UCI Library Website Chris Lee Archana Vaidyanathan Duncan Tsai Karen Quan

Usability Problem People are not able to find the “Search our Site” link at the bottom of the UCI Library home page that directs them to a separate search box to search throughout the website

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Reasons for the Link Two search boxes Other library websites Cost vs. Benefits Next Generation Melvyl

Our Thoughts "Search our site" is not obvious to user Link size is small, not noticeable The link is only visible at the bottom of the page Link at the bottom of the page is overlooked

Our Plan Keep the Next Generation Melvyl search box prominent on the site Place the search box for the website somewhere obvious to the user Make a clear distinction between the two separate boxes

Methods

User Profile & Study Details Undergraduate UCI students Possible sub-groups (Faculty, staff, graduates) Total users anticipated to be around Contact and recruit: s, personal requests. Location of study: Study rooms in libraries/Student center Estimated minutes per session.

Procedure Primary o Guided user testing of existing website/prototypes  Audio/video recording- (Screen capture)  Users will be asked to think aloud  Experimental script Secondary o Short structured interview of users after testing o Paper- based questionnaire  Pre selected questions  Free response feedback  Demographic information o Pilot testing

User Tasks Have users search for information about library fines on the library web site. Have them search for the book Marketing and Feminism on library web site. Have them find the maps & directions page. Have them find out where they can use a copy of Photoshop in the library. Have them find the price for color printing. Have them find out how long laptops can be checked out for.

Sample Questionnaire What is your academic major? ______ On a scale of 1(very difficult) to 5(very easy) rate how you feel you performed for each task o Task 1 o Task 2 o Task Elaborate on any difficulties you had while performing the tasks How often do you use the UCI Libraries Website? o At least once per week o A few times per month o Once or twice a quarter o Once or twice a year o Never Did you notice the search box for the website? YES NO

Phases User Testing Data Analysis Design Prototypes Re-evaluation/Re-test Design Final Version Report Delivery

Results

Analyze Data Collected data will be in the form of Audio and video recordings o Analyze user-tasks step-by-step o Analyze user’s comments etc. Brief User Inteviews o Background information (ease of task, frequency of usage, major etc.) Additional notes

Proposing Changes Analyze findings from research data Collect user annoyances and suggestions Use HCI guidelines to create several alternative design prototypes

Evaluating Prototypes Re-test using the same procedures for data collection (with room for revision) Randomly assign subjects to prototypes for their tasks, then let them use all 3 prototypes and pick one they prefer

Finalizing a Design Review prototype evaluations based on o Hard data from timed experiments o User satisfaction and preference questionaires Pick one prototype or create improved prototypes Test until we have one or two “ultimate” designs DELIVER (report/recommendations)

Timeline and Tasks 4/22 - Initial Presentation Create prototypes (~1 week 4/22 – 4/29) Pilot studies (~1 week 4/29 – 5/06) 5/06 - Interim Presentation User evaluation of prototypes (~2 weeks 5/06 - 5/22) o Re-evaluate interview protocol if necessary Revise prototypes and develop final design(~1 week 5/23- 5/30) Final presentation and report (5/30 - 6/03) 6/03 – Final Presentation 6/04 – Final Report

Division of Labor Duncan/Karen: Official Prototyper Chris/Archana: Report Writers Everyone: UI Testing (teams of two) Interview protocol distributed work User testing split into teams o Data aggregated later for further analysis

Fin