Coffee Shop Personas

A key point in Fedora's mission statement is to "spread free/libre code and content." Just how widespread is our free/libre code and content, though?

If you walk into a local coffee shop today and see computer users, what operating system are they running on their laptops? Most likely not Fedora. What if we wanted to change that? What if we wanted to spread Fedora's free/libre code and content to the coffee shop goer?

(Original photo by mccheek, used under a CC-BY license from http://www.flickr.com/photos/mccheek/2877736192/)

Let's think about the types of people who frequent a coffee shop with a computer:

General User Characteristics

Motivation

Why do people compute at coffee shops?

fewer distractions at the coffee shop than at home - focus - work or study
meet friends there - social setting - feel connected to community
coffee and light snacks are cheap admission
coffee is enjoyable
wifi access while out & about
get out of the house / don't have an office (telecommuter, consultant, unemployed)
comfortable surroundings / creative atmosphere / nice decor / amenities (fireplace, artwork, music, good smells, stylish, comfortable chairs)
employees know you, friendly service
traveller (at airport, inbetween hotels, at a conference, etc.- less lonely than hotel, a place to go, place to charge your stuff)
service - don't have to clean up after yourself

User Classification

Who uses a computer at a coffee shop?

consultants / telecommuters
students
travellers
the unemployed

References

These are some references online used to gather the information above:

Personas

Let's build two personas to represent typical coffee shop users and review them in detail. Should we want Fedora to be the choice of coffee shop goers, these personas will provide us some hints on what types of features and functionality are important to those users.

Teresa Telecommuter

Demographics	Geekiness Factors	Personal Background
21-58 years old Earns a living income May have children Owns her own laptop Owns a cell phone; may or may not have data plan	Types 40+ wpm 5+ years of computer usage Has a LinkedIn account Daily email & chat user Likes to watch TV on Hulu Can install apps with some assistance	Teresa works as a writer for a print magazine. She is a regular inhabitant of a local coffee shop where she goes to get out of the house and to focus on writing articles. When she travels to meet interviewees, she also likes to interview them at coffee shops. Internet connectivity is key for her -she researches and submits her articles online.
Motivation	Scenarios
Focus and get work done away from home.	Easily and safely connect to internet, sometimes corporate VPN, while out and about. Research, write, and submit an article before the deadline. Arrange an interview (travel & scheduling) for an upcoming feature article. Meet with a co-worker (in-person) to brainstorm together on a project. Meet with a co-worker (remotely) to brainstorm together on a project. Keep deadlines and to-dos under control.
Concerns "I don't want to run up a large bill with wifi subscription or mobile broadband." "I cannot run out of power and lose work when there aren't enough outlets available at the cafe." "I am worried about getting hacked or having people I don't know connecting to my computer in the cafe." "It's important to me to organize my work, separating work from play on my computer." "I want to feel connected to my co-workers, even though we are geographically dispersed."

Stewie Student

Demographics	Geekiness Factors	Personal Background
16-30 years old None to small income Likely has no children Owns laptop (maybe netbook) & cell phone	Types 60+ wpm 5+ years of computer usage Avid gamer and Facebook & YouTube User Can't live without chat and txting Finds and downloads music & movies online Can find, download, & install apps without assistance	Stewie is a college freshman studying political science. His roommates are very loud and he likes to bring his laptop to the coffee shop to study - sometimes he meets with a study group there. He also likes to chill out at the coffee shop and socialize with friends.
Motivation	Scenarios
Study in peace away from home.	Cheaply and easily connect to internet. Download class reading assignments and read them, taking notes. Keep track of class assignments and deadlines. Arrange group study meeting for an upcoming exam. Research, write, and submit homework assignment essays. Create a diagram to explain concepts in a term paper. Print term paper to campus computer center to pick up later.
Have fun and socialize with friends.	Download games to share with friends. Post party photos on Facebook. Chat with long-distance girlfriend.
Concerns "I'm worried about running up a large bill with wifi subscriptions or mobile broadband." "I don't want to run out of power and lose my work when there aren't enough outlets available at the cafe." "Not running out of disk space - I like downloading movies and music - but I need to keep my downloads organized." "Finding apps that will let me get my homework done across the wide breadth of disciplines in my degree program, without costing a lot of money." "I can't miss out on all the fun that happens around campus! I want to feel connected to my friends."

Implications

Examing these personas and their motivations, we can take away a few top priorities for Fedora's development if we wish to grow our presence within this target audience:

Better support for issues that affect laptops and netbooks.
Excellent tooling for all varieties of network access.
Improved experience in finding and installing applications.
Security polices prioritized for roamers who may move between trusted and untrusted networks frequently.
Better integration with popular online hosted social applications.
Improved communication/messaging system to allow for undisturbed/distracted work but also allow for switching into a more social focus when desired.
Improved power management experience for scenarios in which access to an outlet may not be easy.
Better experience managing downloaded content.
Better support for installing third-party software (Boxee / Amazon MP3 downloader / etc)

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Personas/CoffeeShop

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