[WEB4LIB] usability

[Michael]

Thanks for sharing your light summary, but I think you failed to see the
point that I tried to convey from my original post. Below is a recap.


I shared with the list two critical steps in developing a website from
both the user's perspective and management's perspective. These two steps
were creating user profiles and conducting task analyses which take place
before conducting a test for ease-of-use, learnability, effectiveness, and
efficiency of the prototype--a usability test.


USER'S PERSPECIVE
-----------------
Granted that you have already conducted tests on the existing site and
gathered valuable data from it, the user profiles and tasks analyses
enable you to build a foundation for the new design because you know who
the users are and what types of activities and interactions they might
perform once they arrive.


Once you identify the tasks and procedures, you can then further decompose
associated sub-tasks, further exploding those prerequisites and
information needed to complete a task.


This will help you layout the page and build the site's architecture and
navigation systems. Then you test and further refine what you already know
or add to the design what you've just learned.


Therefore user profiles and task analyses will help you create a flexible
blueprint for your site's success based on factual data on who your users
are and how they go about doing their work (i.e. work habits, personal
preferences). Then you test your solution. And then you refine. And then
you test again iteratively.



MANAGEMENT'S PERSPECTIVE
------------------------
User profiles and task analyses benefits managment because you've already
mapped out the procedures required to complete a task. You know exactly
what users need to do, where to go, and how to do it. It futher reinforces
the library's goals and objectives for developing a website--you know the
site's functionality.



Michael






==================================
On Tue, 21 May 2002, jacobs wrote:

> I've really found this thread to be helpful. Below are some thoughts based on
> our experience at the Education and Social Science Library at the University
> of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
>
> >
> >For instance, undergraduates may require a step-by-step approach to
> >familiarizing themselves with the various research tools and services
> >(databases, catalogs, virtual reference services) provided by the library
> >(e.g. how to use them and what certain library terms mean). On the other
> >hand, faculty already know the grindstone and would prefer one-click
> >access to these already-familiar tools versus a guided approach.
> >
>
> We did usability studies and focus groups for our web site redesign and found
> the opposite to be true of faculty. (http://www.library.uiuc.edu/edx). We were
> dismayed to find that most of the faculty bookmarked specific items (catalog,
> favorite database...) and had no idea what tools were available on our site.
> Several were pleasantly surprised that we had in-depth, subject-focused
> research guides. Some continued to visit our interlibrary loan dept. to
> request materials, not realizing that ILL has had an online form to submit
> requests for at least 3 years or that one could self-request materials through
> either OCLC's WorldCat database or our Big-Ten library consortium (CIC-VEL).
>
> >
> >This leads designers to the next critical step in the design process: Task
> >Analysis. Task analysis involves analyzing the procedures performed for an
>
> We found task analysis to be very useful, but also somewhat inconclusive. Our
> undergrad test subjects faired better at navigating our prototype than did our
> "seasoned" faculty. I think the primary reason for this is age-related. Many
> of our undergrads have grown up in a web environment while many of our faculty
> honed their research skills in pre-web times. The faculty are thus more
> comfortable with going to staff for their various needs rather than going
> online to find the necessary information. User skills varied as did user
> preferences. For example, some users liked a "quick links" menu while others
> did not. Some liked our drop-down menus, while others completely ignored them.
> These preferences seemed to be more based on personality rather than research-
> or technical skill.
>
> The bottom line is that one can not necessarily assume that faculty are
> research-savvy and knowledgeable about the library while undergrads are not or
> base their site design on these assumptions. This is not necessarily the case.
> Many of the electronic tools that librarians take for granted are still
> relatively recent additions and are hence unknown to many users regardless of
> academic level. It is my opinion that preferences and abilities today will be
> very different in 5 years as will our abilities to design electronic tools,
> gateways and websites. Web site maintenance and design is an heuristic
> exercise. Our site can't be everything to everyone, but it can be intuitive
> and easy to use for a majority of our users and can offer several alternative
> routes to tools and information. We will continue to redesign our site and
> will continue to query our users for their opinions.
>
> Regards,
>
> James Jacobs
>
> James R. Jacobs
> Pre-doc Fellow / Graduate Reference Assistant
> Education & Social Science Library
> University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
> Home: 303B1 Paddock Drive
> Savoy, IL 61874
> (217)359-9283
> jacobs at uiuc.edu
> http://radicallibrarian.org
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