Coursework 2: Research and Design

Project
The submission deadlines for this coursework are:
Group Presentation - Lab class in week 15
Individual Final Report End of week 17

This is group coursework. Groups should have between 3 to 5 people.

The brief
Many people live in houses or flats shared with
others. These could be family homes, student flats
or accommodation shared by friends. In many
cases people may lead separate lives and have
differing interests, but would like to coordinate
their activities with those of their co-habitees.
This might mean that they have ways of recording
events, appointments, or significant dates (for
instance using a wall calendar in the kitchen).
Such messages can take many forms, for instance using Post-its or other notes,
whiteboards, pinboards or other surfaces that can be written on. Sometimes people will make
use of convenient surfaces in the environment to leave messages, and occasionally will
invent quite complex calendars to record specific kinds of information.
It could also mean that people find ways of leaving other kinds of messages for one another,
such as reminders or requests or other kinds of information that allow people to coordinate
their activities or solve conflict if they occur.
The practices of information sharing have evolved over many years and are often designed
to fit carefully into peoples lives. However, they have a number of disadvantages: they are
static and not easily updated, they are fixed in one location, whereas people are mobile and
may need access to notes and messages even when they arent at the location where the
message was created.

Coursework Instructions
Research, prototype and evaluate a digital Home Messaging device or system that people
in a house or flat can use to share the kinds of information they need to coordinate
activities with one another and enable good, happy social relations. The details of what
they can do will depend on what you find out by doing some user-research. The system
you develop should have an interface within a shared space, but may also work in
coordination with devices at other locations.

General Instructions
The project must involve the following major activities:
1. user-research

2. prototyping
3. evaluation
4. prototype revision
In other words, follow an iterative design approach. Each step should inform the next. It
should be clear how the research has informed the design, and how the evaluation has
informed the revised design.
For any activity that involves human participants you must complete a Middlesex University
School of Science and Technology Research Consent (Form C) and a Declaration Form and
Ethical Approval Request (Form D). Have your consent form approved by your tutor before
you start each phase of user engagement and have them sign your form D. The forms can
be found in the Useful Forms section of the Middlesex University, School of Science and
Technology - Ethics & Research Webpage1.

Assessment
The work will be assessed in parts:
Group Progress Review Presentation 40% of total mark
The presentation should describe the work you have done and your plans for completing the
assignment. Group members will only receive a mark if they make a reasonable contribution
to the presentation, with each receiving the same mark.
Individual Final Report 60% of total mark
The final report should be no more than 2000 words (not including appendixes). Each group
member will receive an individual mark. The report should be structured as follows
(maximum marks awarded are shown in brackets as a percentage of marks awarded for
the report):

Introduction (5%)
User Research (5%)
Prototype (10%)
Evaluation (10%)
Prototype revision (5%)
Discussion (10%)
Appendices containing all appropriate ethics forms1 (10%)

An additional 5% will be awarded for presentation of the report. All marks will depend on the
separate submission of your raw data.

1http://www.eis.mdx.ac.uk/research/groups/Alert/Ethics_Research/forms.ht
ml