Week One of the Lab
So this is the first of my weekly blogging assignments. Each will cover what I have taken away from the weeks lectures how I can apply this to my project for the lab.
My Idea
I thought I would introduce the idea I have come into the Learning Lab with. To boil it down to its simplest form: a platform for users to archive events they where both part of through collaboration.
People who are at the same meeting, party, terrorist attack or football game each have an experience that would be very different. Each of them would note different aspects of the event and at varying levels of detail.
This idea has been mutated in a number of ways; the simplest form being a way for friends to archive all of their accomplishments together. The date could then be visualised in a number of ways. May be more niche service for friends to conduct an internal investigation to find out what really happened the night before using the evidence they can produce together; getting the whole story.
I hope this lab will help me move this idea forwards into a thing I can show and discuss with others. My idea is currently worth zero as Aza pointed out.
Aza Raskin, @azaaza
Lecture #1 — 11th July 2011
Aza’s talk titled How to Prototype and Influence People was very inspiring and full of metaphor. He noted how others may not understand your idea and how forms of prototype can help with communication bandwidth and to get people exited.
The most notable point Aza made was that “you are iterating your solution as well as you understanding of the problem.” I think realising this will be key in the development of my project. I have already identified that I don’t know exactly what this service is and how it will function and that prototyping will aid me to define it.
Another point he made was that I should “aim to finish the first–pass in a day.” I will defiantly be doing this (Saturday). I plan to decide on a direction to take with this idea and produce wireframes. This will make me define the data I will be working with and how it will be inputted and visualised.
Burt Herman, @burtherman
Lecture #2 — 14th July 2011
Burt’s talk titles Following the Story: from foreign correspondent to entrepreneur discussed his own experiences and attitude towards Hacks and Hackers.
One of the key points I picked up on was the importance of having a co–conspirator with a complimentary skill sets and experiences. I think this is good advice but do not feel that this could be achieved in this 4 week course. I will take this away with me though.
I will also take the advices from my users like Burt highlighted. After I have produced something with enough communication bandwidth for people to get exited about I will present it to my audience for feedback. This will then help me redefine the project and how to move forwards.