Team Multi-talented #W03
Website page to house our prototype and promotional material link: https://cultureconnect.uqcloud.net/about.html
Link to our kickstarter video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjsKHO4m4hY&feature=youtu.b
https://cultureconnect.uqcloud.net/
- https://cultureconnect.uqcloud.net/
- Choose a user persona from the sign in section (page header).
- A profile builder pop-up modal will display.
- Your homepage will be personalized based on the answers you selected from the profile builder.
- Scroll down and you will see a section that says 'Because you like..'.
- Choose and click any of them. It will direct you to the event details.
- The section as aforementioned is tailored to your liking.
- This is done to house an enhanced personalized experience for users.
- This feature has been presented as a viable prototype to future release.
- Profile Builder in final release should save to either an XML data file or direct to a database.
- Profile Builder shoud consist of more constraints, collecting a wider array of personal information which is relevant to the user. An example would be to consider mobile-first development with supporting native functions related to location services. User's should be asked to provide permissions to location services or asked to provide a suburb of residence to display event recommendations.
Note: If the profile builder has launced already for that user, you must close the browser for it to launch again!
- Head to https://cultureconnect.uqcloud.net/
- Choose a user from the sign in section (page header).
- Exit the profile builder by clicking the 'X' button on the top-right side of the pop-up.
- Under 'Most Popular' and 'Recommended Events', you will see a group of events.
- Select one, and press the 'Register to this Event' button.
- A pop-up that asks you to submit your name and email will be shown (if it doesn't, scroll the page down).
- Submit your name and email.
- An automatic e-invitation email will be sent to your submitted email address to confirm the event details (this might take up to five minutes).
- Head to https://cultureconnect.uqcloud.net/
- You will see a group of events under 'Institution Events', 'Brisbane Events', 'Most Popular' and 'Upcoming Events'.
- Choose any event that you like by clicking it.
- The content will be shown to you in their respective page.
- Users can also host your own event. This can be done by clicking the 'Add an Event' button on the navigation bar, or on the homepage's 'Institution Events' 'Brisbane Events'.
- Input the events and submit it by clicking the 'Submit the event' button.
When international students move to study abroad, it's only common for them to feel homesick. Not only that, finding new friends and socializing could be tricky. The culture gap could affect them in feeling lonely and out of place. It could also be difficult for them to adapt to the new culture.
With CultureConnect, we aim to make international students feel connected to their home while also learning about/adapting to different cultures easier. It is a platform that will connect international students in Brisbane to find multicultural events and happenings around them. In these events, there will also be an event chat space for them to meet new people online and socialize before meeting in real life at the day of the event itself. The event listings will be generated based on user’s institution (Based on the latest user testing and to test the demographic, we choose University of Queensland as a fixed institution for the prorotype), Brisbane-wide location and the most popular events based on the quantity of participants.
We have conducted research that can be found and
and surveys such as
and
.
Based on research and survey results, we found that international students often connect to their own culture by socializing with among the same ethnic. Not only that, the the top 5 problems the international student are facing is shown as the following:
- Language barrier
- Being far from their support network
- Homesickness
- Feeling like an outsider
- Making friends
To better understand that problem, we designed this prototype and our aim is to enable international students to connect to their own culture and other cultures by joining cultural events and same-interest communities in hopes that language barrier, homesickness, the feeling of being an outsider can be reduced and the process of making friends for them would be easier.
Don Norman's design principles were used to ensure usability of our app along with the interactive design process for ensuring our prototype meets our usability and UX goals as well as fulfilling our user requirements. Initially, the prototype was an mobile app. However, through feedbacks from users, we have changed it to a web application instead.
We made a to test if users could understand the purpose and concept of the project. Based on the
, we have collated, reviewed and analyzed the results. Then, together with the results from our research and survey as aforementioned, we created a set of requirements for our prototype and created a product backlog on Trello: https://trello.com/b/CeRxugZ5/deco3500-culture-connect.
The prototype is as shown below:
CultureConnect was built in phases (sprints) using HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP. Through each iteration, ensuring a user-centered, concrete, and cross-cultural design approach was crucial for this app's success. We've performed user testing with international students who have been providing valuable feedback and testing information. The collected data helped in understanding the user's conceptual models and mental models. Hence, enabling us to make changes in our project's requirements in order to improve not only usability, but UX of our project.
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Emotional Design
Since our app is targetting international students, it is essential that they feel connected to their own culture and are able to experience other cultures through our website. We want our users to experience positivity (such as pleasure, trust, security) when they use our website. This was curated by developing a UI/UX that feels enjoyable, safe and emotionally beneficial for them. Ultimately, a deep attachment or bond between users and CultureConnect could exist. -
Awareness
Users are able to view upcoming cultural events in their area and that are tailored to their interests. They also have the option to register for an event and communicate to other users who are interested in the same event in the event chat space. -
Collaboration
Ideally, the rich content in our website is mostly user-generated - they are able to host their own cultural event and join others. Through our website, they are also able to socialize, meet new people and meet up during event happenings.
- Held the role as the Team Leader and Manager
- Created the initial group project proposal (Proposal.md).
- Created the team's slack channel: #teammultitalented
- Created group's Google Drive folder.
- Created the group wiki's sidebar.
- Inserted content in the wiki.
- Created the project plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aOq1dahMikmKXKq4MkglajXtoEI-mrgAua0helXnHfU/edit?usp=sharing
- Developed a low-fidelity prototype with Balsamiq with Velta.
- Worked with Liam in creating the team's Trello Board: https://trello.com/b/CeRxugZ5/deco3500-culture-connect
- Collated user requirements based on research (online sources and survey), discussed the findings with the team and finalized user requirements.
- Revised low-fidelity mock-ups (since the user requirements had been revised) based on feedback from tutors.
- Edited the high-fidelity prototype's homepage.
- Created content for 'communities' pages.
- Designed and developed content for every channel in every community (which is now every event in every section of the homepage).
- Created the zone with the help from Lorna and tutors.
- Performed user testing for Sprint 4. The raw data and results can be found
- Made modifications and iterations based on feedback from user testing.
- Created 'About' page for additional promotional material for our exhibition.
- Changed the homepage's content based on feedback from tutors in the Week 12 stand-up.
- Created content for 'John Smith' persona.
- Fixed all navigation bars across web pages.
- Inserted the 'e-invitation' button on the user personas' event/community contents.
- Created this final documentation.
- Responsible for user testing for secondary research
- Create promotional materials (video and poster above) needed for the exhibition
- Develop user booking system that was sent through e-mail
- Develop sharing system for the users
- Retrieve first high fidelity prototype
- Interview with potential users for the product's lifecycle
- Created low fidelity with Aisha for the first concept prototype
- Worked with Liam to gather requirements needed for technical process
- Contribute on CultureConnect 2.0 idea
- Designed initial homepage and other landing pages
- Interaction Analysis based on interview conducted
- Designed and produced CultureConnect logo and project name.
- Leading influence on user stories/user requirements. As seen on Trello.
- Worked with Velta to populate Trello.
- Designed a User Demographic Survey and testing session. Dedicated WIKI page available
- Determined technical components required for project. Dedicated WIKI page available
- Determined and designed Structural Guide Documentation. See the page
- Designed potential interactivity enhancers for functional prototype.
- Interaction Analysis on ideas.
- Designed Profile Builder: Dynamic Content Form.
- Conducted user testing on the profile builder.
- Worked with Chung Yu Pan to design and develop a functional and appropriate login system for the showcase, utilising 3 user persona's.
- Managed solutions for Git Version Control merge conflicts throughout the semester.
- Significant role in team discussion and group communication throughout the semester.
- Self-nominated speaker for stand-up meetings with tutors.
- Anaylsed requirements, developed structural concept design for application showcase.
- Influencer on project scope and goals.
- Contributed to final documentation and WIKI's.
- Created the github repository 'team-multi-talented'.
- Initiated the README.md(now named Proposal.md) file with content requirements in each section.
- Co-operate with other team members to complete the proposal.
- Improved the test plan section with further development.
- Created the team's Treoll boardDeco3500 Culture Connect.
- Discussed with team members to sperate the work. Focusing on the research aspect.
- Done the research about what kind of information do international students seek for and how their seeking behaviour change by the time.
- Based on the research, suggest to present job, housing and entertainment related content in the website.
- Little fixing with html file to make some feature works.
- Done the research about the difference of interaction behaviour with social media between international students from different countries.
- Created the page for users to submit their new events.
- Created bunch of functional pages for 'Peter Brown' persona.
For more details on our progress and contributions, click this link to be directed to our wiki page: https://github.com/deco3500-2017/team-multi-talented/wiki