Waypoints: Scenarios

While specific tasks that our personas would hope to accomplish are listed in our testing script, we have developed scenarios to help us focus on our users' more broad needs. Each scenario has a specific goal in mind (i.e. data entry, search/retrieval, content browsing) and is associated with one of our three personas.

Scenario #1: A New Find

Upon receiving the call three weeks ago, Stan knew that a box of donated photographs would arrive any day. He had already received the Deed of Gift form from Mr. Johnson's family, so when the materials arrived he knew he could immediately review them to see if they should be added to the archive. Late in the afternoon, the suitcase sized package arrived and Stan immediately got to work. Sorting through the black and white photographs, he saw that most had been noted with the location and date they were taken. Since most were taken during World War II, he knew that the majority would be added to the collection. Once sorting was complete, Stan began the process of adding the materials to the digital archive. With no work taking precedence, he began by scanning the photographs into the database. Thumbnail images were created and descriptive data was added to the system. As each record was saved, it was immediately available for viewing via the World Wide Web.

Scenario #2: Searching for a Friend

Brett began his morning with a round of golf with his best friend John. Having known each other since serving military together, John had been remiss in visiting his old friend. After completing their outing, they returned home. In conversation, Brett mentioned that he had begun an attempt to write about his time in the military. John thought it was a great idea and told Stan he would be the first in line to buy the book. As they reminisced about old times, John remarked that he would like to have some photographs of the units he had served on. His grandson often asked about what he had done and John thought it would be fun to educate his young friend. With a grin, Brett let John know that he would have some photographs by days end. Walking to the computer, they sat down to search for what they were looking for.

Scenario #3: The History Lesson

As Suzanne began her day, she knew that spending time at the library was going to help her finish the paper she'd been working on. Though it was almost complete, she had some final revisions to complete before it was due at the end of the week. As she arrived at the library, Suzanne thought of the History Channel television show she had seen the night before. She wasn't familiar with the U.S. Coast Guard and found it fascinating that the service had employed women lighthouse keepers at a time when men dominated the workforce. She knew there was a way to work the information into her paper and hoped to find a photograph to include in her paper. As she began to work on her laptop, she conducted an Internet search for women lighthouse keepers. Finding the Coast Guard historian's web site, she was optimistic that she would find what she was looking for. At a glance she noted a topic for “people.” Selecting the topic, she began to browse through the photographs.