• FOCUS SETTING
• RESEARCH
• USER STUDIES
• INSIGHT MODELS
• KEY FINDINGS
• IDEATION
• CONCEPT VALIDATION
• WIREFRAMES
• EVALUATION



• SPRING REPORT [PDF]

User Studies

To move beyond our personal experiences with the photo lifecycle and the background research, we performed several user studies. We conducted studies to inform our intuition and collect qualitative data. We also analyzed the time-scale of the tasks and verified the predominance of our observations. We revealed people’s methods for managing and sharing their photos, discovering things that even they did not know about their own process.

Contextual Inquiry

We modeled and analyzed seven contextual inquiries for breakdowns and insights. The flow model describes how work and information are distributed and coordinated among people, irrespective of time. We isolated the various roles played by photo sharers to better understand the tasks involved. The cultural model captures the influences which define expectations, desires, and the whole approach towards sharing photos. The tangible and virtual items people interact with in the course of their work are explained in artifact models. We created two artifact models, which generalized the use of email and web services we frequently saw being used for photo sharing during our user research.

Retrospective Account

Our team spoke with many users on their experiences and interests in digital photography. Although most of the conversations were in an informal setting, they helped us identify many problems and obtain useful insights.

Diary Study

We reviewed and numerically analyzed four diaries that we had distributed to users. In particular, we calculated intervals, frequencies and durations for different activities that supported photo triage and sharing. We also looked at the qualitative comments people had given.

Survey

In order to confirm our qualitative findings across a larger population and find new trends in practices, we deployed a survey on the web. The survey was disseminated to a diverse group of people. We had 415 individuals respond to the survey, with 300+ participants who responded to all questions. We have gathered responses and conducted a preliminary analysis of the survey results.