Video Script for Ian
Video script for Ian from the page Stories of Web Users (in the 2020 Update version).
Summary
- Male
- Young adult
- Autistic
- Uses computer
- Uses digital assistant with screen
- Uses clear messages
- Uses clear language
- Uses consistency
- Uses continuity
Script
| Seq. | Time | Audio | Visual |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0:00 - 0:00 | Hello! I’m Ian. I’m autistic. I work for a software company three bus stops from my home. | We see Ian speaking directly to us viewers [documentary style into the camera]. We briefly see a total of Ian with no immediately apparent aspects of his disability [possibly some subtle aspects depending on the actual protagonist]. |
| 2 | 0:00 - 0:00 | I’m a data scientist. I enjoy my work very much. Others find this work difficult because it’s quite technical. But for me, it’s really easy. | [New scene.] We see Ian on the way to work (e.g. in a bus, at a bus station, or walking down a street). We then see Ian at his workplace. We see Ian making his way to his workspace (Note: small talk and small greets can be unlikely or uncomfortable but real tactical connections, such as bringing a meaningful gift to someone because you know it will make a difference for them, are more characteristic). We see Ian settling in and starting to work. |
| 3 | 0:00 - 0:00 | Except when something changes and I don’t have enough time to figure out what changed. Like, when I was trying to get to an online meeting and found that the buttons on the app changed. It was very stressful because I was worried about being late to the meeting. Apps that ask for permission before updating allow me to find a suitable time and adjust to the changes. | [New scene.] We see Ian at his workspace, starting a teleconference app to log into a meeting. We see a banner or pop-up appear “New version of Online Meeting App available, do you want to install now?”, and we see Ian selecting “No” or “Later” and the banner/pop-up disappears. Ian looks relieved at not having to install a new update just before the meeting. |
| 4 | 0:00 - 0:00 | Sometimes I press the wrong thing and everything just changes and I do not know how to go back. It makes me feel like I just cannot cope. I am trying to work, but I just can’t and I start to panic, and then I can’t even talk anymore. It’s very important to me when I can roll back and undo changes that I didn’t intend or expect to happen. | [New scene.] We see Ian participating at the online meeting from the previous scene. We see Ian mistakenly click on one of the meeting participants, and that window expands to full screen. We see Ian surprised by this and anxiously looking for something to revert this change. We see Ian notice the usual “X” close button on the top right of the window, and looks relieved as he presses that button and everything is back to normal. |
| 5 | 0:00 - 0:00 | It’s also really frustrating when I am stopped from work because of an error message that doesn’t tell me what the error is. Error messages that just say “input error” are so useless. Often it’s something really simple, like I forgot to enter a date or number or so. Why doesn’t it say that? | [New scene.] We see Ian at his workspace on a different day (e.g. workspace is slightly modified, Ian’s clothes are different, …). We see Ian entering data in a form. We turn to the screen and see a rediculously obnoxious error message like “Incomplete entry” or such. We see Ian getting upset about not being helped by this error message. |
| 6 | 0:00 - 0:00 | I love to cook when I’m not working. My friends love to eat what I cook because I find the best recipes! Some cooking websites and apps are easy to use — my favorite recipe sites list the exact ingredients and have step-by-step instructions. It’s easy to find the recipes using the tags and to follow them. | [New scene.] We see Ian in a kitchen with cooking cloak following cooking instructions on a nearby digital assistant with a screen. We zoom onto the screen and see cooking instructions that are laid out very clearly (e.g. uses grouping, whitespace, headings, lists, …). Ian looks happy. |
| 7 | 0:00 - 0:00 | Unfortunately, I can’t use some recipe sites even though they have recipes I really want to try. Especially these where all sorts of videos start playing and pop-up windows appear without me pressing anything. I didn’t ask for this! These are overwhelming and aren’t the recipe. All I want is the recipe! | [New scene.] We see Ian in a different setting looking for recipes on a mobile phone. We see Ian click on a link and get to a site with lots of ads and pop-ups. He tries to close one ad but the site still seems so overwhelming that he decides to go back to the earlier site. |
| 8 | 0:00 - 0:00 | Or, some sites use meaningless words and phrases and don’t even bother explaining them. I mean, what is “a scant cup of brown sugar”. “Scant” could mean so many different things! Instead of “scant”, just say what you mean. Like, “a cooking cup filled just below the top” or “not quite a full cup”. That would be easier to understand for everyone. | [New scene.] We see Ian cooking. He has different clothes and the kitchen has other utensils, food, and such because he is cooking something else. We don’t see the screen (e.g. it is facing away from us) but Ian is looking at the screen and trying to follow the instructions, and looking increasingly frustrated. |
| 9 | 0:00 - 0:00 | All this has one thing in common: your design can include or exclude people. | [New scene.] We see Ian speaking directly to us, as in the first scene [documentary style into the camera, in the same style and continuing the first scene]. |