MediaLAB Amsterdam is now the Digital Society School! You are viewing an archive of MediaLAB projects. Content on this website may be outdated, and is without guarantee.

glass kit

Team

Agnes Günther

Industrial and Communication Designer

 info@agnesguenther.com
Edoardo Mercati

Industrial Designer

 edoardo.mercati@gmail.com
Iain Kettles

Programmer

 ikettles@gmail.com
Luiz Ferreira

Industrial Engineer

 lfdferreira@gmail.com

Commissioner:

Description

By iainkettles January 27th, 2015

The Final Post

Welcome to our final blog post!emistime final presentation

It’s been quite a journey but finally everything is almost finished!

We had the final presentation earlier this week which was a great success for all groups. We showed a short video we made with Starting Point and then answered a few questions from Matthijs from the Amsterdam Creative Industries. We were really pleased with the response from people about our solution and also the experience we made for the attendees of the exposition.

Last Friday we filmed the video at the Ijburg Hotel in Amsterdam. The video was filmed in one day by Bas from Starting Point and was edited in one day by Edoardo. You can see it below:

The response to the video and the solution was really good. It was a stressful few weeks rushing to get the video made and final changes done but we did it!

We created a small experience for the people at the exposition where they get to demo some of the main functionalities of our solution. This included the Job List application and also the Checklist application which we linked to a small back end we made last week for the purposes of the demonstration. This allowed people to use the web platform where we added a job under their name, afterwards they could start the Job List application which loads the information for that job to the pair of Google Glass. From here they had to complete a small checklist, submit the information and then complete the job all using Glass. The changes were then reflected in the web platform as we showed them the project completion. We also allowed them to take a selfie with Google Glass using a mirror we had setup and then printed the photos onto polaroid paper.final presentation of emistime

As everything comes to a close we’re wrapping up the rest of the project for our deliverables, pushing our code to GitHub and making sure there’s no stones left unturned. I don’t think anyone could have predicted what our final solution would be from the early stages, we had big hopes for possible indoor navigation using iBeacons but the technical limitations with glass and LEBT technology was too much for the time we had. Nevertheless we’re really pleased with the solution we’ve made, we did our best to target the problems we discovered during our research and the feedback we’ve had from industry people, stakeholders and users has been really positive overall.

But now is not the end!emistime review

Edoardo, Agnes and Iain will be staying in Amsterdam for the next semester to continue the project as a start up. With help from the staff at mediaLAB hopefully we can take this project to the next step!

By agnesguenther January 19th, 2015

SHOOTING FOR THE PRODUCT CLIP

emistime_conceptThe planning of the video has been discussed since the beginning of  Sprint 5 where the first storyboards were designed. To get more ideas and to create a better story of the solution, we presented the storyboard to our stakeholders and asked a professional storyteller – EvertJan Koning for feedback. Nevertheless it is still difficult to explain our product because of its complexity, trying to create a story that appeals to a diverse audience is difficult with such a business focused concept.

 

emistime_storyboard

In the beginning of the final sprint we implemented the story according to the feedback session we had with the stakeholders. The main idea for the video is not to explain all features and benefits of the system but to show how the solution effects the worker’s daily life. This makes it much easier for a broad audience to understand what emistime is and what it’s useful for.  The clip will show the current practices, the problems involved and then contrasts this with a very similar clip that uses the emistime solution. We used the contest of cold, blueish colors in the first clip to warm colors in the second clip. This created a real contrast between the worker’s experience without the solution and with the solution.paper-problem

While writing this post, we are editing the video. We are looking forward to present to you our solution on Wednesday 21st January at the mediaLAB.product shooting_header

 

By Felipe Regata November 20th, 2014

User Testing

Bringing the workers closer to the prototype is indispensable either to obtain input on how real users use the system or to prepare them for an outstanding culture change. The approach is obtained with the usability testing which is a user-centered interaction technique designed to evaluate a product or service.

Screenshot 2014-12-04 14.39.20

Since the early sprints it has always been a concern for the team how the end users would behave when using the system. Therefore as the first components of the systems were built they were tested. In this flow the testing evolved in three stages.

On the first stage it was tested the fire checklist, the broadcasting functionality, the mockups for job list, building plans with the workers of the electrical installation field. It was also observed the user’s acceptance to the Google Glass itself. The main goal was to collect user’s opinion, sensation, advices, and expectations for the future as well as ideas for new functionalities.

The results were significantly important because since the very beginning of this project the team was wondering if sharing real time photos and information about what one is currently doing could be taken as invasion of privacy. The discovery was that it is not a problem since there is no problem sharing the work one has been doing or asking for help eventually. Accordingly to the test the building map application is the most desired functionality by the field workers.

On the second stage the communication, the checklist, the building map, the tutorial and the web platform were tested as single components. For this testing the procedure was changed in order to make the testing even challenger.

The users received instructions on how to adjust and use the device than they received tasks to accomplish using the Glass. This way of testing enhanced the insights received by giving the testers freedom to perform as they wish and to share the problems they were facing and giving suggestions while testing.

The feedbacks received helped the working functionalities to be implemented and also benefitted the under development functionalities especially when it came to user interface display of information and commands. The feedbacks also helped the testing process to be implemented in order to extract as much information as possible from the user by asking better questions or simply changing the order of the tasks to be done. Check the results here:

User Testing

The process of testing and implementation belongs to a bigger cycle of development which means that as long as the solution is being developed it must be tested after all Metis is a user centered communication system for dynamic workflows.

So far the functionalities have been tried individually. For the third phase it is expected to test the whole system as integrated as possible.

By Felipe Regata October 25th, 2014

MAKE IT VISUAL & IDEATION WORKSHOP

Ideationworkshop_header

An interesting way to support the design process consists in giving workshops related to the subjects along the development process. Experts from MediaLAB and other professionals give the workshops and eventual lectures regarding various subjects along the semester such as user testing, prototyping, business model canvas and others. This post is related to the Make it Visual Workshop and the Ideation Workshop.

In the Make it Visual workshop we were introduce some basic techniques in visual thinking and visual harvesting. These techniques are used to help ones to communicate about ideas more effectively, both within the team and towards people.

We had other valuable workshop named Ideation. In this opportunity we started checking our understanding of the problem. In order to generate good ideas, it is vital to fit them well within the problem context.
The workshop introduces several high-paced and productive exercises that can be used to generate lots of ideas in a short time frame. The team will then try and cluster the idea into potential solutions. Some of the most important goals of the workshop are to get the mind opened and change the way we look at the world.

By Felipe Regata October 20th, 2014

Research & Interview

We started the sprint 2 with a research user story related to getting more information about the user’s need.  At that point we thought about creating a quick survey, apply it, collect the results in an online platform, analyze it and get extra insights.

IMG_3470

During our Ideation and Idea Selection Workshop later that week we realized that applying an online survey would not be as beneficial as an interview itself.  Therefore we decided to convert our questionnaire (click here) into and interview. We understand that this research format would allow the interviewer to get deeper information about how the worker feels about the workspace and interacts with it.

Before asking any question it was explained that all the information collected in that survey was confidential. We explained that the aim was to collect data and turn it into knowledge so the results, expectations and deliverables could be properly aligned.

Research and Interview

 

Two workers were interviewed. Afterwards we had a conversation with 3 of them regarding Smit’s opportunities to improve the workflow. This environment was created after the interview process so they could feel more at ease to share their thoughts. The most valuable insights are summarized on the image to the left.

The next step regarding user research is having more workers from other areas of the company interviewed so we can confirm these consultation and add more information to the research.

By Felipe Regata September 25th, 2014

Electrical Installation Field Reserach

header

We used the same methodology of field research to gain a better insight into our user’s tasks, on this occasion we visited an installer working in the Electrical Installation department. On the previous visit we only observed some basic maintenance work, the increased complexity of his work allowed us to gain further insights into the user’s tasks. From our experience on the previous visit we improved our research questions and method to make our research more effective.

lights

We have observed that the installers work in poor light conditions, especially in the morning when the sun has not risen, they choose to adopt a flashlight during these situations.We also observed the situations these workers have to document the information. They have to complete a report of the hours worked in order to keep Smit informed for payroll and information purposes. They also have to document if any change is made in the original project by altering the drawing and sending it to the Engineering department.

workers

Visiting the client whilst the user is working is a very important task, it gave us important insights about the requirements of the user.

By agnesguenther September 17th, 2014

FIELD RESEARCH AND TINKERING

GlassKit_Fieldresearch_mentainance_header

To fully discover your user, you need to do research. There are many methodologies that facilitate researching – literature study, market segmentation, field research, just to name a few! The latter gives a direct insight into what your user does, how, why, where and when. Field research can give you the most information but also requires a lot of preparation to get the most out of the time spent in the field. It’s important to know what you want to research, which tools are needed and how the research is conducted before you begin to ensure no time is wasted.

fieldResearch_GlassKit_maintenance

Observing the installers whilst working was very valuable for the GlassKit Team. We have been assigned a project to develop a solution using Google Glass to increase efficiency and safety for Smit Elektra’s maintenance and installation staff. After over a week of constant research into the Google Glass platform and our target user, we spent a morning translating the ideas and insights we have gained into paper prototypes which allow us to visualise the flow of the UI (user interface) and how the user interacts with it at a basic level. By tinkering with our paper prototypes we gave ourselves time to notice faults in our solutions to ensure that if the prototypes do have faults we can fail early giving us plenty of opportunity to improve on our solution at an early stage in the development process.

GlassKit_workshop_tinkering

By agnesguenther September 10th, 2014

KICK OFF – CREATE A USERSCENE

userscene_header

Installers and constructors need vast amounts of information to aid carrying out their work safely and efficiently. Technical installations are getting more and more complex, the necessary information varies case by case and should be easily accessible without hindering productivity. How can an intelligent Google Glass interface increase efficiency and safety in the construction industry? What methodologies are useful in creating successful solutions for this line of work?

In order to develop this project, an interdisciplinary team from a variety of different backgrounds and nationalities has been chosen. The team consists of a programmer, a graphic designer, an industrial engineer and an industrial and communication designer.

glasskit_userscene_storyboard

The team was assigned a task to create a visual presentation outlining the problem and possible solutions. Creativity took precedence in this assignment, the group decided to tell a story using a movie-scene offering great flexibility and a wider scope for the assignment.
Before starting with the user scene, the group met with Ava Fatah, a researcher from London with a solid background in research for augmented reality. Together we tried Google Glass to get an idea of what the product is and isn’t capable of.

glasskit_userscene_camera

During the second day, the content of the movie and the storyboard were finalised. As the end user and its specific needs have not yet been defined, the story is based on a real life situation, making it more relative to the viewer. The user scene shows not only the problem but also potential solutions to widen the scope of what is possible with Google Glass regardless of it being conceptual.

glasskit_userscene_drill

The first person perspective chosen for most of the user scene creates a more effective point of view but required us to source another, more portable camera designed for these perspectives. As to not waste any time, the group started filming some scenes in the third person perspective using the camera already provided. This made filming with the GoPro camera the next day faster and more efficient as we had a better idea of what shots were required and the work needed to achieve them whilst still ensuring the effectiveness of the shot.