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New York Times Reader
1. # of users: The user of the website ranges from child to the old person. The website is for the newsreader. News is the sharing of the happening socially, economically or technologically. So the users who wants to be updated with news uses this website. But the users needs to have basic understanding of English language because the website is in English.
2. General responsibilities or activities: The main purpose of the user is to gather current affairs of the world. Within a couple of the minutes according to their interest. The site should user friendly to find the required information from the table of content or index. Users are interest only on those sites, which are updated as soon as possible. That's why the sites should be up to date all times. The users are always hungry about the fresh news in news site. Besides these in a news site it should cover all the fields like economy, sports, new discovery or invention, technologies etc. This is the main general responsibilities or activities of a news site.
3. Computer skills: The users needs to have basic knowledge of the computer. Users need to know using Internet, adobe reader and other tools supporting the website. The website is the online form of the very famous newspaper. Also it can be used offline in home computer if user load the page once and for updates he need to go online.
4. Domain expertise: The user must know all basic tools present in the web page. User need to understand some idea about the site then he can get the required news in coupe of seconds after the page is loaded. If the user is a frequent user then he will be well known about all the services of the page.
5. Goals: The website is a news website. The User who visit the news website has a basic goal of getting information about the world's happenings. The New York Times is world famous newspaper with the workers all around the world. So the news can be collected easily and quickly. So the main goal of user (getting the latest and reliable news) can be fulfilled with this site.
6. Pain Points: the main pain points of new York times reader is that it needs to download the times reader additionally to read the contents of the newspaper. In some computers, it creates problems to download easily. If the user use different computer, then the user cant get rights to download and install the software. So it bounds the category of usage. The user can't sit in front of computer for long time. It creates irritating, tiredness and eye problems.
7. Usage Contexts: The software is used in different places like home, offices, cafeteria, vehicles etc. The website consists of videos, audios etc. If the user is in the crowdy places, then it's hard to concentrate and listen to audio and watch video. But if the user is at home, then the environment is peaceful and it's easier for user to use the software.
8. Software Ecosystem: The New York Times Reader uses other additional software's like adobe reader, acrobat, adobe air, flash player, audio driver etc. With out these additional software's, the New York Times Reader cant be surfed.
9. Collaborators: If the user is at home and wants general news, the user can use it alone but if the user needs some specific information for the official use, the user can collaborate with work mates to get much out of it.
10.Frequency of Use: The frequency of use of the New York Times Reader can vary from user to user. The New York Times publishes every day and if something new happens in the world, it updates as soon as possible. So to get latest news, the user can use many times a day. The frequency ranges from single time to many times a day.
Interviews
We did interviews with the user of the New York Times reader in Wayne's café in Helsinki. They are the users who use the site at least once a day and sometimes more .We asked about the user interface and satisfaction with the contents of the site.
We interviewed them in the bar. When people are in the bar, they are open-minded and talk easily. We interviewed with 10 people and it took around two hours. We initially started our conversation with other topics and finally focused on the newspaper.
We used Macintosh computer and word document inside it to collect the information. We also used pen and papers to collect the information.
Well as per they saying, they liked the New York Times reader. Its easier to use and quick because they don't have to wait the newspapers to read. They can open their computer at bed and read it. They can use their computer inside the wireless area. That is the easiest and fastest way to get access to the news.
But the most annoying thing they had about New York Times reader is that they cant open it outside the Internet areas. Because the news is updated every hour, they can't get access to that unless they are joined with internet network. Another point was that they have to be in front of the computer for long time and it's not good for eyes.
Reija Hankosaari
Manager: Wayne's café
"It's the right of human being to get the latest news wherever and whatever condition is."
Reija has been working in Wayne's café as a manager since 2006.Apart from working; she has been studying in Helsinki University as political science student. She is a regular reader of New York Times. She collects a lot of information's daily from the newspaper and TVs. But she believes New York Times because it has a long history and always speaks the truth.
She believes that the politics of the world is affecting the world in an opposite way. People are being selfish and don't have any patriotic feelings. Before some years, people were true lovers and respect the country. There is huge fluctuation in world condition every day. People are growing in the family where they don't get enough nobel teachings. The newspaper helps on improving the condition. She read many papers every morning. She makes her own idea about the world's condition. The main news she read is New York Times. It comes with accuracy, propacy and with variety.
The pain points she feels about the newspaper is that she cant get what she wants. She wants a clear explanation of the problems and happenings in the world but its not always there in newspaper. She thinks there is not any blogs in newspaper where she can talk with other reader directly. That is the point she doesn't like.
She has been interested in politics when she was young girl. She has been reading books, journal, political magazines, searching in internet from young age. She engage herself visiting friends and people where she discuss general social life styles and some place where she can have discussion about current issues. This makes her more fresh and updated with current news with different ideas.
Feature opportunities
To this kind of user, the features like blogs, creating communities and chatting system. Because if you have some ideas about some thing somewhere happening, you would like to share with some one immediately. So there should be account and chat system in newspaper site.
Design Imperatives
The font's in the page should be clear, easy to read, and well organized. Page should be compatible to all the different browsers. The updates should be done frequently so the the peoples will browse the page many times in the day to check the update.