Blog Update #2 — Next steps

Published in

CPSC 444 Lost and Found

9 min readFeb 11, 2020

Recommendations:

Focus:

The main aspect our study should focus on is making a platform that is user-friendly and allows users to easily search and find their items. The focus needs to be to make something that is time-efficient for users and requires minimal effort. We also want to prioritize creating a localized system that has a maximum of two locations for retrieval. Lastly, we hope to speak to the UBC bookstore director with consent, and also learn from the Chemistry building’s lost and found system, to rationalize our future designs off these working systems.

Scope of Project:

We are adjusting our scope to be more stand-alone from the bookstore, since we would not be able conduct enough research to create a system that serves the entire UBC student body. Asking UBC to significantly change its current process also deems to be an unrealistic goal. But in order to still leverage the credibility and security of being able to tie our system to UBC’s system, we plan to narrow the scope of the project to a system specifically centralized for UBC Computer Science. A lost and found system for ICICS and DMP would both be feasible and needed for students.

Updated task examples:

Original:

1. Someone who has lost an item

Rebecca is a 4th year UBC student, studying in the library after a long day of class, when she realizes her water bottle is missing from her backpack. The last place she remembers having it was in her 9am lecture, but it is now 4pm and she’s been to half a dozen different buildings across campus since. After attempting to retrace her steps, she visits the Lost and Found at the UBC Bookstore. Despite there being a variety of other water bottles, hers has not been returned. She also visits the UBC security booths in some of the other buildings. Some of these other booths also have a pile of Lost and Found items but no water bottles had been turned in. At the bookstore, Rebecca writes down a description of her water bottle, the approximate time range she lost it between, and her contact information in a notebook that they use for filing lost item reports. She also visits the UBC Bookstore the following day to check again after receiving a message from the staff that there was a new water bottle returned.

2. Someone who has found an item

Jared is a CPSC 110 teaching assistant and he leads 3–4 labs per week. After each lab session, he does a quick scan around the room to see if his students have left behind anything. He usually finds a pen or a water bottle, and pools them together in the front of the lab room so that his students would be able to retrieve their lost items in a centralized location. These items just gather in the classroom until custodial services clear them out. He also makes quick Piazza posts about anything he finds that might be particularly valuable, such as IDs, phones, jewellery, or course notebooks. He will also reach out to students directly if the belonging has a name associated with it. He usually holds on to those items to ensure that the students would be able to reclaim them. In addition, he sometimes gets emails or Piazza messages directly from students inquiring about missing items. He tries his best to recall if he has seen those items, but usually ends up telling the students to go back to the classroom and check regardless.

3. UBC Security/ Bookstore perspective

The UBC bookstore receptionist, Kate, receives several lost items each day for various people. She stores these items away in the same area and awaits a phone either a phone call or an in person visit of someone trying to retrieve their item. Lost items vary between jewellery, to cards, wallets and small personal items. She notices that many people that come to pick up their potentially lost item are never sure as to where they are meant to look, but she assures them they are in the right place. If the lost item contains information associated to a UBC student or staff (by retrieval of a UBC card), she is able to email the person directly letting them know the item that has been lost, and where they can come and pick it up. However, most of the time this is not the case, and the items end up stored in this central lost and found with little hope of being regained. These items are donated to local charities after the end of a school semester.

Updated:

1. Someone who has lost an item

2. Someone who has found an item

Summary of Revision:

We took out the task example about the UBC Security/ Bookstore perspective. We were no longer able to interview the UBC bookstore supervisor and therefore, could not verify if this task example is accurate. We will instead only be focusing on lost item owners and finders.

Prioritized list of requirements:

a) Absolutely must include

Single centralized location for drop-offs and pick-ups of lost items
Verification of lost item descriptions without in-person visits
Ability to quickly identify items by: item type, date, location
Transparency regarding UBC campus wide lost and found policies
Ability to indicate that a user has returned the found item to front desk or they are choosing to hold onto it

b) Should include

Security measures to identify and verify item owners
Account creation (name, department)
Upload and view photos of items

c) Could include

Location suggester based on mutually desirable location (based off individual department locations)
Notifications about found items that meet user’s search criteria
Feedback to the finder about retrieved items
Chat technology to communicate between users

d) Could exclude

Integration with UBC bookstore
Integration with other UBC departments beyond Computer Science

Justifications:

We are prioritizing usability for lost item finders and owners. Therefore, we decided to address the major concerns that were brought up during our field studies in “absolutely must include”. This includes consolidating a single lost and found, quick turnaround rates for finders and owners, along with overall clarity of the process. Although security is an overlooked aspect in the current UBC Lost and Found process, we want to prioritize it so we can ensure items are returned to the proper owners. This would include a process regarding image sharing and account creation. Our “could includes” include requirements that will not heavily impact user experience but will introduce an element of delight for our users, and will make the process more convenient for them. Lastly, based on our studies, we are no longer supporting all UBC students as our users, but rather, honing in on a department wide lost and found specifically for Computer Science.

Design alternatives:

1)

The user will be prompted to sign into their CWL account before being able to upload information on an item they found. This design encompasses both the functionality of someone retrieving their lost item and someone adding an item they found into the database. Based on the different categories, a user is able to choose the category an item should be placed, can then upload a picture of the item, add description, choose whether they want to keep the item (in which case they will be prompted to insert contact information) or send it to the CS lost and found services. This information will be available for the user trying to locate their item and get in touch with the finder if necessary.

Pros:

The information can quickly be updated
Security system linked to CWL account

Cons:

Picture upload is not necessary and can therefore cause inaccurate descriptive details.
Could have option where students can optionally add in “will hold on to item before giving to front desk until [DATE]”

2)

This design focuses on creating an efficient way for users to scroll through items that have been found. They are immediately able to see important details about the item to determine whether it might be a match. Users are able to click into an item and see an enlarged picture, where it was found, when it was found, and whether it has been dropped off at the CS front desk or whether the person who found it still has it on them.

Pros:

Quick view of images of the lost items
Clear indication on where and when the item was found to better assist the retriever of the item.

Cons:

Does not accommodate for items without pictures, or with sensitive information
Lack of item details upon clicking into an item
Could have option where students can optionally add in “will hold on to item before giving to front desk until [DATE]”
Having this amount of detail in a post might lead to security concerns

3)

This design is focused on a lost item finder’s experience transferred into the mobile platform. As a user opens the app, they are prompted to give the app access to their camera, which they are able to allow or reject. If they allow it, their camera is pulled up and are able to snap a picture of the lost item immediately in front of them. Regardless, they will be required to fill in a quick text form that includes details about the item, the item type and further descriptions about the item (potentially including item type, locations etc.) Upon successful completion of these fields, students are prompted to log in to their CWL account which leads to upload of the found item to the database.