User Analysis:
User Personas
Event Organizers
The event organizer is someone who is helping people rally around a cuase, and is interested in publishing the details of rallies and/or protests, contact information for representatives, and other things people can do to contribute. The goal is to maximize participation, so organizers need a tool that will reach the most people. Currently, event organizers use popular channels like social networks that are not designed for activism (most people we spoke to had used Facebook in some capacity for this purpose), or resort to creating single-purpose websites to publicize their efforts, which can be cumbersome and time-consuming, and sometimes poorly designed.
Active Participants (Activists)
Single-use participants
These users will probably only use the site once; they care about the issue and want to be heard, but only if it doesn't interfere with their day-to-day activities. Their time is valued highly, so if your interface gives them an error, asks for too much information, or requires them to scroll through a page to find what they want, they will close the tab and never look back.
[Potential] Activists
These users are passionate about the issue; they Activists know about the cause and already want to participate; they simply need something to do (a protest to go to, a representative to call or write to, some code to write, some posters to design, etc.). Not knowing where to start can be discouraging, and if you don't have a lot of free time (as was the case with one individual we interviewed), not knowing where to start or how much time something might take can make a huge difference in what gets done.
Potential Participants
Potential participants don't yet know about the cause, don't yet know enough to know that it affects them personally, or don't know that they can do anything to make a difference. Most of them feel helpless (one person we interviewed said he wasn't likely to call his representative because he would just have to navigate an automated system and his message would likely not make it to the representative) or afraid (one person said he didn't want to participate if he didn't believe he could do so anonymously).
User Characteristics
Event Organizers
Age: ANY
Gender: ANY
Tech-savviness: ANY
Active Participants (Activists)
Age: ANY
Gender: ANY
Tech-savviness: ANY
Potential Participants
Age: ANY
Gender: ANY
Tech-savviness: ANY
(While this data seems pointless, we have retained it in order to demonstrate the diversity of our user groups)
Task Analysis:
There are three main features to our Activism Program that will satisfy a majority of our users' needs:
- View existing events
- Create new events
- Provide a layer of security
View existing events:
- Goal: Allow the user to easily sort, filter, and view existing events
- Subtask: Enable a Google Maps view of events
- Subtask: Allow users to filter and sort events
- Subtask: View event's information
- Precondition: Have clicked on that group's pin on the map or name on the list
Create new events:
- Goal: Enable the creation of new events
- Subtask: Navigate to Create Event page
- Precondition: Logged in
- Subtask: Create an event
- Precondition: Fill in event information (name, location, date, etc.)
- Precondition: Required information present
- Precondition: Must have permission to create event for listed organization
- Subtask: Edit an existing event
- Precondition: Must be an owner of that event.
- Subtask: Navigate to Create Event page
Register for an event:
- Goal: Users can sign up for an event, giving the organizers a sense of how many people are interested.
- Subtask: User can register to show their interest in an event
- Precondition: User must have an account
- Precondition: User must be logged in
- Precondition: User cannot register for the same event multiple times
- Precondition: Event cannot be restricted for the user
- Subtask: Keep a counter of the number of people interested.
- Subtask: Show the names and profiles of people who have registered for the event
- Precondition: User must allow this information to be shown
- Subtask: User can register to show their interest in an event
Create a user profile:
- Goal: Give the user a public profile that other users can view
- Subtask: Allow the user to customize information on their own page
- Precondition: User must have an account
- Precondition: User must be logged in
- Subtask: User can list the events they have registered for
- Precondition: User must specify a registration to be public for it to appear on his/her profile
- Subtask: Allow the user to customize information on their own page
Provide a layer of security:
...
, and after that, they need the next thing to do. If you give them a place to start, a good estimate for the time commitment of each task, and the motivation to continue working at every step, these users will be very effective. They are willing to put up with more frustration than the single-use crowd, but don't let them get discouraged.
User Characteristics
Single-use participants
Threshold for giving up: Low
Percentage of users: Large
Likely to become a frequent user: No
Would create an account: No
Activists
Threshold for giving up: High
Percentage of users: Small
Likely to become a frequent user: Yes
Would create an account: Maybe
Task Analysis:
The overall goal in our program is to allow interested activists to contact their congressman by phone. This can be broken down into three main tasks:
Look up the representatives for your area
Goal: Create an easy, intuitive way to select congress-people relevant to your location and interests
Subtask: Allow search by location
Precondition: Provide a zip-code or street address
Subtask: Filter representatives by categories such as level of government and hours of availability
Schedule a phone call between you and a congressperson
Goal: Allow the user to plan a call to their representative (either now or in the future)
Subtask: Select one of the representative's offices to contact
Precondition: Selected representative must have more than one office
Subtask: Send a confirmation e-mail to the user containing a unique code they can use to modify or cancel their call
Record a voicemail to be sent to the congressperson's office
Goal: Enable the user to leave a voicemail directly, rather than go through the phone system
Subtask: Select a representative to receive your voicemail
Precondition: That representative needs to have a compatible voice mail system
Subtask: User records their message
Subtask: User can review their own message
...
- Precondition: Must be a moderator for that group
...
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