lc514’s blog

If Sanjay uploads a version of this and it is different from mine, his should be the official version.

Final presentation powerpoint

http://humancenteredcleaning.pbwiki.com/

Co-op Observation Summary

I observed a friend grocery shopping at the Park Slope Food Co-op. She is Caucasian, a full-time student at NYU, and in her mid-thirties. To shop at the co-op, you must be a member and, because the only people who work there are members, you must work there for a few hours each month. Members enjoy discounted food prices, a say in what is stocked, a wide selection of organic and earth-friendly products, and ostensibly (from their literature) a sense of community. From prior conversations, I know that the subject dislikes dealing with the people at the co-op when she has her work shift there and dreads dealing with the bureaucracy. On this morning, she was going to shop and then take her shift in the office. My observation began at 9:15 am on Monday and ended at 10:40.

Preparing to leave the house to go shopping, for the subject, seemed to be more about making certain that everything is squared away at home than it was about making sure that everything was squared away for shopping. She needed reminders about the things she would need to have at the co-op and still forgot one of them. However, making sure that she had her podcast to listen to while shopping was a priority. There was a decent amount of going back and forth between rooms before the subject left the house and she went back in for things she had not planned for once she had gone outside: this pattern would be more clearly seen at the co-op. Primary objects included the shopping list, wallet, money, iPod, cart, and umbrella. Interactions with the subject’s girlfriend (who was recovering from ankle surgery and could not get out of bed nor move often) included making her breakfast, ensuring that she had the supplies she would need while the subject was out, the girlfriend running through a checklist of items that the subject should have with her, and saying goodbye. The walk to the co-op was undertaken at an easy pace with no sign of rush despite earlier proclamations of lateness.

Upon arriving at the co-op, there was a brief interaction with another member who appeared to be a stranger. The subject was unable to open the free lockers in which members could store their belongings while they shopped and the other member assisted her then they briefly chatted about shopping and parted. The subject went through her coat and removed certain items then stuffed the coat into the locker and locked it. She then had to sign in with the front-desk workers because she did not have her membership card (despite her girlfriend’s earlier inquiry.) There was a further interaction with the front-desk worker regarding where visitors needed to be signed in so that I could be admitted to the “shopping floor”. We proceeded up the elevator to get me a visitor pass. Another interaction occurred between subject and the worker at the visitor sign-in desk. I had to present identification and be logged into a system and the subject needed to sign me in. The worker at the desk searched through the computer system quite a bit before being able to sign me in and the subject made a face of annoyance that I assumed to be about the time it was taking the worker to sort this out. She also asked the worker about her shift (the job she has at the co-op). It was later confirmed that she asked this out of possible interest in the job. Once I had my visitor pass, we returned to the ground floor to shop.

Once clear of the entry aisle, the subject got out her iPod and began listening to her podcast. The only times she interacted with her iPod from when she put it on to when she had to check out were when she ran into a friend early on and had a brief chat with him (see below) and when she received a phone call just before checking out (see below). She did not appear to react to her podcast in any way. The iPod was not used during the walk, but only during shopping. This, coupled with prior knowledge of the subject’s feelings about the people who work at and therefore shop at the co-op, indicated to me that she uses her iPod to isolate herself from aspects of a situation that she does not care for and to only experience the part of the situation which she did enjoy: the prices and selection. After preparing herself to begin to shop, she moved to the produce aisle and promptly realized that she had forgotten something in her coat pocket. She left her cart in the aisle and ran back to her locker to get the missing item. (It was a small scrap of paper I could not identify.) When she returned, she began shopping.

Her shopping strategy appeared erratic: she did not select items in the order they appeared in on her shopping list, nor did she select things in the order in which they appeared in the aisle. For example: in the produce aisle, she followed the pattern below. Similarly, when she needed a bag for an item, she would not have the bag ready before she picked up the item. Throughout the shopping sequence, the subject studied her list continually. She did not simply glance at the list, but rather studied it for some time in each instance. She did not interact with it beyond studying it: she did not move her finger down the list nor cross anything off nor otherwise make any notation of which items she had purchased. When selecting items or when inspecting shelves, she would often hold the list in her mouth. She also studied grouping of food items (EG all chutneys) carefully before selecting a particular item, in spite of her familiarity with the selection and layout of the co-op. Once she had selected an item, she often examined it carefully or read the packaging she did not, however, pick up one item, study it, then put it back and select another except in the case of the loose teas—several of which she smelled before deciding which to purchase. I found this to be an interesting contrast: she was rather careless in her organization but extremely careful and studious about selecting the precise items she wanted. At the end of the trip she remarked to me that she is “a very disorganized person so [she has] to leave time for that.” This was quite an astute observation of her own behavior. I believe that she was referring to giving herself a lot of time to shop knowing that she would forget some things and not find them efficiently, but I also believe that it might partially explain why she spent so much time with each food item: she did may not have trusted herself to get the correct one quickly.

For the most part, her pace was just as easy as it had been during the walk from her apartment. She checked the time only once (at 10:00AM.) There were three instances when she moved quickly, and each involved getting something from an aisle she had already passed: after meeting the woman with the croissant, she ran back several aisles to get one; towards the end she realized that she did not have dried fruit and ran back to get some; when she thought she was done shopping her girlfriend called requesting an item and she ran off to get it.

Interactions with people were few and far between during the actual shopping portion of the trip. Early on, in the produce aisle, the subject ran into someone she knew and was friendly with (most likely only through the co-op) and they very briefly chatted about the fact that they were both scheduled to work that day and also about his family. She proclaimed happiness at the fact that he would be working the same shift as she would. (“Are you working? Yea!”) A bit more than halfway through, she saw a woman eating a croissant from the bakery aisle, shared a few sentences with the woman about how good of an idea it was to get a croissant and how tasty they were. She then ran off to get one for herself. (She had planned to eat co-op-provided snacks for breakfast while she was working.) Both of these people were very briefly encountered again during the check out process and with each, a very brief exchange related to their previous exchange took place. She once asked a worker where an item was which turned out to be very close by but just above the floor. When carts were in her way and unattended, she would move them. When people were in her way, she usually maneuvered around them without prompting them verbally to make way for her. In only one instance did she speak to someone who was in her path but only after she had been unable to avoid bumping into him when trying to maneuver around him. In each aisle, she would select a location for her cart and leave it there until she moved on to a new aisle. This allowed her to avoid physical interactions as well, as she did not have to maneuver her cart around people and objects, but only herself. All of this again points to her desire to be isolated from the environment.

In contrast to the somewhat haphazard shopping style she exhibited, when she packed her purchases into her cart, she packed them in an extremely organized manner. Her box of clementines went on one side of her cart and an empty box provided by the co-op went in the other. She proceeded to very neatly arrange all of her small groceries so that they would fit together in the box with a minimum of wasted space and then to arrange items which were large enough not to fall out of the cart if put in on their own so that they too took up the least amount of space in the cart. When she was done, there was only one bag of loose items that would not fit in the box, most of which were large leafy greens and loose items such as bags of grains and sugar. I believe that she was trying to avoid the waste that comes from using up plastic bags. This philosophy is consistent with shopping at a food co-op, which stocks mostly earth-friendly products.

See also: field notes.

The following is a selection of the photos I took.

Environment click any picture or caption to see larger image.
Exterior	Umbrella Exchange	Information	Where Subject Works
Checkout Counters	Visitor Pass	Produce Area	Co-op organization

A Selection of Photos from Observation click any picture or caption to see larger image.
Downloading Podcast	Walking to the co-op	Putting Coat in Locker	Signing Visitor in
Putting on iPod	Forgot Something	Produce Aisle	Getting a Few Things at Once
Order of Movement in Produce Aisle	Shopping Cart	Talking with Friend	Shopping List
Loose Tea	Shopping Cart	Inspecting Choices	Inspecting Product
Eating Croissant	Moving Across People	The Front of the Line	Unloading Cart While Eating
Approaching Other Pay Area	Organizing Purchases	Organizing Purchases	Looking for Money to Pay With
Exiting to Go Back in	Putting Cart in Meeting Room During Work Shift

Someone in class had mentioned being interested in computer screen interfaces. I, too am interested in that topic. Unfortunately, I cannot remember your name. If you are still interested in that topic and would like to work with me on it for our class project, please let me know. Thanks.

Analysis of the User-Centeredness of the New York City Subway Map

The NYC subway map is designed to answer or redirect any questions about subway and rail transit within The City, Long Island, and surrounding areas. The primary users are regular subway and rail customers who need to know how to go to or from new places or who are looking for alternative routes; tourists who need to figure out how to get where they want to, where various landmarks are, or need to follow directions someone has given them; and the MTA which needs to inform the public about contact information, general messages, and to present a good image of a reliable and useful system to its users.
Within the general purpose of knowing how to get around the subway and rail systems, the map is used specifically to determine the best route from one place to another, to form an general idea of how long such a trip might take, and to find the closest entrance to one’s current location. The subway system is integral to the many of the activities that New Yorkers perform every day—including things that are not done habitually—because of which, the information contained in the map of the system is essential. The map must also provide information on how to use the system, when it operates, how it is connected to other transportation systems, the accessibility of the stations, the location of police stations within the system, and of course, how to use the map itself.
Culturally, we all share a schema for how maps function which this one exploits: we know how to open and fold it, we know that there will be a key to the symbols at the top, north will be up, etc. Every bit of the map is a communication. When the map is being opened, the first thing that people see after the “cover” flap which identifies it, is information on how to use the map then how to use the system, then how to connect to other systems. Thus, some user needs are taken care of before the portion of the object that is its main focus has even been seen. On that same panel are messages and advertisements for the MTA promoting its safety program and the transit museum. Frequent rail users will not look as closely as tourist would at each portion of the map so the information which the tourists need, but which frequent users do not, is presented both first and in a place that frequent users would tend to ignore, thus serving both populations. Again taking advantage of the map-schema, the side which most people will look at first contains the more widely used subway system and the back of the map displays transportation in outlying areas. The next flap to open contains the key to the symbols used on the map proper; again, something that new users would look at while frequent users would skip over without taking heed of its presence.
Having a clear correspondence between the system the map represents and the map itself is essential, particularly because the system, and therefore the map is extremely complex. To help lower the cognitive burden for the user, not only is there scaffolding in place in the form of the key, but each line is drawn in the color that represents it in the actual subway and the names of the lines are written in the same way on the map as they are on the subway cars.
Beyond “how to get around”, the map must also communicate to the public that the MTA is a good company. The clean look and bright colors project an image of a system in good repair which works well, a sentiment which can then be projected onto the company which runs the system. As a representation of a major part of New York City, the map also communicates a general impression of New York as complex, large, busy, idiosyncratic and beautiful in its own way.
Stiff paper means that the map will stay open and flat even if held by one hand so that the user can examine it under many circumstances such as holding onto a subway pole or luggage. It is also possible to write on the map, allowing users to highlight the route they wish to take or to circle a particular stop etc. These features help users to take full advantage of the map’s main purpose. Tourists can easily be overwhelmed by the complexity and size of New York’s subway system, but the cheery and bright colors of the map are calming and reassuring. Because the system is so complex, people need to be able to take ownership of the map and be able to manhandle it and touch it and move it while they are trying to get a handle on the information they need. When the map is on a wall, especially when it is on the wall of a subway car, it is much more difficult to interact with and get close to which makes the user more alienated and leaves a feeling of separation and misunderstanding that holding the map and manipulating it removes.
Other emotions are evoked by the simple act of shading the World Trade Center site gray and thus showing respect to it and to people’s feelings about the site’s importance.
Ancillary information such as connections to other systems (ferries, busses, rail services not run by the MTA, airports etc.) provides extra functionality. Unlike other transit maps (DC, London), this map provides rudimentary information about what is above ground as well. Major streets are shown and the general shape of the city is represented (though not to scale) which helps users place themselves within the more familiar context of the streets above ground.
The colors and the text pop from the background and the font is sans serif and strong to maximize readability even though the type has to be small. The map is made for people to interact with at very close distance, even folding it so that they can only see the portion they want to see. This makes the small type size acceptable for the majority of the population (those with vision impairments would get virtually nothing from this map.)
Beyond functionality, the map is considered by some to be art. The graceful and colorful lines are architecturally pleasing, so much so that shower curtains, tee shirts and other pieces have been created with the subway map on them. The distinctiveness of the pattern is something that New Yorkers can be proud of. New Yorkers are generally quite fond and proud of The City and ways of representing it. Tourists are also drawn to things that represent The City and their time here. The map thus provides something easy for people to connect with emotionally rather than the very large and therefore intangible actual subway system.
Innumerable improvements could be made were the map to be electronic instead of paper, but that would require users to have in their possession products capable of running the map software. The paper versions are free and available in every subway station.
The major design problem for the map is the amount of information that needs to be presented within a reasonably sized sheet of paper. Separating out the rail map from the subway map would free up the back. This would allow for Manhattan to be on one side and the outer boroughs to be on the other, which would reduce the amount of information presented at once and would allow for more information about each station to be visible. A physical overlay of more streets and landmarks would provide extra clues for how to get around and where to go, even acting as a miniature tour guide, but would require a much more expensive printing process to have a somewhat transparent and removable layer attached to the map.
The “cover” of the map is very utilitarian looking. It could be redesigned to frame the emotional experience of using the map from the start. An artistic front to the map could put users in the frame of mind of seeing the grace of the system rather than its complexity. An authoritative look could put users at ease, knowing that the information inside will tell them what they need to know.