ProjectProposal-DavidEitanPoll
From CS160 User Interfaces Fa06
Contents |
Guestbook Signing
A common place to find pen and paper in use nowadays is in collaborating on personalized greetings. One such application is a guestbook that might be used at weddings, funerals, baby showers, conferences, or other important events. Handwritten text tends to have a greater emotional appeal than typewritten text, and so it would be useful to preserve the character of what was written.
My proposal is to have a system for use at events and gatherings that would allow guests to collaborate in a digital guestbook. Invitees could access the guestbook online, people can sign from anywhere in the world, and all of the comments are preserved in digital form to best capture the memories.
Similar Projects
Online Guestbooks
Lots of online, collaborative guestbooks exist. Usually, they are used to allow visitors to a website to mark their visit for all to see. Examples of this include:
- Free Guestbook Service by Bravenet.com
- Smart Guestbook (Free Guestbook for your Website)
- Guestbook Giant. Free Guestbooks Online!
Other Similar Digital Paper Project Ideas
- Collaborative Greeting Cards (People from all over the world can sign a greeting card without having to be in the same room)
- Personalized Photo Albums (Events can be recorded through pictures, and event attendees can add their handwritten comments to the album)
Target User Group
The target user group for this project would be event planners. This includes everyone from people planning parties on a college campus to those planning formal events such as guest speakers.
Such users have needs and wants that can vary by the type of event they are planning. Listed below are a few possibilities:
Needs
- A simple-to-manage guestbook system
- Tracking of who signed
- A pen-and-paper solution that people are already familiar with
- Maintenance of the "personal touch" that pen and paper provides
- Easy access to the guestbook contents for event hosts
- Customizable layout and stationery
Wants
- Guestbook that can be signed in more than one location (multiple guestbooks passed around the room, for example)... People shouldn't have to wait in line to sign a guestbook.
- Easily editable and laid out guestbooks for finishing
- Ability to post-process an event guestbook for publishing
- Guestbook ready for both printed and digital viewing
Problem Context and Forces
The Guestbook might be used in a variety of circumstances and for a variety of event types.
- At crowded events, making people wait in line to sign a guestbook is a real hassle. The more distributed the guestbook is, the better. Perhaps all attendees would want their own little piece of the guestbook to hold on to and write upon.
- Low-light environments might make writing using pen and paper difficult, how can this be resolved?
- How might one encourage event attendees to sign the guestbook? It should be easy to do, and convenient.
Normally, event planners would be stuck with a single, unified guestbook, or multiple guestbooks that could not be brought together in a simple manner. This project aims to solve that problem, among others.
Solution Sketch
