6 - Jonathan Trubshaw

For this week, we turn to Chapter 5, "Support the User's Mental Models."

As you think about your work on project #3, what is the user's mental model with respect to the feature in YouTube you are redesigning / designing? 

How might this mental model contrast with the implementation model of the programmers? (Don't get too involved with this one.) 

A short answer (a few sentences) for each question should suffice. (Obviously you can read the answers of other people and paraphrase what they wrote, but that doesn't help your understanding very much. TRY to answer these questions before looking at the responses of your peers.)

Also, since I'm posting this late, your answer won't be due until Wednesday evening at 11:59 PM (after the exam).

The feature I chose to focus on in Project #3 was the idea of searching for videos to watch while simultaneously watching another video. In the user's mind, this is done by clicking and typing in to the search box, scrolling through the results, and clicking on the next video. It is all seamless and fluid. 

In contrast, the implementation model of this feature includes organizing everything on the page, accepting user input, analyzing that input, gathering and sorting results, and organizing those results on the page. It is much more involved than the interface makes it look, with algorithms and statistical analysis coming in to play.