Twitterspace

Context

• Indiana University (Bloomington, IN)
• Ph.D. project (co-creator)

Case

Problem: Our school had students and faculty spread out across campus. We needed a way to share information with everyone and at the same time help them feel connected.

Process:

• Brainstormed/sketched the design of the system
• Observed the environment in which it was placed
• Created a series of wireframes/experiments comparing the experience of various sounds and animations
• Introduced a living prototype to our community
• Evaluated through surveys, interviews, and observation

This was an early sketch of the system.

This was an alternative sketch that was explored.

This was an interactive wireframe we created to get a sense of the density of information, the animation speed, and the sound element of the system.

Click here to see the working wireframe.

Solution: Our design used Twitter data displayed on public monitors in our school’s building with a slow animation of tweets across the screen.

This is an example image of the working system. The real system is no longer pulling data from Twitter due to changes in the API.

Click here to see an example with sample data.

Outcomes: The Twitterspace display was deployed for our school as well as 3 academic conferences and 3 other organizations.

This image shows Twitterspace in use.

Details

Dates of Project: Jan 2007-Dec 2010

UX Methods Used: Contextual Inquiry, Sketching, Wireframing, Prototyping

My Roles: Research, Design, Writing, Programming, Artistry