M3

Milestone 4: Functional Prototype I

• Facebook login: This is the easiest and most efficient way for users to login to our platform, all it takes is one finger tap.
• Completely silent videos: We decided to explore the realm of silent videos because it eliminates the need to be in a certain setting in order to view videos. Without the expectation of sound, users are free to view videos in situations that might not be suitable for the media otherwise (boring meetings, lectures, loud places, etc.). We also decided not to add “silent film music” to the videos because we didn’t want them to accidentally disrupt a quiet situation.
• Ability to add title cards to the beginning and/or end of videos: Since our videos are completely silent, using title cards allows users to get their point across in a succinct manner. After our first round of wizard-of-oz testing, we discovered that adding cards to the middle of a short video is unnecessary and confused a lot of users. Thus we decided to limit the title cards to only the beginnings and ends of videos.
• Send silent videos to other users through threads: This is the core of our app; it gives users a way to communicate with their friends in a new fashion. Silent video messaging combines the convenience of texting with the insightfulness of videos.
• Receive a push notification when you receive a new video: Users will receive a popup notification when someone sends them a video or starts a conversation thread with them.
• Synchronization across devices: If a user logs in to their account on multiple devices, their videos will be available for viewing on all devices.

So far we’ve implemented user login via Facebook and the ability to start threads (conversations) with other users by finding their nickname. In the threads, users are able to send silent videos to each other and add title cards to the beginning and end of the videos. The cards can be customized with whatever text the user wants. We also implemented the playback of videos (completely silent) with the title cards automatically added to the beginnings and ends. In addition, the thread view shows a history of the videos sent between the two parties.

1. Make the addition of title cards optional instead of mandatory; users can choose to only add cards at the beginning or the end of a video, or no card at all
2. Implement a better way (ie. search) of finding users to start threads with (current system requires you to know the other party’s nickname on the app)
3. Beautify the user interface