he needs
and wants it quickly. He goes straight for the “Current Students” menu item. This is the place for students to interact with the
college at an administrative and tactile level.
There are two kinda of computing resources available to the students/faculty, they are technical support and facility services.
Instead of forcing a user to guess the responsibilities of each IT area the navigation was redesigned to be task based. This
way the visitor can find what they need and be directed to the correct department without having to make any other
Functionality current navigation forces the visitors to pick an IT department to interact with.
decisions. The
The room scheduling area is broken down into two areas, when each room is available and what its capabilities are. Rob is
looking for capabilities first then checks the availability. Since all engineering labs are dual purpose, both labs and teaching
rooms it is important to not only find the lab needed but also ensure it is available at the time desired. The new navigation
allows Rob to do that while the current navigation has this information disconnected forcing visitors to use the back button.
* inspired by Todd Warfel's task analysis grid
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10. Looking for a research collaborator Compiled Task Analysis
Irene is always on the hunt for great engineering research and has decided to see what is going on at WSU
Before Scenario After Scenario
Irene is working on her Mechanical Engineering thesis and Irene will e-mail the faculty member(s) to start a larger
is looking for faculty across the nation to collaborate with. discussion.
Scenario
Sub-task Path through current site Path through new site
Scenario 1. Homepage 1. Homepage
1. Currently doing research on mechanical 2. Faculty 2. Faculty & Staff
engineering
3. (Search by mechanical engineering) 3. Faculty Research
2. Check to see what faculty is in the mechanical eng 4. Select a faculty member 4. (Search by mechanical engineering)
department
5. Browse their Research 5. Select a faculty member
3. Look at a specific faculty members profile to see
6. (Back to homepage) 6. Browse their Research
their research
7. Click “Research” main menu item 7. Click “Research” main menu item
Functionality all the current mechanical eng
4. Check to see
research projects 8. Funded Research Projects 8. Currently Funded Projects
5. Check out the progress of an interesting project 9. (Scroll down to mechanical 9. (Filter by mechanical engineering)
engineering)
10. (Find interesting project)
6. Contact the faculty member to see if they can 10.(View only information)
collaborate 11. View Faculty Member’s Profile
11.Has to go back to the faculty list to
view their profile and contact info 12. Contact Faculty Member
* inspired by Todd Warfel's task analysis grid
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11. Looking for a research collaborator Compiled Task Analysis
Irene is always on the hunt for great engineering research and has decided to see what is going on at WSU
Before Scenario After Scenario
Irene is working on her Mechanical Engineering thesis and Irene will e-mail the faculty member(s) to start a larger
is looking for faculty across the nation to collaborate with. discussion.
Justification
Sub-task
Scenario
Irene is a hard worker and she knows how to network. For her getting an edge over her other classmates is important. Her
approach includes reaching out to faculty at other institutions to get insights into bleeding edge research. She does this a lot
and doesn’t have time to waste sifting through every faculty member’s individual profiles.
She goes right to the research related to mechanical engineering. The navigation allows for faculty to enter all of their
research when then get extracted to a categorized list. This allows a visitor to search by topic or by name. Irene uses the
topic based search first. Once she finds the research project that interests her she clicks on the faculty members name to
Functionality bio.
see their full
From here she can read all about their education, accomplishments and additional research. Each faculty member has a
standard profile structure so it is easy for her to scan and find information. She locates their e-mail address and clicks to
send them a message to start a larger discussion. The dual format of information allows for great discoverability of each
faculty member. The currently navigation and layout make this information disconnected and inconsistent.
* inspired by Todd Warfel's task analysis grid
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12. Photo Credits
http://www.flickr.com/photos/babybare11/5210326574/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sxld/4609295582/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharontaylor/246397449/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/afdn/3827359751/
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