Florida Memory ProjectFlorida’s Digital Archive

Present Measures of UsabilityFuture Site and Recommendations

Vanja Anderson and Florence Paisey

The Golden Rule

A Web Site Should Never Get in the Way of the User

What is The Florida Memory Project?

The Florida Memory Project is Florida’s Online Digital Archive

http://www.floridamemory.com/

Build It and They Will Come – Not Going to Happen!

Myth

What is Usability?

“Usability is the “basic ability of users to achieve their goals within a system. Usability

should account for affective aspects of interaction.”

Blandford & Buchanan, 2002

Usability and the Florida Memory Project

Marty, Alemanne & McClure (2010) identified a range of issues that affect the ability of the user to

achieve their goals.

As recommended, the development team at the Florida Memory Project have overhauled the site.

However, the development team would like to conduct several usability tests on the older site.

The purpose is to identify the targeted user reactions to the old site with a view to ensuring the same usability problems are not repeated.

A Homepage is Viewed More Than Any Other Page on a

Website !

Did you Know?

So . . .

Homepages are Real Estate

• Home Page Architecture is your

Identity

• Central Issues:• A Logo for Identity• A Liquid Page• A Clearly Visible Search Feature• Multiple Navigation Menus• Harmonious Color – Websafe • Effective Use of All Space – Less is

More!

The Florida Memory Project Homepage

The Florida Memory Project Homepage

This is Valuable Space

What does empty do for you?

Site Identity?Sponsor?

Does anything indicate the Content of 575,000

Documents

Page Layout and Information

Architecture?…Imagine… other

Possibilities…

Good ConciseCore Menu!

Screen Real Estate

UnusedContent of InterestWeb 2.0NavigationAdvocacySite IdentityAdvertisementExternal Linkage

Information Architecture Represented in Percentage…

Florida Mangroves

Usability Methods

• Heuristics

• Think Aloud

• Cognitive Walkthrough

• Interview

Four Approaches

Definitions of Evaluation Measures

• Heuristics • Evaluation of an interface by IT experts. Evaluators

measure the usability, efficiency, and effectiveness of the interface based on 10 measures.

• Think Aloud• Participants are asked to share their thoughts

while completing specific goals.

• Cognitive Walkthrough• A set of appropriate or characteristic tasks to be

completed. Evaluators walk through specific tasks, noting problems.

• Interview• Interviews provide details that users have

experienced on the site.

Usability Evaluation Measures

MethodsMethod

TypeDescriptio

n Pros Cons

HeuristicAnalysis of User Ease

Ten Performance Standards

Quick Overview

of the system

No feedbac

k on fixes

Cognitive Walkthroug

h

Investigation

Ease of Task Achievemen

t

Conducted at any

stage

Problem detectio

n not reliable

Think Aloud Testing

Evaluators Express

ExperienceFew

Subjects

Sometimes hard

to express

problems

Interview Inquiry

Infrastructure,

Design,Metadata

Detailed informati

on on topic

Often difficult to sync appt.

• Visibility

• Match Between the System and the Real World

• User Control and Freedom

• Consistency and Standards

• Error Prevention

• Recognition rather than Recall

• Flexibility and Efficiency of Use

• Aesthetic and Minimalist Design

• Help Users Recognize and Recover from Errors

• Help and Documentation

Heuristics

Visibilit

y

Real W

orld

User C

ontrol

Consistency

Error P

revention

Recogn

ition

Flexib

ility

Design

Recove

ryHelp

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Nothing AvailableFailureSuccess Rate

Heuristic Findings

Four Basic Questions For Each Task

1. Will the users try to complete the task? 2. Will users notice the correct action?

3. If users find the correct action, is it

clear? 4 After the user takes an action, will they

understand any feedback?

Purpose: A cognitive walkthrough identifies salient problems in the interface and navigation – the learnability of the interface, its ease in navigation, and its functionality – Does it do what it says it will do?

Cognitive Walkthroug

h

Findings: Cognitive Walkthrough

CW Assessment Questions

Subject 1 Subject 2 Subject 3

Will users try to achieve the right effect? Yes Yes Yes

Will user notice that the correct action is available? No Yes Yes

Will the user associate with the effect to be achieved? No No No

If the correct action is conducted, will the user see

that progress is being made?

No No No

Cognitive Walkthrough – Time Per Task

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Task 4

Task 5

Task 6

Task 7

Task 8

Task 9

Task 10

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Failure1 minute11-30 seconds1-10 seconds

• 3 Students tested• Average time: 12 minutes

• Prompt• To locate historic tourist destinations

• Errors frequently occurred• Error Recovery/ Back button failed• Lack of information/content• Search tool – Search for current hotels

resulted in Historic hotels and Historic Maps

Think Aloud

Prompt, Verbatim:Please search the Florida Memory Project website for historic tourist destinations that you and your family would be interested in visiting. Please say everything that goes through your mind. You may stop when you have come to a satisfying result or whenever you want to quit.

Interview

New, completely overhauled Florida Memory Project site is scheduled to be launched on July 1st.

Direction for overhauling the site is based on the recommendations of Dr. Charles McClure, Nicole Alemanne, and Dr. Paul Marty.

Discussed many issues…

Some Questions PosedI understand that you have more than 550,000 documents that are difficult to access due to their storage in 9 different databases – have you had a chance to address this?

Yes. We hired an IT expert. He has integrated all databases into 1 platform, Omeka – as recommended. All records have been migrated.

How are you handing backup?

The Raid or Buffalo system is under consideration now.

How do you envision your target audience—your main users?

Years of data collected through log analysis, user requests—email, phone, records. They are: historians, genealogists, teachers, archivists, publishers, students.

The Homepage points out that “selected” materials are placed online. What criteria do you use?

The materials most requested by these groups – our new main navigation bar targets the 6 main collections. In order – Photography, Video, Audio, Collections, Exhibits, Class.

We also have a new search feature that works across collections.

What is your greatest challenge right now as you reconfigure the system and site?

Borne digital materials are difficult. We need to establish guidelines and standards.

Improved!Core Issues:

• Data has been migrated to a unified database – Omeka

• Backup data – Raid or Buffalo systems

• Collections can be cross searched

• Option to select for photographs in color or B&W

• Metadata has been standardized using MARC AMC

• Subject access through LOC subject headings & folksonomy

• Strategies for the preservation of borne digital

• Quiet, Minimalist Interface Design

Recommendations

To make site more Florida Friendly include:

• Spanish Language Option

• Create Personal Archive and Storybook

• Embedded Video Tutorial for Using Archives and Site

• Hurricane Digital Memory Bank

• Online Archive Shop

ReferencesUnited States. State Library and Archives of Florida. Florida Memory Project. Retrieved from http://www.floridamemory.org

Fuhr, N., Giannis, T. Aalberg, T. et al. (2007). Evaluation of digital libraries. International Journal of Digital Libraries, 8, 21-38.

Hoppmann, T. K. (2007). Examining the “point of frustration”: The think aloud method applied to online search tasks. Quality and Quantity, 43, 211-224.

Marty, P., Alemanne, N., & McClure, C. (2010). Florida Memory Project—long range plan: Final report. Information Institute, Florida State University. FL: Tallahassee.

United States. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Usability: Your guide for developing usable and useful websites. The Homepage. Retrieved from

http:www.usability.gov

Zaphiris, P. Kurniawan, S. (2007). Human computer interaction research in web design and evaluation. London: Idea Group.