OCTAVIA user personas¶

This document outlines personas for use with the OCTAVIA Chronologue project.

1. Name: Researcher Rahim¶

Role: Astrophysics lab director

Use cases:

Request new Chronologue recordings not currently stored in OCTAVIA’s databases, to address a novel astrophysics-related research question.
Process existing Chronologue data stored in OCTAVIA’s databases in new ways (for example, request spectroscopic data from a recording that was previously rendered only with imaging data).
Specify parameters for filtering/collecting desired Chronologue data.
Submit precise API queries to retrieve electromagnetic spectrum data from multiple time points.

Pain points:

Troubleshooting the scientific data correction pipeline for processing Chronologue data into calibrated image exposures and high-level data products.
Difficulty improving the signal-to-noise ratio in a data set collected via the Chronologue API.
API’s advanced parameters are under-documented for edge-case queries.

Technical expertise:

Role: Senior software engineer

Use cases:

Gather data via the Chronologue API to store on a commercial vendor’s external database.
Optimize gathered Chronologue data for eventual rendering into 3D virtual reality, to create stimulating experiences for the company’s target customers (for instance, ensure the data is in an appropriate format, ensure the gathered data is not extraneous to VR usage, and more).

Pain points:

Rate limitations on Chronologue API data downloads.
Lacks knowledge on the data types returned by the Chronologue API.
Difficulty optimizing the Chronologue API’s externally accessible GET methods to filter and collect desired Chronologue data.

Technical expertise:

Role: Social media content creator

Use cases:

Create YouTube videos and written content on how to use the Chronologue API to view astronomical events.
Create a photo gallery to showcase astronomical events on his personal website.
Uses OCTAVIA’s API to access pre-programmed destinations like Formation of the Milky Way and embeds them into a blog series.

Pain points:

Lacks knowledge on the structure and type(s) of data returned by the Chronologue API (binary data, JSON, CSV, and so on).

Technical expertise:

A content creator with broad interest in science fiction, astronomy, and time travel.
Master’s degree holder in astrophysics.
Has five years of experience in Python and R programming.

Role: High school science teacher

Use case:

Use data from OCTAVIA in their lesson plans to create visual presentations to illustrate time and space concepts for class units on astronomy and time. Example topics include the Theory of Relativity and calculating the speed of light.
Use the Chronologue to develop curriculum for future high school classes.
Help students write basic code snippets to call data using Chronologue API to complete assignments about specific topics assigned to them as part of lab units.

Technical expertise:

Background in science and astronomy.
Power user for the Chronologue API who is very well-versed in the content available through the API and its features.

Pain points:

Lack of knowledge about how to engage with OCTAVIA, such as gaining access for self and students.
Lack of knowledge about what learners and new users can do with the Chronologue telescope and API and how they can benefit from it.
When documentation uses too much jargon or high-level concepts that are not geared to their students’ needs.

Role: Product manager at a hardware or software company

Use case:

Develops commercial products around the Chronologue API such as VR Headsets, and the likes.
Needs to keep up with the latest updates to the API and its capabilities to inform the technical design of their products.
Getting involved in beta testing in order to help make innovations as bug-free as possible on initial release.

Pain points:

Wanting to be on the bleeding edge of API development, but not being included in internal communications.

Technical expertise: