Creating a Portable Usability Lab

Posted January 14, 2003

Creating a Portable Usability Lab By Kevin Frye

Background:

A few months ago I was presented with a challenge at work that X10 technology helped me to meet. I was asked to facilitate a usability test of some software at a remote location. I have a fully equipped usability lab in my home city but it would be impractical to take all that equipment with me on the road. I had to be able to fit everything I needed in a carry-on sized bag.

The technology that I have in my lab allows me to observe evaluators while they work with software so that I can note and document where the rough spots are in the user interface. I needed to be able to sit in a nearby room and observe what they were doing, hear what they were saying, and see their facial expressions. A laptop computer, some freeware, and a small X10 camera (plus wireless transmitter and receiver) helped me meet my goals.

The hardware I used was:

- A multimedia laptop computer with USB ports running Windows 2000.
- An X10 USB video adapter.
- An X10 Anaconda camera with built-in microphone.
- An X10 wireless audio/video transmitter.
- An X10 wireless audio/video receiver.

The software(freeware) I used was:

- VNC (Virtual Network Computing): www.uk.research.att.com/vnc
- Microsoft NetMeeting: www.microsoft.com/windows/netmeeting

Evaluator setup:

In the room where the usability evaluators sat I installed and ran VNC on their PC. I also set up the X10 camera next to their monitor and attached it to the X10 wireless transmitter. The VNC software allowed me to see the evaluator's screen contents over the network. The X10 camera with the transmitter sent the evaluator's voice and facial expressions to the receiver in the observation room.

Observer setup:

In the observation room I attached the audio output from the receiver to the laptop microphone jack and plugged the USB video adapter into a USB port. I attached the video output from the receiver to the USB video adapter. I ran the VNC viewer program so that I could see the live contents of the evaluator's screen and ran Netmeeting so that I could see the live video image of the evaluator's face. I could hear the evaluator's voice through the laptop speakers.

Summary:

The use of X10's wireless technology allowed me to create a very portable usability observation system that can easily fit into a carry-on sized bag. I also was able to facilitate a successful offsite usability test.

Kevin Frye
Lyman, Maine

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