winter break...

think winter break is taken today... did print three more articles, and also got the book delivered to my door... guess I'll read them some time :)

catch you on the other side of 2006!

oh, the irony, part 2

seems the book I wanted will actually arrive before the others... got a mail this morning saying it was sent, as a priority letter... so it should come to my door tomorrow, before the others... :)

oh, the irony...

when I ordered my book, I also figured I could get some other books for myself... got a notice now that they've sent my order... four books out of five - guess which one they haven't sent?

they said it was delayed from the publishing house, so it'll come as soon as they get it... guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

plan update

updated my planning...

and of course did my reading... no book yet, will probably get it on wednesday...

too much...

made a list and counted number of pages of all my articles: 450+! it's way too much... not that I'm gonna read them all, but still... should've sifted through them earlier, just to make sure I didn't print any useless stuff, but ah well... the newly printed ones are quite useful actually, giving me some ideas on how to go about... gotta mark them and make some sort of good plan.

hope to get my book on monday or tuesday... latest wednesday.

it never stops

dropped by uni and printed myself yet even more articles. probably too many by now, have to look through them. ordered a book as well...

more articles

found and printed myself another batch of articles. more reading it is...

back to work

back to work for me again. started some reading, and also sent a mail to the coordinators, asking them to keep a diary of their workings. the questions I asked were:

• what did you want to do?
• how did you do it?
• was there anything that caused problems? what?
• how did you feel about the task?
• how would you prefered to have it done?

I also asked them to, if possible, take a screen shot and send to me together with a description of what they wanted to accomplish and what happened.

back to reading!

week off

taking this week off. got cousins from australia here...

articles, articles, articles!

printed a whole bunch of articles today, got some reading to do!

edit: just made a count... 174 pages. gonna be a busy weekend! :)

no articles

having a hard time finding good articles... those I found, some of them were a bit... so and so. gonna go to uni tomorrow to search some more. need quite a lot more I think :)

recent events

haven't posted here in a while... I sent an almost finished specification to my tutor, only literature missing. sat today at uni trying to find some articles, got a hold of 10 or so... hopefully some of them will be good. those are for the method.
have a couple of past thesis papers to look into for literature on mediated communication... so I hope to find something there too.

project plan

here's my project plan:

lazy weekend

rather lazy weekend... sent a mail to the coordinator who wasn't at the focus group and got a few good replies, more or less complemented what I got from there. gonna do some reading tomorrow and then send a mail to all the coordinators.

also sent a mail to my tutor and asked for literature. hope I get a few replies... also in the mails from my teacher, she sent to a few others who suggested a few more things... some things are happening, but still slowly... gotta find more literature.

handed in

just handed the paper in to our office to register it... yay!

almost done

today I got far enough... I think. am almost done with it all, just need to write down what the limitations will be, and what kind of equipment I need... can probably combine them into one paragraph or so. and then of course it's the thing with the literature... still no luck :(

some ideas...

just sent a few mails back and forth with one of my teachers from a previous course, who's coincidentally dealing with a somewhat similar problem as I am, having the users spread out. she told me what things they've tried to do, and it sounds like maybe I could use at least one of their ideas... maybe I'll try to send a mail to the coordinators already now and see if they're up for it. the most useful idea for me would probably be to ask them to write a "diary" of what they're doing when they're in contact with anything that has to do with reporting/viewing statistics, to see what they want to do, how they do, how it feels, etc... I should try to write up a mail in the weekend and see if they are willing to do it. it will probably be a "long-term" project (~2 months), as I am not in that big of a rush to get started with the actual implementing, and it could also be good to see over a longer period of time what they use and so... gotta define it clearly what I want though. let's see how this goes!

bad day

not so good day today... couldn't get much written. hard to focus, and difficult to find the formulations I want... hope for a better day tomorrow

note to self: web interface design

planning

did some planning of the project, and also started looking at literature... kinda difficult to find suitable stuff, sent a mail to my tutor to see if I could get suggestions from her. wanna get my specification done this week, we'll see if I manage...

language

so here comes my problem with language... I'm not sure if I should write the report in swedish or english... both have their advantages and disadvantages, and I think it's best if I decide quite soon which one to go for. I'll line them up...

swedish

pros: it's my first language, so naturally it's easier for me to write. my tutor might also require me to write in swedish... (haven't talked to her yet). everything I do is to be used here in sweden, so all the communication will be in swedish, as well as the actual interface.

cons: most of the literature I will be reading will probably be in english, which means that I'll have to translate phrases and terms used, which might prove difficult.

english

pros: as said, many of the things I read will be in english, so I can quote them directly. I'll also have more people that can proofread it for me, as well as the possibility to show this report to others - it won't be limited only to sweden, and it could be of interest for others.

cons: my swedish is slightly better than my english, and I don't have as much experience in writing reports in english as I have writing in swedish...

what do you say? any comments/thoughts? I'd be happy to hear!

my orange paper

here's my orange paper :)
quite important ;-)

notes from the focus group

my notes from the focus group... most surprising thing I think would be the fact that the excel sheets the regional coordinators currently use aren't really that appreciated but rather cause quite a lot of trouble, and they have to still manually check the statistics when they have to give reports. what was also (positively) surprising was that they wanted a web based interface, and also that they wanted things to be as automatic as possible.
never got to any actual sketching, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem...


background info
right now the coordinators use the phone and computer, depending on what kinda of communication they want. phone for mutual (usually with negin), and computer for just reports (to me).
the excel sheets were not really appreciated, and many comments were given about them. here are some quotes:

• "what am I going to use them for?"
• "we shouldn't have to fill this list!"
• "it doesn't feel comfortable"

the problems

• the necessary information isn't there
• had to cut things together manually
• made their own sheet
• very long list, more than one page
• has people who aren't interesting, as they haven't gone any course
• unsure whether to keep different versions
• hard to keep track of the tutors
• how to mark non-bahá'ís, what happens when they become bahá'ís?
• tutors from a cluster tutoring in another cluster
  

future interface
one participant even mentioned that they wanted it web based without me bringing up any suggestions about it. the general consensus was that it should be as automatic as possible, that it should work with a "swoosh". the coordinators prefer to do as little manual work as possible.
quotes:

• "preferrably no trouble"
• "swoosh!"

functions

• how often does a course meet? the frequency
• contact information to the tutor
• see number of tutors in the area
• the amount the group has done the exercises in the book (not a "describe your activities")
• the language of the course
  

reports/diagrams to view ("diagrams are fun, they make us happy")

• the pyramid
• how many in cluster x have done book y?
• how many are active? (percentage)
• how many are involved in the process right now?
• possibility to see historical curves, the development
• the statistics should include a date when generated
  

other
there were some questions and suggestions for the report system (reporting start and finish of study circles)
a problem is that people come and go to courses, it's not 100% set when they start who is going to be part of it. there are also courses that either lose speed or fall out and simply don't finish, they should also be managable. courses sometimes change tutors as well half-way through.
there was also a suggestion that each course should have a special code, so one could filter and such on it, or search for a specific course and change some of its information.
there was also suggested specific reports for each books, so they could be more specialized depending on which book it is
there was also a request that the interface becomes such that the coordinators won't have to generate reports each time a request comes, but that they rather are automatically made as tutors report their study circles. the coordinators also agreed on the fact that they'd have to be more clear about the necessity for all the tutors to report their study circles.

conclusion

all in all, I am very happy with the focus group. I got some very interesting results, and the dynamics of the group was very interesting to behold. they were really building upon each other's experiences and thoughts, and except for a few suggestions, it's hard to single out things that belong to one specific person; they are more suggestions from the group as a whole.
naturally, there were some things I wished to happen (eg them agreeing on a web interface), but there were a lot of ideas I had not thought of at all. it'll be interesting to see if I can incorporate all the things they want in a future interface.

thank you-mail

just sent a thank you-mail to yesterday's participants. good thing to do it right away so it doesn't come a week later... :)

focus group done!

had the focus group today, took an hour... was really good and interesting, many new ideas that I hadn't thought of before... took notes, and recorded it on my phone. will try to write it down tomorrow or so...

the questions for sunday

here are the questions I'd like to talk about...

background

what do you use now?

how do you find the excel sheets?

do you find them good/useful?

what are the positive/negative aspects?

are you able to keep track of everything you want to?

is it difficult to produce reports?

general discussion

how would you like a future system to look like?

would you want it to be web based, or something else?

what kind of functions would you like it to have?

what should it be able to do?

at this point, perhaps even start sketching something... depends on how it goes, and in which direction the discussion goes...

today's meeting

the meeting was over in like... 10-15 minutes... wasn't really much, just showed the needed papers (my specification and grades) and got it registered, on an orange-colored paper :) (picture coming up later)

the title I used was as planned yesterday, "användarcentrering på distans", but it's only temporary, I can change it later on if I want to. he set the end date 6 months ahead, 18th of may... let's see if I can beat that!

a name!

I need a name and title for my project! probably already for tomorrow's meeting! I don't know exactly what to call it... any ideas? both swedish and english works, I have yet to decide what language to write it in... but that's for later.

användarcentrering på distans (distantial user-centeredness) is one idea... I want some sort of contradiction... gotta think of it tonight. yikes.

focus group

as in any user-centered development process, it is very important to be able to see what the users want and need... luckily for me, there's gonna be a refresher course for all tutors this weekend, and most (if not all, not sure) regional coordinators will be there. after the end of the program on sunday, the plan is to get them together for a little chat and try to explain the point and purpose of it all, and also see what kinda needs and so they have for the upcoming interface. it's pretty much decided that my focus will be on them, as I probably won't lose out anything by "ignoring" the tutors... their needs are either way a subset of what the regional coordinators want, so no problems there. naturally, the national coordinator will be in the meeting as well...

so now I gotta prepare some questions. looked through the questions we had for our focus group in one of the uni courses, to see what kinda things we asked for. also gotta figure out what I want to get out of this session, as it probably will be one of the few that I will have them all gathered. will post the questions tomorrow.

I also checked on my mobile how much memory I have and need, to see if I can record it all. it would be good to be able to go back and see who said what, so I won't have to go crazy with my notes. usually there are two people conducting the focus group, one taking notes and the other moderating it. this time I'll have to do both myself... but it should be ok...

that's all for today, haven't done much else :)

meeting tomorrow!

the initial proposal

this is what I sent, sorry if there are grammatical errors/spelling mistakes...

Borna Safai, D-01
2005-11-09
borna@kth.se

Master's thesis proposal

I have since about three years back been a tutor for the courses of the Ruhí institute in Sweden. These courses are conduct in study circles, whose goal is to develop qualities such as social competence, ethics and morals, and courage. This is based on studying holy writings, reflecting upon them and discussing with the other participants, with the help of the tutor. There are also practical exercises for every book which mean that one "serves" in a social context on a level that progresses in the higher courses. The courses are ordered in a sequence of seven books, where the last one gives training in becoming a tutor for books 1-6. This means that the system is self sustaining with tutors.
All this is controlled by the Swedish Bahá'í Institute, which has the responsibility of promoting this process. To organize it a national coordinator has been assigned, who has the overall responsibility for the planning and execution of the courses. To the help of the national coordinator there are regional coordinators, who have the same responsibility as the national coordinator, but on their own regional level. These are often assigned according to county. Their job is to gather statistics of current courses, who is tutoring, who is participating, etc., and to report this to the national coordinator. Beyond this, there are others with the need of accessing the statistical information.

During the entire time of this activity, there has been no common, uniform system to manage the ever-growing crowd of participants. All tutors and coordinators have used their own systems, which have not always been compatible with each other, and any compilation of statistics has not been viable without great difficulties. Thus, it's been difficult to keep track of the development in the country. The tutors have not been able have an easy way of reporting new and finished study circles, but it has been done in many different ways - e-mail, phone, paper, etc. It is only recently that a somewhat developed system has been taking shape, using Excel sheets and a report system on the web, but they are still not integrated with each other, and not available to all.

What I have planned on doing as my master's thesis is to examine whether it is possible to design an interface, preferably web based, which is suited to all parts, and which is at the same time easy to learn and use. It should, in other words, be suited to:

• the national coordinator who should have access to everything
  
• the regional coordinators who should be able to see their region
  
• the tutors who should be able to report started and finished study circles
  
• those who only want to see reports of the statistics and development.
  

My main question is whether this is possible at all to implement, or if the requirements are too different and contradictory. One can for example assume that the national coordinator could use a bit more time to get to know the whole system, whereas the tutors preferably would want everything to work at once without reflecting over the system. At the same time, both need access to the same information, and that's the main problem that has to be solved.

I have talked to the Swedish Bahá'í Institute and have their approval to do a master's thesis on this, now I hope that it is of sufficient scope according to KTH to do it as a master's thesis in HCI.

Borna Safai

the original (in Swedish) can be found here

just set up a meeting...

... with the administrator. time to officially register the project and get started! friday at 15 is the time...

what is it?

so what is this that I'm doing? and why? found a good description of it on the KTH page:

Final Degree Project work

The final degree project is intended to demonstrate
a) the student’s ability to apply knowledge acquired during the course of studies, and
b) that the student is able to carry out a specific task in an independent manner.

The final degree project for the MSc programmes consists of work corresponding to twenty weeks of full-time studies, 20 poäng (30 ECTS credits). The final degree project for the BSc programmes has a duration of ten weeks, 10 poäng (15 ECTS credits). The final degree project is normally carried out as the final part of each educational programme. The final degree project may be undertaken at KTH, at an industrial site, in a private company, or at a research institute in Sweden or abroad. However, a faculty member from KTH must always act as the supervisor. The project work may be of a theoretical and/or experimental nature, depending on the student's background and interests. The project is summarised into a written report and finally presented at a seminar.

The student is responsible for finding a suitable degree project among those offered by departments or companies. Before the project work starts it must be approved by the supervisor at KTH. The final courses and the project work should together constitute the student's individual profile of skill and proficiency.

The final degree project should be performed individually or in pairs. If students work together, each student's work should meet the demands on an individual final degree project. The thesis is generally written in Swedish or English and should always include an abstract in English. source

Mine is a 20 point degree, MSc in computer science, with human-computer interaction as my specialization.

the first meeting

today I had my first meeting with my tutor.

I had previously talked to our administrator and described a basic idea of what I was thinking of doing, and he said it sounded good and interesting, so I was told to write up an introductional specification and send to a suggested tutor. (I'll translate it to English and post here later.) so I did...

so in the meeting we first just broadly discussed the subject and the idea, what it was, how everything was connected and so. since I've been doing this for so long, it's all very clear in my head how everything works, but to get it down on paper and to explain to others, it's kinda hard... I think I managed to explain quite well, but I'm going to write it down so it becomes part of my final specification.

anyways, we decided that my original description perhaps was lacking a bit of information, and wasn't really unique in what it was, so after some talking and thinking back and forth, we found a solution. since user-centered development requires a lot of workshops and meetings, etc., where the users have to physically participate, doing it over distance will naturally pose problems; it's not easy to have meetings when they're spread out all over the country...

so my project's problem will basically be to see how one can resolve the problem of user-centeredness over distance. and what I have to do now is to write my specification, which should include:

• heading/my name/tutor's name/date
• definition of the problem
• description of the goal of my master's thesis
• list of the literature I have to read and how it will be examined
• description of the methods I will use to solve the problem
• list of needed equipment
• clear limitations of what the master's thesis will and will not do
• timeplan

lots of work...

will write more about the project tomorrow...

why a blog?

so I decided to try this out... I've figured for a while that it would be a fun idea to have a blog of my own (after seeing many of my friends doing it, most notably saminos), but haven't had anything special to write about, and I figured my life isn't that interesting to read about every day...

but then today while having lunch with johan, one of my classmates on KTH, I decided that this should be it. since we're encouraged to keep a diary of our doings, to be able to check back on our progress for our report, I figured this would be an interesting (and probably unusual way) of doing it. so I'll be writing here what I do every day, and we'll see what happens in the end.

so here goes nothing...