Task 1: Connect up netbox- Rebecca opened the box that Netbox arrived in and removed the contents and packaging, placing them on the floor
- She then rummaged amongst the contents and located the instructions
- She briefly flicked through the pages and, as she did so, held the power cable in her left hand (glancing between it and the manual)
- She then placed the instructions and cable on the floor
, moved her hands to her mouth (a gesture which was accompanied by a look of confusion) and commented that she was unable to continue
Task 2: Sending an email
We gave Rebecca an email address and asked her to send an email.
- Initially she wasn't sure what we meant
- After a while, she managed to choose the e-mail option from the main menu (by clciking on the corresponding number on the remote controller)
- She struggled alot with the input device
- She could not figure out how to type letters using the remote controller
- She was so frustrated that she decided to give up, at which stage we had to intervene and explain how to type text.
- It took her more than an hour to type three lines of text
- At one point, while trying to type a number in, she ended up clearing all of the text
- She was constantly complaining about the size of the keys
- Once she finished typing the email, she was able to select the send option quite easily
Task 3: Using the internet
Rebbecca was tasked to "surf the web" and arrive at "BBC news" web site.
- She didn't seem to understand what was meant by "surfing the web".
- However, she managed to press the menu button, which directed her to a list of options.
- Then she pressed "1" on the key pad to select the "Surf the web"
- Since she's already typed an email using the remote, she didn't have any trouble typing the web address but she had forgotten how to type ":", so she spend around 15 minutes pressing different buttons on the key pad and eventually she manged to type the full address
- Unfortunately instead of typing the web address on the address bar, she had typed it on the search bar
- Then she pressed the search button, which generated a list of web pages including the desired "BBC news" web site
- Then she pressed the search button, which generated a list of web pages including the desired "BBC news" web site
- After spending some time reading the descriptions she chose the correct link (Which was result 3)
- She pressed 3 on the keypad and arrived at "BBC News" website
The whole process took her around 40 minutes. Comparing to her previous task of sending an e-mail, Rebbecca was more comfortable with the Netbox, however as she pointed out several times during the task, she doesn't really understand what she is doing, but she was quite happy to follow the instructions blindly as long as she can achieve her goals.
She also pointed out that some of the technical jargon is not user friendly (eg: "surf the web"). She didn't have any complains about the Netbox interface, but once again she complained about the size of the key pad. However her biggest complain was the amount of time taken for her to navigate to the news page. She wondered if this process could be shortened.
Task 4: Participating in Chat
- Presses 'Menu' button on remote
- Notices appearance of main menu and selects the chat option by using the 'down' arrow button followed by 'select'
- (Screen prompts for a user name and password to be entered
Rebbecca ends the task at this point by explaining that she doesn't know what she should do, adding that "it's not as easy as using the red button". The task was therefore explained in more detail and a set of instructions was handed to her. Rebecca then commented that she'd much prefer it if someone would actually show her what to do, as she finds instructions difficult to understand. She remarked that, "instructions use too many big words. I think many people could do with some instructions about how to read instructions".
