UX

Homework 2: Modeling, Hierarchical Task Inventory

Personal Assignment. Investigate the usage of a known system or Web site. Explore its task structure. Piece together a one page diagram of a hierarchical task inventory, as described in the book.

How to do it

Selecting a target system or Web site

You need a system or Web site with enough task structure to make this work. It is best to select an application for which there are at least a few different user work roles. You also need to select something that is relatively familiar, so you don't have to spend a lot of time understanding the application you can try something like WikiPedia or weather.comLinks to an external site.. For WikiPedia, there is a workflow for crowd-sourced content editorial process that involves multiple roles. You could even go with an e-commerce Website such as eBay.comLinks to an external site. where the auction process will have enough complexity to model.

Identifying the task structure

One good way to deduce the task structure is to see how it is reflected in the main menu hierarchy and all the user interface objects that invoke various functionality. Each function in the functionality will correspond to a part of a task or to one or more tasks. You are identifying Verb-Noun tasks like View Options, Select Pull Down Menu.

Deliverables

A. Make a short paragraph and report on what you did and how you thought about this.

B. Show your hierarchical task inventory diagram. Use full page- landscape mode. Use some software that will show a visual HTI