Mid-term presentations

Friday, July 11th was the Odysseus mid-term event at DCU. There were eighteen students who presented the work they have done so far and the game plan for the next six weeks. The poster session was for about two hours, during which several people, including the extreme blue interns, supervisors, school director and mentors went around asking questions and giving feedback.

It was a helpful session. I think it was a crucial time to stop and think about the direction, progress and goals of the project. It was also a good opportunity to see what other people received your ideas. It was particularly important for me because my project is application-led. Understanding the user's needs and feedback was very essential.

From user surveys and conversations with people I found out that most people felt that Chumby was a good idea. They could see themselves, and their not-so-tech-savvy family members use it. But, some felt that showing location on a map was "big-brother" like. Some also felt that they wouldn't want families to see their facebook status, but since they already use twitter to interact with work groups, those status messages were O.K. to share.

I also received help from some of the Extreme Blue interns. Neil Cowzer owns a Chumby and I am going to contact him soon to see if he can give feedback on my widgets. Tim Hayes offered help with Flash as he has previous experience with it.

Apart from the feedback I got, just answering questions helped me get a better focus on my project and re-evaluate my goals.