Sunday, September 22, 2013

The MFD Printer, AKA the Printer from Hell

The seven stages that Norman proposes are as follows:


  1. Forming the Goal
  2. Forming the intention
  3. Specifying an action
  4. Executing the action
  5. Perceiving the state of the world
  6. Interpreting the state of the world
  7. Evaluating the outcome 

The printer used in the library is a Bizhub 552. The goal of this printer is to print paper. The intent is to print something from the printer. In order to do so, I must first connect my computer to the printing system. I have to install a client to access the network, and then login to show my balance on the PCC Client. After doing so, I can then begin to use the printer. I have to send the document to the printing system, choosing whether I want to keep it in the system from anywhere between 5-60 minutes, or until I log out. I then have to walk to the printer and log into the printer, retrieve the print job, print it out, and then log out of the system. The execution of this process, without having to install the client several times (you only need to do this once), takes about 5-20 minutes, depending on how far you are from the nearest printer. If the paper comes out after this process, one can assume that the print job was successful. If, however, the paper does not come out, or the print job does not show, one can assume the print job was unsuccessful, and to never use the printer again.

What is effective about the MFD printer is the fact that it is multi-functional. It prints on both A3 and A4 paper, something that a regular printer might have problems with. It can be used to print, to scan, and to fax, and has both greyscale and color options. It prevents people from having to go to a specific computer to print, which subsequently lessens the line for computers inside the science center and the library.

However, various problems do arise with this printer. The printingOften, the print job does not send, or times out, causing students to freak out over missed homework assignments. Additionally, logging in and getting your print jobs is a long process, especially if you have capital letters in your login ID and/or password, because you have to press caps lock for every capital letter you have. It's a good thing, then, that each printer has its own keyboard. Logging out is also a problem; you don't know which button to press to log out. 

On a total side note, I'm loving that there's no card to take to the front desk when the printer doesn't work.


After observing the people in the science library use the printer, I have come up with some theories:

  • They all wish there was no line in the morning
  • The printer by the side door of the library is bipolar and only works sometimes.
  • The printer in the middle of the library is more popular, but as a result, there are many people there in the morning trying to print, and you should get there early to get to class on time.
Questions Asked:

Have you used the printer before?
What do you think of the printer?
Have you encountered any difficulties with using the printer?
What parts of the printer do you like?
What do you think would make this printer better?

I asked both the upperclassmen and and first year students their opinions, and got varied responses. Many of the upperclassmen liked the new printer, but preferred the old printer system because it held documents for a longer amount of time. The first years complained that there were long lines and that their documents often did not send. Another complaint was that logging into the PCC was a pain. Many had difficulties logging in the first time, and felt that it was hard to figure out which tray the paper came out on. Not knowing that the printer was double sided also caused some to worry about a missing page of homework. Many ended up bringing their computers with them in case the print job did not send. I believe that, if more directions were given to the students on how to use the printer, there would not be as many problems. While many appreciated the printer, they all had some negative experiences that caused them to be wary of the device. 
Mind Map of Printer

Solutions to this problem would be to give directions to all students regarding the printer, or to purchase printers that only print. Granted you would be losing the multi-functionality of the printer, but the printer would be easier to understand and use. Another option would be to buy your own printer to use in your room. However, this is more expensive.



Current Printer
Printer in Room
Print only Printer
Time
S
+
+
Complexity
S
+
+
Ability
S
+
-
Availability
S
+
-
Cost
S
---
+











Final Solution: Place a simple printer in some areas of the libraries to focus on only printing.

Rather than having a giant machine that we have to rely on to print all of our resources, it would be easier to buy a smaller, and less expensive, print-only printer for students to use. This way, the lines for the bigger, MFD printers will be smaller, and students who have had bad experiences with the fancy printers can use a simpler printer to suit their needs.













3 comments:

  1. I completely agree that we should have simpler printers for students to use that would make it faster to print documents. However, Wellesley spent a lot of money on these more complicated printers so they might not want to do that so replacing them might not be a viable option.

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  2. I really love your title by the way. I agree with your solution as well. I do not understand why Wellesley had to make everything so complicated, spending MORE money, while they could have simply put more simple, cheap laptop printers. But, I also feel like MDF does have faster printing functions and nice copying function.

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  3. I also like the idea of having single use printers, but I agree with Sarah that since they've already invested in the MFDs it's unlikely that they would buy a whole new system any time soon.

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