SCENARIO-BASED CLAIMS ANALYSIS OF MOOSBURG
SCENARIO 2
Bob believes that the strength of a graduate school is its library. Before applying to Virginia Tech for admission, he hopes to take a virtual tour of the library to survey its resources using MOOsburg, and perhaps talk to some representatives there. He enters MOOsburg as an anonymous character (ghostly presence), and finds himself on 300 South Main Street. With absolutely no idea of how far South Main Street is from the library, and in which direction to move to reach the library, he looks around for anybody he can talk with in MOOsburg. But there is nobody around. He looks for links to various buildings in Virginia Tech, but is unable to do so. Bob tries to figure out if there is a way to leave a note for somebody to contact him sometime later, but is unable to do that. Disappointed, Bob returns feeling it may not be such a good idea to attend Virginia Tech.
CLAIMS ANALYSIS OF SCENARIO 2
- The lack of information in MOOsburg:
... is realistic: in Blacksburg as in other cities, without a map it's not easy to find a place.
... is not complete: some directions are written next to the links in the web frame.
... but many users could stop using MOOsburg shortly after their first trial because they don't know where to go or how to move from one place to another
Maybe some signs could be there. Clicking on a sign would move the user
instantaneously to the destination. The signs could appear in the web-frame.
A search-engine could be available to give a list of links to a location. The user
could search "Library" and obtain a link to the Newman Library.
- The "go" command:
... allows the user to go directly anywhere in MOOsburg.
... gives a realistic information to the users in the room: "user xxx goes home" (example).
... but creates a mapping problem between the physical representation of Blacksburg (the different places) and the representation of the roads linking those places.
... but the user needs to know the exact name of its destination in MOOsburg.
It is highly likely that the user will call the destination a slight different or
abbreviated name. For the virtual visitor of MOOsburg from afar, he could not imagine the
name by himself. (The map in MOOsburg is too sketchy to give a clear hint.) MOOsburg asks
the user to figure out how to get his destination "into the system" by reformulating
the task into the system's terms. But, as the task-action mapping theory indicates,
the task reformulation required by a system has strong effects on its ease of use,
especially its initial learnability. The less flexible approach in MOOsburg almost always
makes the newcomer feel at a loss.
Maybe a list of the main places could be available in the help pages.
The metaphor of someone walking in Blacksburg isn't accurate here but the user can
learn a new feature with that. He can understand that a direct way to go somewhere is
available.
