GR1 - Task Analysis
User Analysis
The website will be open to two major types of users, current MIT students and MIT alumni.
Students
Graduate and Undergraduate students will be able to post and read articles. They will also be able to hold start discussion threads about issues at MIT or have friendly flame wars without bombarding users’ inboxes. They will also be able to find information about a large number of academic and social events.
Characteristics:
Students will range between ages late teens to late twenties. We expect most of these users to be experienced with computers and social networking sites. Our users will be motivated to find new ways to socialize, find out information about MIT, discuss random topics of interest, etc.
Personas:
- Gabe is a second-year computer science major interested in specializing in artificial intelligence. Though somewhat shy, he freely discusses sports and world politics. He reads technology news sources online to find out about cool new projects. He also likes to read The Economist, CNN, Sports Illustrated on his spare time. He occasionally watches television, though it is mostly to watch college basketball and NBA. Gabe has a difficult time deciding what to do on weekends to socialize, and often ends up following his friends to terrible parties. He wishes he could find out about parties more easily. When it comes to social networking, Gabe has a Facebook and checks in maybe once a week. He tends to stay away from discussions on the web because he gets easily annoyed by internet trolls and ignorance.
- Beverly is a third-year chemistry major interested in finding new renewable energy resources. Beverly is on the board for the MIT Finboard, and is part of Alpha Alpha Alpha sorority and the MIT Assassin's Guild. Most of the week is devoted to doing homework, publicizing events, and dealing with other student groups. While she works hard on the weekdays to keep up with all her commitments, Beverly spends much of her weekend video gaming. She and three of her friends are avid Starcraft II and Call of Duty: Black Ops players. They enjoy going out to eat on weekends, but they don’t often go to parties. Beverly also likes cooking, and runs the Sunday meal that her sorority holds every week.
Alumni
MIT alumni will be able to stay up to date on MIT news and also start discussions with students should they have projects/job opportunities for students. They can also create discussions to advise current students or catch up with fellow alumni.
Characteristics:
We expect alumni users will range in age from early twenties to late forties. We expect most of these users to be computer literate, some with limited experience with social networking sites. These users will be motivated to stay connected to MIT.
Personas:
- Wang graduated from MIT 3 years ago. She just started her own company and is looking for partners. She still knows current students at MIT completing their graduate degrees and is looking to get in touch with them. However, she would also like to publicize her company’s info sessions to the students so she can attract more highly-skilled workers. Wang really enjoyed her experience and MIT and creating her own company and really wants to encourage more students to do so. She likes to occasionally look at web.mit.edu to see what’s going on at MIT. She would also like to possibly form new friendships with current students and alumni, both in person and online.
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