Building an App: Initial Research

THE INTERVIEW //an evening with Erin Christ iansen

// THE APP PROJECT, INITIAL RESEARCH

the app project

ERIN CHRISTIANSEN //Full-time student Environmental studies, BS German, BA French, minor

Hometown: Chanute, Kansas, SEK

Dream job: Save killer whales in Canada

Can’t go a day without wearing her Jayhawk earrings, class ring & cross necklace

Lives for KU basketball video montages

Loves writing and receiving snail mail despite the tediousness of the U.S. Postal Service

Will someday seclude to the Rockies with a bulldog, huskie, and horses in tow

Life motto: Determined to be hip and cool forever



“When it comes to music, I roll with the punches. Indie rock mountain man music up through rap and hip hop.

But never country. I don’t own enough belt buckles for that.”

GAME BOARD //


7:30WAKE UP

BREAKFAST:TEA / TOAST / FRUIT

GET DRESSEDCLOTHES / HAIR /

MAKE UP

WALK TO CLASS

FIND SEAT IN LECTURE

HALLBUDIG/WESCOE

GET OUTNOTE-TAKING

SUPPLIESLECTURE

QUIZ

REVIEW

TEST

NOTES ON NOTES ON

NOTES

STEAM WHISTLEHUZZAH

WALK HOME WALK TO LIBRARY

OFFICE HOURS

EMAIL TA ABOUT

QUESTIONS

EMAIL PROFESSOR

IF BIGQUESTION

HOMEWORK READING LABREPORT

STUDYING MEMORIZING



THREE PROBLEMS //1. The live music experience

2. Language homework, website overload

3. Big lectures, big confusion


FIRST PROBLEM //Live music

Expensive

Standing around, waiting for sets to change

Timeliness is a no go. Ever.

IHeartLocalMusic.com

Openers lame, sometimes (Arabmuzik)

Openers utilizing app to gain exposure


WORD LIST //

HOW IT SOUNDS.

HOW IT MAKES YOU FEEL.

MOOD OF NOISE.

LISTENING, NOT HEARING.

HOW CAN THIS BE PUT INTO AN APP?


SECOND PROBLEM //Language homework references

Four different sites to do one hw assignment

Word Reference / Canoo.net / Google translate / Dict.leo

Professor refuses to use Blackboard, email, internet

Expectation confusion

Student to student relationships


WORD LIST //


YOU HAVE QUESTIONS. AND YOU KNOW THERE ARE PEOPLE WITH THE SAME QUESTIONS.

YOU ALSO KNOW THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO CAN ANSWER THOSE QUESTIONS.

BUT WHERE DO YOU GO?


THIRD PROBLEM //Falls asleep in lecutre (bio & chem)

Why? Boring. Not enough visuals. Bad powerpoints.

What makes them bad? Layout, type, bad diagrams & visuals

No reason to care about information

No time for further explanations or questions.

Purely lecturing. Nothing else.



WORD LIST //

Major events in earth history 1/28/2013

1

1Origin of earth

Origin of life

Evolution of O2 photosynthesis

Evolution of eukaryotes

Evolution of multicellularity

?

Ma = millions of years ago

Life on landOrigin of Earth

• Approximately 4.6 BYA

• Planets condensed from

rotating cloud of dust & gas

Archaean Eon, ~3.8 BYA

• Surface of earth cooler, solid

• New atmosphere, water

– From impacts of asteroids, icy

proto-planets, etc.

– Outgassing from volcanos

– No molecular Oxygen (O2)

– No ozone layer

• Lots of UV radiation

• Rocks & minerals- types seen in

absence of free oxygen


• Life originated early in Archaean

Earliest definite fossils~ 3 BYA

• look like modern

bacteria

• Stromatolites

– bacterial communities

• Heterotrophic

– mop up organic

goodies in sea

– Anaerobic

• No O2 in air

Proterozoic Eon2.5 to 0.5 BYA

• Gradual formation of continents

• 2.7 BYA: photosynthesis

– Autotrophic cyanobacteria

• 1.5 BYA

– Atmospheric O2 reaches ~modern

level

– 21% O2

6


1

1Origin of earth

Origin of life




?










proto-planets, etc.



– No ozone layer








bacteria

• Stromatolites


• Heterotrophic

– mop up organic

goodies in sea

– Anaerobic

• No O2 in air





• 1.5 BYA


level

– 21% O2

6


1

1Origin of earth

Origin of life




?










proto-planets, etc.



– No ozone layer








bacteria

• Stromatolites


• Heterotrophic

– mop up organic

goodies in sea

– Anaerobic

• No O2 in air





• 1.5 BYA


level

– 21% O2

6



2

• First, anaerobic heterotrophs– glycolysis

• Next, photosynthesizers (autotrophs)– Make O2, change oceans & atmosphere

• Then aerobic heterotrophs– Glycolysis AND Krebs Cycle (TCA cycle)

• Loosely called prokaryotes– Circular chromosome

– No nuclear membrane

– No intracellular membranes

– No organelles

– Etc.

Our cast so far:

Fig. 25.9

Begin oxygen

8

Origin of Eukaryotes (~2.100 BYA)

Main differences from “prokaryotes”:

– Linear chromosomes

– Nucleus

– Membrane-bound organelles

• Endosymbiosis: bacteria “eaten” by eukaryote ancestor

Fig. 25.9

Begin oxygen

Multicellularity 1.2 BYA

– ~1.2 BYA, small algae

– ~0.64 BYA, soft flat sea-floor creatures?

We’re in the Phanerozoic Eon

(since 0.54 BYA or 542 MYA)

•Paleozoic life– Marine animals diversify:– (Cambrian Explosion)– Colonization of land– End-Permian mass extinction

•Mesozoic life– Dinosaurs diversify– Flowering plants– End-Cretaceous mass extinction

•Cenozoic life– Mammals diversify– Repeated ice ages– Humans evolve

• Cambrian explosion = great radiation

• Most phyla of animals appear

– And some we can’t assign to current phyla

• Evolution of hard shells/skeletons

– Shell-less relatives evolved earlier?

Paleozoic Era: Cambrian period

(542-488 Ma)

Cambrian explosion

12

mya Paleozoic: Cambrian

(542-488 Ma)

• Cambrian Period ended with a

mass extinction

– Lost many echinoderms & trilobites

Cambrian explosion


3

13

mya Paleozoic: Ordovician

(488 - 444 Ma)

Plants move to land

Colonization of land• This is a massive event!

• Changes visible from space

– (if anyone were around to look)

• From Planet Ocean with brown continents,

• To Planet Ocean with GREEN land

15

mya Paleozoic: Ordovician

(488 - 444 Ma)

• Ended with a mass extinction

– Proportionally 2nd largest?

Plants move to landMass extinction

16

Paleozoic Era: Silurian Period

(444 - 416 Ma)

• Gnathostomes: jawed vertebrates with

paired fins

• Plants: vascular tissue

Some with bony plates

But still have no leaves

Paleozoic Era: Devonian Period

(416 – 360 Ma) “Age of Fishes”• plants diversify:

– Ferns, “club mosses,” horsetails (20 m trees), depended on water for reproduction

– Seed plants appear at end (gymnosperms) Don’t depend on water

for reproduction

18

Paleozoic Era: Devonian Period

(416 – 360 Ma) • Animals move to land: arthropods

– Chelicerates (including mites, harvestmen, scorpions, extinct groups…)

– Mandibulates (including millipedes, insects)


4

19

Paleozoic Era: Devonian Period (416 – 360 Ma)

Vertebrates:– Two subclasses of bony fishes

• Ray-finned ( most fishes)

• Lobe-finned

• move to land: amphibians– Lobes modified into limbs

Devonianmass extinction

Paleozoic Era: Carboniferous

(360 – 299 Ma)

• Amphibians & insects diversify

• Swamp forests coal

– Mostly vascular plants w/o seeds

Woody plants,widespread tropical climate,

equator on Appalachians& N. Europe

mid-Paleozoic: 356 Ma

Eastern Kansas:marinelimestone, shaleterrestrialcoal

Sea level fluctuation due to glaciers in Gondwana 21

KS

Eastern Kansas: Cuesta Topography

W E

Limestone deep water Shale shallower water

23

Kansas Surface Geology

Elevation:Pinkish-highest

Blue-lowest~3000 ft difference

Geological Time:~340 million years

Time travel in Kansas

24

LECTURE SLIDES //


4

19




• Lobe-finned




(360 – 299 Ma)









KS


W E


23






24


4

19




• Lobe-finned




(360 – 299 Ma)









KS


W E


23






24


4

19




• Lobe-finned




(360 – 299 Ma)









KS


W E


23






24


BUT WHAT MAKES THEM BAD? //

Afraid of white space, no breathing room

Text + images + diagram/model

Information overload

But what makes this layout tiring? The information’s the same.

Would is be advantageous presented differently?


SEEING

information overload

TACTILE EASY TOACCESS

MICROSOFTWORD

PACKAGE

USEREASE

UNIVERSAL

BASICKNOWLEDGE EXPECTEDclip art, pixelated images

poor typeface choice

WHY ARE LECTURES SO

AWFUL?

PAINFUL TO3 SENSES

BUT WHY POWERPOINT?

WHY IS IT EASYTO USE?

HOW DOES THISAFFECT THE

STUDENTEXPERIENCE?

HIGHEFFICIENCYLEARNING

HEARING

diagrams, too small

diagrams, not explained

type size, too big, too small

same ppt format, boring

too much text

too many example problems

animated text

title, sub title, body text

same speaker over again

microphone, no microphone

public speaking abilities

accent, hard to understand

pencil, paper, eraser

sit there, no movement

talked to, that’s it

applications?

segmented time

halfway point break

presentation cut down on time?

not efficient with info presentation

professor’s time

ta’s time

most importantly...

your time

expensive

too much design freedom

more buttons, more complicated

acrobat not accessible to everyone

hear information

seen information

interacted information

applied information

work place

quick and easy guide

to do’s, not to do’s

universally improved presentations

cut the crap

focus. learn. understand.

answers when ? arises

waiting to hear back from email

wasted learning period

give ta’s something to do during lecture

already have notes

but only bare minimum

fall asleep

is class even worth it?

INDESIGN?NOPE.

TEMPLATES EASY TO ZONE OUT

RETRACEMISSED

INFO

NO TIMEFOR

QUESTIONS

HOW CAN WE LEARN BETTER?

CAN AN APPCUT OUT TIME WASTED

IN CLASS?

TIMEEFFICIENCY

SAVETIME

GETQUESTIONSANSWERED

APPLICATIONSOUTSIDESCHOOL?

LEARN INMULTIPLE

WAYS

PRESENTATIONS.GOOD ONES.

TEACHER/STUDENT

INTERACTION

STUDENT/STUDENT

INTERACTION

QUESTIONSANSWERED

IMMEDIATELY

EFFICIENTLYPRESENTED

INFORMATION

CONCISEINFO

MODEL //

the app project

“ I have questions & I know others have the same questions. There are people with the answers. I need a place where all of those

CONNECT.”

Documents

Building an App: Initial Research