Radio Free Friendster

Designing Digital Products October 20th, 2004

Keledy KenkelMohit SantRam

Assignment #6

Objective• Design a hardware interface for managing the object and actors

in your system. Use a radio as the mental model for your design.

Guidance• Select an actual radio as your model. include an image of the

radio in your presentation.• Map the different objects and properties in your data model to

the available controls.• Extend the controls as needed without breaking the overall

mental model.• Describe the interaction model, and how the radio metaphor fits

and limits that interaction model.• Describe how the specific properties of the controls map to the

properties of the data in your model.

Radio Free Friendster

We have mapped Friendster.com onto a trusty Radio Shack AM/FM Portable Radio, freaturing an LCD alarm clock, Model #12-626.

The controls on the radio are straightforward, and within a few minutes, most users are able to grasp the basic operation of the radio. When the same users visit Friendster.com, their experience is not the same.

We have mapped Friendster.com’s controls to our easy-to-use radio.

Radio Entities

Radio Entities

Actors Objects• Broadcasters (stations)

• Listeners

• Alarm

• AM/FM Band switch

• Antenna

• Content (Music? Talk? Static?)

• Presets

• On/Off switch

• Sleep (snooze)

• Speakers

• Time (displayed)

• Tuner

• Volume

Radio Entity Properties - Actors

Broadcasters: • choose what to play and when • are stuck with their assigned frequency• are regulated on how far the signal can reach• have a physical location (a pole) and a physical residency on the dial

Listeners:• choose what and when to listen• must have a radio to listen • can change location• can only listen if they are within the signal's range• cannot identify a listener

Radio Entity Properties - Objects

Alarm:• is set by the user• is dependent upon time as well as the volume of the radio

AM/FM switch:• a choice between two frequency ranges

Antenna:• picking up a station is usually dependent on the antenna

Lock:• Temporarily disables controls on front of unit.

Radio Entity Properties - Objects

Presets• requires finding the station and then several button presses• it is possible to never veer off of presets• (i recall a radio station, that if they pulled your car over... they would

award you more money for every preset of their station you had on your radio.)

On/Off switch• it is always the choice of the user whether or not they want to listen• controls the power of the radio (except when you factor in the alarm)

Sleep• 1 minute to 90 minute shut-off timer

Speaker• the thing that makes a radio worthwhile, speakers enable listening

Radio Entity Properties - Objects

Time• is a property of both the broadcasts, the listener, and on the actual

unit• one must listen at a specific time if they want to hear a specific thing

(you can't tune in and expect to hear a baseball game that started 5 hours ago)

Tuner• the only choice in what a listen listens to is in the tuner• ability to find stations or static• relates to a station number

Volume• controlling the intensity of the sound

Friendster.com

Friendster.com Entities

Actors Objects• Administrators

• Advertisers

• Browsers (People)

• Users

• Profiles - View/Edit

• Account Settings

• Bookmarks

• Messages

• Bulletin Board

• Testimonials

• Photos & Captions

• Add Friends

• Fans

• Search

• Invite Friends

• Blog/RSS

• Affliations

Friendster Entity Properties - Actors

Administrators• Maintain website, network, system.

Advertisers• Choose what advertisements are shown

Browsers• View profiles but do not post their own profile, comments, pictures,

etc.

Users• Post profiles, pictures, interests, share information, send messages• Actively use features of website to meet others based on similar

interests

Friendster Entity Properties - Objects

Profiles• Add personal information based on predetermined fields

Account Settings• Change email address, notification method, and alert methods

Bookmarks• Monitor the pages of friends, friends of friends and others.

Messages• Communicate with other users within Friendster.

Bulletin Board• Post and read broadcast messages to social network and others.

Friendster Entity Properties - Objects

Testimonials• Usersof Friendster can leave personal reviews, information, or thoughts

about you.

Photos & Captions• Add pictures and captions describing place, people, and activities within

specified pictures.

Add Friends• Add people to your social network based on interests, photos, activities,

locartion, exisiting relationship.

Fans• Add official Friendster profiles to social network.

Search• Search within Friendster for users based on username, interests.

Friendster Entity Properties - Objects

Invite Friends• Invite friends based on email, user name, or interests.

Blog/RSS• Share personal blogs with social network.• Pull RSS content from friendster into personal blog.

Affliations• Associations built on common interests.

The Easily Mapped

The focus of radios is the ability to pick up a broadcasted stream and listen to it.

• The main focus of Friendster is to be able to find friends. Thus in mapping a radio's controls on to the functions of Friendster, it is easiest to start with the things that drive people to use either item.

Speaker = Web Interface (on user's personal computer)• Reasoning: Both involve a limited element of choice in a land where

certain things are already structured by the creators.

Tuning (with the help of the antenna) = Searching• Reasoning: Friendster searches are all about fine tuning through the

hordes of users to be able to find someone of interest.

Lock = Edit Preferences• Reasoning: Editing ones preferences is much like toggling between a

locked and unlocked state. Once you have set your preferences, you cannot change them until you have released the lock.

Mapped Functions

The Easily MappedPresets = Friends• Reasoning: Both Friendster and the Radio require a couple of steps

before you set your friends and presets. You have to find what/who you want. Then you have to press several buttons in combination for the radio, and you must virtually press several buttons and get approved by a potential friend.

On/Off Switch = Login/Log off• Reasoning: These buttons enable disconnection from listening to the

radio and viewing content from the site.

Alarm = Email Messaging• Reasoning: Friendster email messages trigger alarms and alerts.

Display = URL• Reasoning: As you navigate through Friendster, your URL changes.

Alarm = Email Messaging• Reasoning: Email messages when sent within friendster.

The Murky & Un-Mappable

The Murky• Band• Set• Snooze• Sleep• Volume• Mode

The Long ShotsTime• Reasoning: Radio is a synchronous, if you do not catch a baseball

game at a the scheduled time you will not be able to hear it. Whereas everything on Friendster is asynchronous, nothing is really time based. Perhaps if parts of Friendster had live chats, or it had elements that decayed over time, the time would be easier to map.