OLPC Rochester, NY/Usability testing class project

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16 March 2008 Meeting

NOTE: The contents of this page are not set in stone, and are subject to change! This page is a draft in active flux ... Please leave suggestions on the talk page.

Draft notes: Image:Meeting1Summary.doc Meeting #1 Description OLPC
Attending: Deidra Robinson, Man Truong, Jacob Barber, Frederick Grose

Goals and Expectations:

Since the OLPC laptops are relatively new, we realize that there is a broad spectrum of areas we could focus on. For purposes of our usability tests we will focus on a piece of software or software related issues. The client realizes that there have been some complaints about the laptop, but leaves it up to us to find the problem area/s. The client would like us to discover the area where we can contribute the most to developers in the time allowed for our testing. In this meeting we did not settle on one particular application or idea; however, we did narrow down possible topics to existing software on the laptops.

It is expected that we will share and track our testing and findings on the OLPC wiki website. Also the client would like to take a very active role throughout this process. There are some plans already in store for the laptops that the client understands we are not aware of and we have come to terms on the limitations of our studies.

Types of users that you will want to represent with participants:

The OLPC laptops are sent to underdeveloped countries for children, teachers, and parents to use as a learning tool. The main audience is children between the ages of 6 and 12, with an even more targeted focus on 6 – 10 year olds. This targeted focus is because the laptops are usually given to the younger population and the students keep them for 4-5 years, so by the time they reach the older ages they will be already fairly familiar with the laptops. Since for many of these children these laptops are this may be the first computer they have ever seen nonetheless use we will aim at finding users with very little computer use. Ideally we would find children who have never saw a computer.

Type of test you are thinking about:

We are looking into types of software testing in addition to doing traditional observation and surveying.

Approximate number of participants needed:

Resources limit the maximum number of participants; to get reliable data we will need at a minimum 10 participants.

Access to the system to be tested:

The client informed us that there are about 6 laptops on campus and is working to get us access to some/all of those machines. In addition, we have access to the software package and instructions on installation from the OLPC wiki. All software is open source so we should have unlimited access.

Anticipated special challenges for study:

At this point our biggest foresaw challenge will be finding children with no computer experience.

NOTE: Heuristic evaluation is not doable this week.