I have done a 5 minute presentation on miXXerS for the Dragon’s Den. You can download it directly from SlideShare
http://www.slideshare.net/GuideStarintl/dragon27s-den-presentation2
I have done a 5 minute presentation on miXXerS for the Dragon’s Den. You can download it directly from SlideShare
http://www.slideshare.net/GuideStarintl/dragon27s-den-presentation2
Here are the finalized Web maps and Storyboards that I did for the group which considers not only the design of the websites and the features we can provide but also addresses any social, legal or ethical issues that may arise when it is used.
I built a prototype for our social website (miXXerS). Below are some screenshots with simple descriptions. (Double click the picture to see the legible one).
We also did a demonstration video of our prototype website. This video is narrated by our team member Liam. Thanks for recording Liam!
Homepage: part 1
The navigation bar and carousel effect (made by Javascript). The carousel is made of three pictures and each picture has some context with a link button.
Homepage: part 2
Three headings show the newest party, popular DJs and musicians and popular music automatically. You can click the “view detail” button to view the detailed information for each heading below.
Party page:
This page shows the parties that will happen soon. Each party event is listed by theme, time, location. You click the “Search on Google Map” link for to search for the location. You can also find out where a DJ or musician will be playing and buy ticket either via paypal links or external ticket sites like Eventbrite or Ticketmaster. The DJ and Musician’s name is a link so you view her/his profile.
DJ page:
This page show each DJ’s profile. His name, the genres of his music, occupation(s), Instruments and year active. There is a “Events” link, this link navigate to event page. There is also a feature that allows you to book the DJ/musician’s services.
Event page:
This page shows the events this DJ will attend. You can click for more detailed information for each event.
Find music page:
This page is used for users to find the music they want. Input the name in search bar to find the music or to click the alphabet.
About us page: Those that are checking out the demo of our site can find out more about us here!
I collected the survey results to see how potential users view our potential service. This provided us with information that informed the development of our site. The results are summarised below. So far our total response is 94 though only 32 people have completed the survey. You can find the survey here.
Ages vary between 16 to over 30 though, more opinions of teenagers would have given a better balance to the survey. This survey may reflect the opinions of adults.
The balance between men and women is ideal. the survey may reflect unbiased opinions at least from view point of gender. This is useful information as we would like to provide information on the gender mix at events which is useful to party producers but also to users who attend the event, as this sometimes affects the decision to attend, especially for young people. Think Ladies Free Night!
Question 1.3 : What is your country of origin?
The survey consists of 10 countries. Although those variety will give us international viewpoints, there is no English origin. Although the web site will be implemented in UK, this survey may not reflect the opinions of domestic users, but reflect international views of users living in UK.
The average times those surveyed attended concerts/parties is 6 or less. The potential users of the site will be those attending parties at least “1 or more times per month”, which is 9 out of 32. although it is assumable almost everyone will listen to some music, attending music events are different from just listening to music.
Question 1.5 : How do you access music? Select all that apply.
This is a multiple choice question and people could tick boxes more than once. As expected YouTube is used by 1/3 of people. Highlighting the importance of not just music but video. 40% of people use some kind of downloading service which is a mainstream way of accessing to music today. The ability for people to add their YouTube Videos to the site will be useful as well as the ability for them to upload videos directly from their mobile. Though ensuring copyright is adhered too will be problematic.
It looks like almost all have no problem with the way they access music, there are only two opinions about previous tools. “it doesn’t help me to discover good songs. It only features and advertises popular songs not the music of my taste.” and “can’t download music and always my favourite videos are erased.” Those are also complaints on the inability to customising music by their own taste. By giving freedom of selection of music taste on miXXerS, we may attract many potential users.
Here we enjoy variety of answers as it is also multiple choices. Finding new music from social media gained 20%, which is comparatively a rather large share of replies. There is enough potential to enlarge this share by creating a useful site. We also can add people answering “By going to concerts operas.” if we succeed to take them to our site by providing enough concert information. Other reply “Blogs” could potentially be included into our site.
Question 1.8 : Do you find these services satisfactory?
Written answers are “discovering new music is always difficult unless you have friends who knows a lot about the music.” “Because I still find it hard to find out about good new/ unknown artists” and “It would be nice to have a forum that could make new and innovative music more accessible instead of being lost in the clutter”. This sounds like finding new music is not easy since existing media may provide unfiltered information of new songs only. People need to have customized information which our site may provide. It seems that users are also constantly searching for new artists and new music, so being able to more easily have access to this via the miXXers site would be important. Connecting the dots between music and musical events will be an important component for this and so we believe miXXerS is on the right track.
Question 1.9 : Would you consider using a service that combines the following:
It is nice that almost 80% people agreed to use the service such that our site will provide.
The following are replies.
By examining those 22 answers to 6 categories, it is said that there are two major categories people may concern; “social media function” and “music quality”. As for social media function, people needs other factors to their music site such as “more private”. they prefer a friendly site even it is for music. Another aspect, “music quality” is also important. they concern quality of music when they listen/download. The third popular category “customized music taste” includes “Suggesting similar artists,” “posts on the inspiration behind musical piece” that are not officially provided. Those answers will will influence the future development of our site. The music and social site required now should cover those three factors.
Based on the results of the survey we will have to continually improve on privacy to ensure the reputation of the site maintains in tack. We will also have to be innovative and explore new ways to integrate the musical experience both online and offline at events, in a genuinely social and integrated and mobile way. We would also like to undertake further research to help us continually improve the service and successfully evolve.