Use cases and scenarios documentation

[Jim Hart]

An observation: the subsections in the "use cases and scenarios" section contain, currently, attribute descriptors from Jay's focus group sessions rather than use cases as described under the reference link. I'd like to see actual use cases that reflect "…an exchange with the environment, whether that environment is physical, personal, or social." There are so many possible "transactions", to use a term shared by psychology, sociology and IT, among the College's constituents, I need a representative list to even start thinking about an IKE. 

Especially, I'd like to know the purpose of a given transaction in the initiator's mind. For some transactions, such as, "How much do I owe on my bill?", the purpose is obvious. But, "post to my blog" isn't, at least not to me. Why have a blog? What does it accomplish? Is the answer different for different people? What are the specific purposes that individuals use this tool for? Do individuals post to their blogs for different reasons at different times.

I'd like to apply the same questions to other extant Web tools. Then sort through the list of transactions to get a better sense of what folks are trying to accomplish.

Here's an imaginary example: "Purpose: Let people, about whom I care, know where I'll be during school vacation." Transactions to accomplish this might include: "Send an e-mail to the Friends group in my address book.", "Post my schedule in my blog." "Make entries in the Google Calendar that I share with my closest friends.", "Send an e-mail to my thesis advisor so she can contact me.", "Call the registrar's office to tell them where to send the next bill to my parents.", and so on.

Knowing the purpose, it seems to me, helps us think outside the box about how to facilitate the actual need rather than look at one or more of the transactions as a use case. Or, is the Purpose, above, actually the use case?

I guess I'm not clear where, in these various analysis methods, a person's interactions with the world, and the purposes behind them, get identified. If we don't know those, won't we be driving off with neither a destination nor a map?

[Jay Collier]

Jim-

You're right that the use-case section currently holds notes. This
project is still getting started, and content is evolving.

That said, a primary audience for these cases is the development staff
who will evaluate features. I think, from what I read, that you have a
pretty clear idea of what would be helpful for you. (I only included
the Wikipedia link as an example; I assume there are other formats,
too. I'm not a developer, nor do I believe I could play one on TV.)

How about this? Why don't you choose one of the pages of notes and
draft a use case in the format you recommend? Once you choose one and
draft a sample — you could post it here for discussion — then we can
apply that structure and perspective to the others.

-Jay

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[Jay Collier]

I had a follow-up discussion today on this topic with my IT colleagues
here at Bates, Steve and Jim.

Although my primary interest is in organizational strategies,
communication goals, and user experience, IT is responsible for the
analysis, evaluation, development, and/or deployment of a major
initiative, such as an IKE, here at Bates.

So, they will be developing formal use cases and scenarios during the
course of an IT analysis of online communications technologies that
starts next month.

I have received permission from Steve to post his process to this
forum. Since it's the first time I've witnessed Carnegie Mellon's
Software Architecture process at work, I'll be learning right along
with you ...

<http://www.sei.cmu.edu/architecture/>



So, I'll clearly label my notes as notes, and we'll see how use cases
emerge. If you wish to work on more formal versions, let me know.

-Jay

[Jim Hart]

Let's not get bogged down in the techno-speak or formalities of the
Carnegie Mellon methods. When I've used the terms "use case" or
"scenario" in this group, I didn't mean anything technical. Just a
sentence or paragraph, everyday language, describing what someone
might want to do. For example: "Search all the journal indexes, book
catalogs and Web search engines that I have access to for anything
about "the role of weather in the Civil War". That's what I mean by
a "use case" or "scenario". (And a pipe dream at this point, eh? :-)

Jim Hart

p.s. By way of introduction, my interests in IKE have to do with 1) a
long term interest in seeing computers be more useful to people
(especially me!), 2) a degree in and life long interest in
psychology, and 3) software development and integration. Currently,
I'm mainly responsible for the care and feeding of our content
management system.

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