Emergency Weather Information System
Systems Analysis • Contextual Inquiry
Proposing a centralized emergency preparedness information system for adverse weather to the Town of Chapel Hill.
Overview
In response to the local panic leading up to Hurricane Florence in 2018, several of my classmates and I proposed a centralized informational website for extreme weather. Using contextual design methodology to guide us, we created and pitched an interactive prototype to the Town of Chapel Hill.
This project was a semester-long, team-based project taken during my Systems Analysis & Design course required for my Master’s degree at UNC.
The purpose of the class was to learn about different data models (i.e. affinity, sequence, and flow diagrams), project management and communication skills, and the elements needed to develop a technical proposal.
Course:
Systems Analysis & Design
(INLS 582, UNC-Chapel Hill)
Duration:
3 months
(Oct. 2018 - Dec. 2018)
Role:
Team Lead
Team:
Dottie Blyth
Carson Gunn
Madison Folks
Cody Xu
Problem Statement
There is no centralized system offering local and current information during times of adverse weather/natural disaster emergencies for town residents.
Team, Assemble!
The first step in our project was to create a team charter and define clear roles for the team members. As team lead, I was the primary contact between our client, The Town of Chapel Hill, and our class group. Other responsibilities I had throughout the project included: interpersonal team management, creating the final wireframes in Adobe XD, and formatting the final proposal document.
We also created a modified Gantt Chart as a project management tool to help us stay on schedule throughout the semester.
This phase of the project was the heart and soul of our project: gathering qualitative user data.
Who are we designing for?
The next step was to understand what and who we were designing for. We began by conducting background research using primary documents (e.g., newspaper articles) and comparing current systems in place that are currently used during emergency weather situations.
We then decided on surveying as diverse of a population we could for the town, although we had to use convenience sampling due to the project’s scope.
We ended up interviewing 14 people, including University Students, Local Residents, Non-Residents, and Seniors. Each interview lasted around 30 minutes to 1 hour and explored topics relating to adverse weather preparedness knowledge, resource requirements and needs, and information-seeking habits.
Mapping Our Findings Through Diagrams
After gathering hours of qualitative data, we held an interpretation session and proceeded to make an affinity diagram model to try and find underlying themes.
During our interpretation session, we began generating 1st-person POV statements on Post-It notes, taken directly from our interviews. By the end of our meeting, we had over 130 sticky notes which we later grouped and categorized based on people’s attitudes, frustrations, and goals they had toward preparing for Hurricane Florence.
Final Affinity Diagram
Affinity Mapping Exercise Takeaways
1) Media Dissatisfaction
A common pain point was frustration with how news and information was presented along with a perceived “media hype.”
2) Misinformation Problem
Being able to access and remain constantly updated on unbiased, informative, and concise information matters to most stakeholders.
3) It’s Personal
There are strong emotions at play in this situation because of the high-stakes nature and potential loss associated with natural disasters.
Current State Diagram
To synthesize the findings from our affinity diagram, we decided to create a current state flow diagram to better visualize all the moving parts, entities, and relationships in the system. By creating a current state flow diagram, we had three core observations:
1) People trust authoritative sources
2) Information Overload
3) A lot of input in, not a lot out
Personas helped us better understand our target audience.
Once we all finished our interpretation session and created an affinity diagram, we had a better understanding of who our users were. Our next step was to consolidate the data and create user personas to better envision who we would be designing our system for.
We had originally brainstormed three user groups for our personas, although we ended up splitting the last group up into two distinct groups after talking within the team and with our client in order to highlight their different needs, values, frustrations, and characteristics.
The detailed personas can be seen in the full report and helped identify our main audience traits: people are comfortable with technology they are already familiar with, prioritize communication with their friends and family, and value their safety and well-being.
Creating a Sequence Diagram
In addition to our personas, we wanted to model the data in other ways to better understand the system, starting first with a sequence diagram. These diagrams were highly iterative as we created several drafts during the semester, getting feedback from both our class professor and our client.
The purpose of creating this sequence diagram was to identify steps people took when a storm is approaching and to identify any potential breakdowns along the way. It was created using information from our interviews, meetings with the client, and background research on current systems.
Final Sequence Diagram
We found that people’s information gathering processes are not just linear but are cyclical.
Flow Diagram
The purpose of creating this flow diagram was to understand external systems (e.g. UNC alert system) and people (e.g. retail workers) which interact with a person preparing for a storm.
This diagram helped visualize all of the information going in to the user (as well as the lack of information going out), reinforcing the idea of information overload. We also found that users find it hard to determine information authority.
Proposing a New Solution
Taking in the breakdowns and interviews into consideration, my team and I proposed a future system which would help alleviate some of the information overload users have by curating only the most important information and updates onto one single responsive website, accessible on any device. In consultation with the client, we felt that a responsive website was more advantageous than a standalone mobile application as it offers more accessibility and ease of access.
We created a future state flow model to show the reduced amount of input going in to the user.
In our proposal, we outlined four functions our site will have:
System Function #1: Utilize the power of crowdsourcing to create an interactive map of real-time road conditions and available resources
System Function #2: Create a central source of information regarding weather conditions and updates all on one page
System Function #3: Provide users with a central source of local information and updates
System Function #4: Provide users with a curated list of information regarding essential preparedness information
High-Fidelity Wireframes
After thinking through the new revamped system, we then turned to create an interactive, high-fidelity prototype (based off of prior low-fidelity wireframes we ideated together).
One of my major roles I had during this project was taking our wireframes and ideas and creating the high-fidelity panels on Adobe XD.
Let’s Test It!
We then showed the newly designed system to 8 of the original 14 participants for feedback, each on a standard laptop screen. The purpose of this was to get formative feedback on the system and to validate our design decisions. Overall, we found that credibility and reliability played a large role in the system.
1. All 8 participants clearly understood what site’s purpose.
“I think it would be a huge help in finding out storm conditions, local openings/closings of schools and public facilities, and general news on the weather.”
2. Participants were confused about how the system would be used and the technicalities of it.
“Not sure whether this website is only for hurricane or natural disaster. How could it be more customized?”
3. Participants would be more inclined to use the system if it were featured on the Town of Chapel Hill website or sent out by Alert Carolina (i.e. authoritative sources)
Project Reflection
This project gave us both an opportunity to learn contextual inquiry methods while also learning to work in a team setting for a client, which we greatly appreciated. We met with the client twice over the course of the semester and worked with him to include a town employee’s perspective in our final proposal.
Additionally, this project helped me understand just how important “getting out in the field” is since users don’t necessarily know what they want! Being familiar with contextual design not only adds value to UX/UI of a product, but should be mandatory if we want to achieve user-driven, data-informed design. This project has reinforced my belief that integrating opinions from outside the team is vital for a successful project.
~ 90% of it is about teamwork! ~
One of the biggest takeaways from this project ironically had little to do with the actual design process; instead, the most valuable lessons I learned throughout the semester dealt with interpersonal skills working on a team.
As the person who proposed the initial project, I was appointed Team Lead by my class professor, and while it felt somewhat daunting at first, it helped me grow as both a leader and manager. I contribute this in part to my team, who seemed to work effortlessly well together. Everyone on the team contributed different strengths and knowledge, which helped my role, and there were no interpersonal conflicts I had to manage.