PACT Analysis

PACT Analysis

As we were taught in Semester 1, the PACT Framework is:

People

undertake activities,

in context

using technologies.

In explanation, in this section I will plan and analyze how the device will support the user in their activities. By the end of this phase, I should know the answers to the following questions having in mind that I am creating SCaRF Community as a mobile app.

>        Who are the end-users? Who else will be affected or will need to be involved?

>        What are their aspirations and objectives?

>        What do they want and need to do?   

>        In what circumstances?

>        What are the most suitable technologies for them, if indeed a technological solution is required?

PEOPLE

Physical Characteristics: People who are perfectly healthy as well as people with Skin Cancer or people with dangerous moles who want to find out if their mole is suspicious.

Psychological Aspects: People with uncertainty on the subject of Skin Cancer. Also, people who are looking for advice and people who need emotional support.

Social Aspects: People from many different cultures and age groups. However, this organization is local and it is based in the West Region of England.

ACTIVITIES

Temporal Aspects: The app is expected to be visited weekly by its members. This is because there will be continuous support and notifications of the upcoming Events. It will not be an app that is very busy; however it will be active through the forum.

Co-operation and Complexity: The activities of the app will be mostly involving an individual, but sometimes it can involve a group as well. For example, in the section of stories, a whole family could make a video and talk about their experience around Skin Cancer.

Safety Critical: There should be a person that will observe the activities of the app and verify or correct possible mistakes. If a rude comment is posted and there is no one to erase it, this may cause for a bad image of SCaRF that would have allowed such comments to be posted that may insult the organization or the Community Members.

Content: The content of the app will contain articles of people’s stories, videos of people’s stories, blocks of text with information about Skin Cancer, images of posters of different events and input boxes for contacting the organization or the doctor namely or anonymously.

CONTEXT

In class we were taught that ‘Context’ sometimes means things that surround an activity and sometimes what glues an activity together.

Physical Environment: Because the device used for delivering this assignment is a mobile, it can be used anywhere. However, the only requirement for this is to be connected to the internet so that the app can be loaded from the server and the user can interact with the rest of the members.

Social Context: This depends on the user and how he/she feels about Skin Cancer. For example, if the user is a patient, he/she may feel like using the app whenever he/she is in a private place. Maybe the user feels sensitivity around this subject and would not like anyone to give weird looks or ask questions about this personal topic. However, if the user is someone who does not mind the reactions of the society, then he/she will be able to use the app in any social context. Both groups of people will be part of the audience. I should have in mind that the app should look inviting and welcoming so that most people will feel good to use it around others.

Organizational Context: The app will be observed both by SCaRF and a person assigned to modify and update it. The organization itself will give feedback and assign to the person new information to be posted. The person who will be observing the app should make sure that everything works smoothly, the links are valid and the comments are polite.

TECHNOLOGIES

Suitable technologies to be used for the People, Activities and Contexts. This includes both Hardware and Software.

Input: The data that needs to be put into the system by the user will be entered using the mobile’s keyboard. Also, if the user wants to attach any pictures or videos, the options will be given on his/her screen. The mobiles that have touch screens will be used with touching the screen and the older mobiles will be used by pressing the keys needed.

Output: First of all, the app should be user friendly and its design should be appealing and appropriate for the audience. The app will provide instructions in the parts that require user’s action and should include appropriate visualization, affordances, mappings etc.

Communication: The app will be kept simple so that the access of each webpage will be easily loaded each time the user choses to visit a different page of the app. However, the overall speed of the app will have to do with the user’s internet connection and device processing speed.

In addition, before designing the app we should consider the ERGONOMICS around mobile devices. Ergonomics is the study of the relationships between people and their environment. Also, in PACT analysis another important component is studying the MENTAL MODELS. People develop mental models by interacting with systems, observing the relationship between their actions and behavior. Generally, the understanding and knowledge we have about how something works is referred as mental model.

Ergonomics: We are looking for the ergonomics of a mobile, as our product is SCaRF Community App. The way we hold the new generation phones is important. We usually hold the whole phone with our hand and touch the buttons or browse around using our thumb. Having this in mind, I should design an app that will have the menu in a range that the thumb movement will reach.

Mental Models: I should include sufficient information about the usability of my app. This means having an interactive design.