META-OBJETIVO

Different aspects of the prototype will be discussed in this section. As the age of the evaluators were in the rage of 9-14, the prototype may not be suitable for the lower age group (from five years). Further testing should be done to identify issues related to this age group. It has been observed that the prototype may be suitable for older children in spite of it’s child friendly and simplistic design. Having in mind the children’s thoughts about the prototype (see Section 8.3.2.1), as well as the user experiences indicated (see Section 8.3.2.3). This should, however, be taken with reservation because of the possible weaknesses of the methods used in the evaluation (see Section 9.1).

9.2.1 Technical Choices

Regarding the technical choices made for the implementation, the use of the framework AngularJS (see Section 7.2.1) could be discussed. The functionality utilized from this framework is rooting, supporting single page application, and data-binding. The proto- type might have functioned just fine without being a single page application. The way

the prototype is implemented now, it is not possible to move from one page to another by using the navigation buttons without JavaScript being activated. This problem would have been avoided by having the buttons pointing to another HTML-page. With that said, the playing of sound is also done with JavaScript, so the system would not have been very useful without it being activated. Data-binding is critical for the prototype to work in accordance with movement of narrator corresponding to audio tracks. However, there might be smaller frameworks supporting data-binding.

9.2.2 Design and Art Choices

The evaluation revealed some weaknesses of the design. Scroll functionality was one of them. Solutions mentioned were clear separation between when to listen and when to scroll, and automatic scrolling (see Section 8.4, paragraph: Scrolling). However, the usability tests did also indicate a learning curve of this functionality (see Section 8.3.2.4, paragraph: Learnability). When the user first had understood the functionality, it worked well. They all seemed to understand the functionality during the test, some faster than others. T2 understood it at the very first page, T1 at the third page and T3 at the last page (page 8). This might indicate that the functionality could work well if the application would present a demo of the usage first, making the user practice using the functionality.

Knowing what to click on and not was also a problem detected through the evaluation (see Section 8.4, paragraph: Clicking). The problem only applied to the icons which were not clearly differentiated from the background. All clickable elements should therefore be somehow differentiated from the background. Regarding clicking, one of the testers did make some right button mouse clicks (see Section 8.3.2.4, paragraph: Utility). He managed to undo them himself, but this could be a problem with younger users. However, research have fund that most of the children in a group of four and five year olds used left mouse button exclusively (Hourcade,2008). This observation could therefore be an exception, and might also be due to using an unfamiliar computer.

The choice of art was received well by the majority of the children; only one was pre- sumably dissatisfied in that she uttered that the figures were odd. Therefore, it could be concluded that the art was suitable for the story. To be more certain about this, having children take the role as informants (see Section 2.4.2.3) throughout the design

and development process, would have been helpful. This way the children could have been presented with the art ideas, and give their feedback to whether they liked it or not. The practical limitations such as timeframe of the thesis and availability of the small patients where the restraining factors which could be overcome in a bigger project with more resources.

9.2.3 Content

Whether the story contains sufficient information or not is difficult to say. As the project ambition could not be to develop a fully usable tool, but to get an indication of the usefulness of such a tool, diving into the details of the content would cross the lines of the project scope. With that said, the information presented is based upon the reflections and ideas of health care professionals who have fully approved of it as being safe to use by children.

However, some critical weaknesses of the content were found, and should be corrected. Corrections related to clarity and honesty are highly important. The story should be more clear on that one often needs to go to the hospital several times, and that chemother- apy might make one healthy. The story should be true on to the fact that the therapy is not simple and should not mislead the conclusion that the outcome of the treatment is always positive. This study has shed light on the importance of honesty according to children with incurable illness, to avoid making them feel left out. There is a fine balance between giving hope and being honest. Both are equally important.

The choice of including difficult emotions was well received with the professionals (see Section 4.3.3.2). Most of the children also though it would be helpful to learn a little about difficult emotions at the time of receiving a diagnosis. None of them seemed to remember whether they received information about this at the time of receiving the diagnosis (see Section 8.3.2.2, paragraph: Difficult Emotions). There was, however, one child who did not want to learn about difficult emotions at this stage. She explained she did not want to know it in advance if she were to experience difficult emotions in the future (see Section 8.3.2.2, paragraph: Difficult Emotions). Having the stories divided into two different parts might therefore be helpful. That would allow to show the story about emotions to the child at a later time when those difficult emotions would unfold.