INFO$8003$

Project #$2$

User Experience, Research and Requirements Gathering

AI Conversation Partner!

$***$NOTE: This continues on from Project $1$

In this project, you will be developing the concept for a consumer mobile application that will allow users to create and AI conversation partner.

In this assignment, you will:

$1.$ Develop your understanding of the design process and all that that entails.

$2.$ Become familiar with the special constraints and advantages of mobile apps.

$3.$ Develop your skills with a prototyping tool.

Note: You will not actually be developing a fully functioning mobile app. You will be creating the $$design$$ which will include a non$-$functional mock$-$up that will show what the app will look like and how it will work.

To be done in groups of four $($not five$).$

Scenario

Artificial Intelligence $($AI$)$ is very quickly revolutionizing many creative aspects of life and business. This app will give users the opportunity to create an AI conversation partner. The idea is to create a digital agent who will then be conversant in a topic $($s$)$ that the user prefers. The user will set up the app by creating an animated image of the agent by specifying characteristics such as name, physical appearance $($ex$.,$ gender, hair colour, skin colour, age, or a photo could be provided$),$ voice tonal quality, $($ex$.$ deep, slow, accented, fast, breathy, strong or an audio clip could be provided$),$ personality $($energetic$,$ relaxed, etc.$),$ and so forth.

Once the user has created an agent, the user will specify a topic on which the agent will be able to converse. For example, the user may wish to discuss Romanesque architecture in Italy from $900$ CE to $1500$ CE$.$ The user will then provide this information in a series of prompts. The user will then hold conversations on this topic with the agent at their leisure. $($This works by using the agent as an interface to an AI application $$ as the user asks questions or makes statements, they will be embedded in the topic prompts which will give the AI application a complete context for the responses. At any point, the user may change the specifications for the agent and also for the topic of conversation. Also, the user should specific character traits for themselves $$ these could be changed so that other users could use a different character for themselves on the same app and the same device.

Desirable features for the app:

$$ An interface that allows the user to select features, such as:

o Create digital agent

o Provide context for a conversation topic

o Accept speech or written conversation from the user

o Provide speech or written conversation from the agent

$$ Interface functionality to implement these features

$$ Upload photos taken from the phone or net to provide basis for characters or settings

Some sort of standard text based $$language$$ or set of key words would be needed to describe to the app what is needed for each feature, whether it be character or topic creation.

$***$NOTE: All aspects of your design should be professional and tasteful with no components that would embarrass the organization or employees creating the app.

You may assume that:

$1.$ the web will be generally be accessible to participants.

$2.$ That while the app $/$ website has desktop views, you will only be developing mobile views.

$***$NOTE: Please do not use AI tools for the development of the work in this project. Later, we will introduce these tools but by doing development without them in Project $1,$ you will understand thei use better.

$***$ NOTE: In Project $2,$ you will continue the work begun in Project $1$ to complete the development and implement your design.

Project $2-$ Requirements

Use Cases $(15$ marks$)$

Develop a fairly complete listing of the use cases for this app and create a diagram for them. Then from that list, choose two of the more interesting use cases, and develop use case descriptions for them. $($The purpose of this is to make the workload manageable so you can focus on the most important and interesting elements.$)$ Don$$t choose things like $$login$$ use cases as they are not specific to this app and provide little insight on how the app works. Instead, choose features like:

$$ Creating a new conversational agent

$$ Create a character for the user

$$ Create a conversation topic

$$ Engage in conversation

For the two use cases you chose to pursue, do the following development:

Entities $(10$ marks$)$

Describe the entities for:

$$ Digital Agent

$$ Topic specifications

$$ Conversation

$$ User character

Identify some attributes for each entity. A tabular format would work well for this.

Content Plans $(10$ marks$)$

Provide a description of the text, features and input controls on each page.

Prototypes $(25$ marks$)$

Develop professional mockups of the screens showing using JustInMind Prototyper or Figma for the two Use Cases you have decided to design.

Final Report $(5$ mark