ProjectProposal-EricVacca
From CS160 User Interfaces Fa06
Contents |
The Listless Database: Shopping Edition
Target User Group
Anybody who runs errands to the store: Parents, cooks, professionals in all walks of life.
Major relevant tasks and desires:
- Give the user power to orginize their shopping lists.
- Add and remove from any list using keywords to access lists from the database.
- Easily calculate living expenses.
- Never forget a item to be purchased because of losing a list or not having the list.
Problem Description
Many inexperienced shoppers will walk into a grocery, computer or hardware store without a list. These are the people you see aimlessly walking around picking up items, examining them and deciding whether they want them on the spot. More experienced shoppers will always come into the store with a carefully made list and finish in 20 minutes what it would take an hour and multiple trips otherwise. But even the most experienced shopper has tried shopping without a list because they have either forgotten it or misplaced it. With the "Listless Database" taking advantage of the Anoto Pen and dotted paper, anybody who thinks of something they need and is capable of writing it down will now have a sortable permanent record of what they need.
Problem Context and Forces
Generally, making lists is liberating because we get ideas or needs out of our head and onto paper where it can be stored, but because it is now off our consciousness, we set that piece of paper down somewhere and forget about it. Things that people need to buy from the store often occur at random times, at random places so the affordances of paper and pen are utilized. Also once a list is made, if the person thinks of something new to add to the list, the original list is often at home and inaccessible. With a general knowledge of computers (spreadsheet apps, text editing), the user will be able to utilize a fully indexed list from anywhere. The underlying problem is people write things down so they don't forget and then forget it!
People who make lists are often very busy and have a number of chores and/or tasks that need to accomplished in a given amount of time. Although i have narrowed the scope of my problem considerably (from general lists to shopping lists), the target user still only has one thing in common: the need to make lists and orginize them in order to get things done. Users may or may not be computer savvy, so the database interface must be intuitive and familiar while still allowing more experienced users to have greater access to more intricate details of their lists.
People who habitually make lists, such as myself often create coping mechanisms to overcome the hurdles i have presented. Personal I create a immense number of lists on 3x5 cards and file them in a 3x5 folder, so at least all my notes from my days are all in one place. This has proven inefficient though because I never have the patience or time to go through all my old lists to incorporate them into similar lists. Their exist other solutions such as the tablet pc, which people can jot down lists but there still is no software that organizes and allows people to modify the lists contents dynamically with pen and paper. Palm Pilots and other personal organizers do the same, but suffer from the same setback. Ideally the “Listless Database” can be incorporated into all these different forms of computing. Most families incorporate a form a list sharing by using a whiteboard on the refrigerator. Considering almost every member of families nowadays have cell phones this seems almost archaic.
Solution Sketch
Wireless communication between anoto paper interface and a computer database eliminates most setbacks of writing lists. The data entry method is (nearly) identical to how people normally make lists and so the transition should be seemless with enormous benefits to those that do use it.
The Listless Network
Tasks:
- Creating new lists
- Modifying lists
- Accessing lists
