First, visit UCM GroupSource and take a quick peek. I've put a fun "preview" screen for you to see, that will show you what your "app" will look like. When you first login, it will be a "blank slate," waiting for your interface ideas.

http://cogsci.ucmerced.edu/groupsource

You will have to login with your UCM credentials. To start, just get a feel for adding each of these type of "fields" to the screen (remember -- fields = columns in Mode data table). Under "Basic Text Display," for example, you can add simple text. Under "Checkboxes," you can add a "multiselect" option. These are sources of data you can collect from your participants.

To hand-in, part i: Add one of each field to your form, and get a sense of these sources of data. Take a screen shot of your test interface and save it -- this will be your first figure for handing this activity in. If you do not know how to take a screen shot, take a look here: http://www.take-a-screenshot.org/. Save this, because we'll include it in a Word document to hand in with everything else.

As discussed in class, there is a general goal of our final project with Mode and GroupSource: Let's do something good with data. Good comes in many forms. Economic good. Social good. Health and well-being. And so on. Maryam and I are very open to any idea you may have: Just justify it. There are pretty cool agendas out there on doing good things with data, check to out: http://dssg.io/projects/

Think of some good you could do with this semester's project. It's okay, of course, if you conquer two goods with the project: Imagine something good and positive that is also related to your own career interests. Think of the data as something you could collect through GroupSource, analyze in Mode, and share with the world. (Make sure, also, that it links with cognitive science, of course -- but this is a big umbrella. Anything related to human behavior, cognition, and social systems would be fine.)

To help get you thinking, be able to answer the following three questions, with reference to your "good" idea. (a) Who will be entering the data? (b) How many data records will each person enter (lots of data from just a few people, or a few from many people)? (c) What different pieces of information would you collect from each person? And importantly (d) is your app a personal informatics tool or a crowdsourcing project? It is acceptable to do either; consult the past slides to remind you of these definitions.

Some ideas from prior years: A "Good Samaritan" app to track where good deeds are taking place ("crowdsourcing goodness"); a health app to track a topic in health; an emotion regulation app to collect data on people's emotional well-being (e.g., during crazy semesters!); and so on.

I did an app with last year's students. We crowdsourced a map of campus as my own "good" project -- something useful (at least, mildly so). Check it out. I used some fancy formatting from Mode to snazzify it:

http://cogsci.ucmerced.edu/ucm.map/

To hand-in, part ii: Write a brief (at least 50-word) description of your initial ideas for good. Feel free to discuss it with folks around you. Or, even, walk up to Rick and Maryam and chat about it. We like chatting, it's fundamentally human (and it's also fun to study scientifically).

Now that you've got some preliminary ideas, feel free to draw up some data that you might collect on the topic.

What fields do you want to add? Location? A list of words from your participants? Emotions? Any quantities, like frequency of activities or performance measures? A text box for a brief description of something? And so on. Put together a preliminary interface with GroupSource. It doesn't have to be perfect. Just something simple, that jives with your "good plans." One constraint: Make sure to include at least 4 pieces of information per entry recorded (in other words, four fields). If you want to start over, click the red 'reset form' button.

To hand-in, part iii: Include a screenshot of your new design. Save this, because we'll include it in a Word document to hand in with everything else.

Let's start some fun testing of your interface. In GroupSource, you'll see a link called 'Here is your public link.' This is the URL for your "app." Really, it's just a website -- but it is designed to be mobile-optimized -- it will look like a smooth interface to your participants (friends, family, etc.). Open your phone and access that link. You can try it on a desktop browser, too (it will just look odd on the desktop, since it's for mobile). The browser will probably confirm with you to make sure you want to give up your location (the app will collect GPS coordinates, which could be one of the fields you're interested in -- location!).

Note that the first thing people will see is a textbox entry. This is for you -- for the researcher -- you can have your participants enter a number, initials, or some other designator that will be saved with all their data. This is one way, for example, that you could track separate people entering data (e.g., you could have your family enter their initials). Enter anything here (or, nothing) then click "go." Now you can start entering data.

Put in 5 records in your data, one at a time. This means filling out your fields, clicking 'save,' then again for another 4 tries. Feel free to put in data that will look like what you think you'll collect later in your task. You can also reset these data later.

Now back on your main machine (or main window in your browser), you can download these data in a CSV format. CSV stands for "comma separated value," and Mode imports these kinds of files. So you can go straight from the UC Merced tool GroupSource, right into the free and easy-to-use Mode Analytics (with which you are now all awesome experts). Click on 'Download your data!'. You should be able to view this file in a text editor (e.g., Excel, Notepad on Windows, or TextEdit on Mac, or right in the browser; doesn't really matter which, just try to open it). You'll see that it's a big table of, indeed, comma-separated values.

An interesting technical note for those unfamiliar: This CSV file is sometimes referred to as a "raw text file." This means that it has some formatting in it (like commas) and is coded in such a way that it could be opened or imported in other programs. So the "raw data" gets imported through a process -- such as in Mode.

To hand-in, part iv: Hold onto your CSV file. You will upload these 5 records as the raw text file on CatCourses, along with your Word document.

You can go straight from the CSV file into Mode. Login into Mode Analytics (you should have the link handy from last time!). Once you're in, at the top of the screen you should see a menu option that states 'Add Data'. Click on that, and click 'Contribute a Public Dataset.'

Here's an important note: Mode gave COGS 127 complete and free access to its system, but it does mean that all our imported data will be publicly viewable (if someone were to hunt for it and find it). Keep this in mind if you are going to update some silly test data and -- even more importantly for later on -- if you are uploading real health data from your participants. Please take care to ensure that the data are anonymous (e.g., don't have your participants ever enter their name, only initials, or better, a numeric identifier). Feel free to talk to Rick or Maryam if you have concerns.

Here's how easy it is (footnote: or, how easy it should be, we may run into issues, and Rick and Maryam will try to repair as we go along). Click 'Choose and Upload' and select your saved CSV file. After you select it, Mode should give you a preview of what your table will look like. Once you are happy with the fields and their types (e.g., number, string, etc.), then click 'Finish Import' and your table will be entered into Mode. (Troubleshooting: You may have problems importing 'gps' as a number; make sure 'gps' is of the field type 'string,' for now.)

Congratulations. For some of you, you may have just posted your first public dataset for the world to see. You are an active participant in the data culture -- controlling your public data, and lassoing it into Mode for analysis -- even if it is simple and just a test.

To hand-in, part v: Include the URL to your Mode table with the Word document. We will confirm that you have succeeded in importing your test data set.

Note: If you want to delete your data and start over, click the 'Reset my data' button in GroupSource. Note that the data won't be completely deleted; we will save all your data for reference, but this resetting will only make records collected after downloadable (so it will refresh your download). As for Mode, you can delete the table in the table's settings menu (see the gear icon).

GroupSource is fresh, and we will want to add some features or fix some bugs -- it's a work in progress. But this is part of the goal of GroupSource for our class. In the final installment of this activity, refer to the top 8 principles of HCI that we discussed in class (as also discussed in the Hinze-Hoare reading). What HCI principles does GroupSource -- the tool you use to make the form -- violate? How could it be improved, from the perspective of these HCI principles? Yes, there is actually a right answer (several of them, of course).

To hand-in, part vi: Briefly, in 50 or more words, describe two HCI principles discussed in class that GroupSource (the tool you use to enter your app) violates. Equivalently, if you prefer this way of putting it: Which two HCI principles, if better achieved by GroupSource with some new features, would make it better? Include this brief response in your Word document.

If you can use your skills from the last exercise to write a quick query, and create a chart of your test data (no matter how simple), then we will give you one bonus added to your total for this exercise. There's a catch: You must be able to describe how this graph might show a relationship in your actual data that you collect later (i.e., why this graph might be informative or interesting).

Respond to the 6 (i-vi) items from above, storing the material either as an attachment (e.g., image, CSV file) or in a Word document.

Grading: We will evaluate each of the 6 responses based on the following criteria: correctness, quality (do you justify your answer?), completeness (is everything there?), and coherence (do your answers reflect a connected understanding of the content of the activity?). The activity will be out of 24 (4 criteria x 6 question sets). Obviously some of these are giveaways (e.g., CSV file), but that's okay -- we'll scrutinize your other responses.

Upload the activity to CatCourses once the assignment is made available (later this week). We are not posting it right away. We would prefer you not rush... think it over... as we note above, this could be a very useful labor of love, something that can help you think about the next steps of your COGS training and career... getting you acquainted with data... on the frontier (was that poetic; no, I guess not).

Deadline: Next week Wednesday, October 28th, by midnight