WallStation

Questa tesi analizza la carenza di applicazioni web e software dedicati a chi lavora a distanza. Sebbene sia possibile condividere file e inviare e-mail via internet, non è facile la gestione delle persone e tenere traccia del materiale, delle idee, dei messaggi riguardanti un progetto in particolare. Esistono alcune applicazioni ma il loro fine è solo una lista di file, a differenza di una parete che solitamente viene usata da molti designer per tenere traccia del progetto. Il progetto che si delinea in questa tesi descrive vari approcci al telelavoro e la visualizzazione di documenti, si propone così un'applicazione web che vuole sopperire alla mancanza di servizi online. WallStation prende come metafora la parete, il suo uso e la rappresentazione delle immagini e documenti, che possono essere raggruppati e visibili dai membri del gruppo. Il progetto sarà visibile a tutto il team di lavoro da qualsiasi parte e da qualsiasi computer essi si trovino.

This thesis investigates the problem of computer tools for people working remotely. Though it is now easy to send files and e-mail via internet, it is to keep track of on the material, ideas and messages of a typical project. Some applications do exist but typically they end up as lists of file, very different from the whiteboards that many designers working together in one place use for keeping tracks of the project. This project report describes various approaches to remote working and the visualization of documents and a proposal for an application that overcome some of the problems. The project, WallStation, takes the metaphor of the pinboard, using representations of pictures and documents which can be grouped visually and viewed by members of the team wherever they happen to be.

Teamwork is a feature of the designers, often they use a wall to share ideas, research, opinions. But today designers are travelling a lot and they have trouble working in a team so they use online tools to maintain contacts with their colleagues.

Research

we start looking how designer works in team, when they meet face to face to discuss a project and what tools they use.
The question is: how do designers work when they are far away from their office?
Nowadays the members of a working team exchange messages and files using communication and information sharing services (as Gmail, Twitter, YouTube), or services given by the company, the intranet. These systems are limited because they are dedicated just to team management and to file storage. They do not allow you to manage content and relationship between team members flexibly.

Design principles

The Internet is a medium with great potential, but it can not completely overcome the problems of teleworker designers.
Now the web offers many 2.0 services, tools to share media like photos or videos, but also network dedicated to share ideas, suggestions or comments. There are even the traditional systems of communication like chat or email with which you can exchange information.
Shortcomings of these services stand out when designers use them, because they require some special features which they unfortunately have not found a solution on the web yet.

So, does not exist a service which use internet to collect in a single interface all the aplications needed to support the designers creativity. This is the main distinctive characteristic of WallStation, a revolutionary platform for a very specific target: designers.

Designing from the inside-out

From careful observation of the technical work of many designers, it was noted how often they use a wall to share ideas, researches and presentations, to record and make available to everybody, the material produced during the creating process of an artifact. For these reasons we decided to carry on with the metaphor of wall transposed on the web together to all those tools used by designers during the development of a project: Post-it, documents sheet, media like picture or video etc.

Who is it for?

The Internet offers many systems dedicated to sharing and communication between users who work from home or away from the workplace.

WallStation is instead for those who collaborate on the same design project, but not in the same place.

How does it work?

WallStation takes the metaphor of the pinboard, using representations of pictures and documents which can be grouped visually and viewed by members of the team wherever they happen to be.

After login, a user can put Post-Its, sheets, images, videos on a shared virtual wall, allowing the whole team to keep track of progress.

WallStation - Applicazione web a supporto della progettazione from webenito on Vimeo.

WallStation also allows the use of existing networks like Blogger for the project blog, Delicious for sharing the bookmarks on the wall, Flickr for pictures, Google Calendar for timetable management, and Vimeo for videos.

prova

WallStation encourages supportive advice and criticism.

post-it

foglio

video

. menu

WallStation’s instruments are accessed through three menus.
1. Main menu: Post-It, document, stack command, insert media (picture, video from your PC/Mac), edit brief project and background wall, choose a wall or work phase.
2. Shape menu: text on the wall, highlighting square, arrows, sketch.
3. Mashup menu: Blogger, Delicious, Flickr, Google Calendar, Twitter, Vimeo.

.. graphic code

Documents are represented ‘photo-realistically’ to make the interface a more friendly and immediate.

wall2

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