1. 1 Focusing on users: Gathering users requirements Sarah Agarwal Consultant Web development Project Manager and Usability Engineer Internet Development group Institute for Learning and Research Technology University of Bristol sarah.agarwal@bristol.ac.uk

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3. 3 $120m

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5. 5 $1m

6. 6 Portal-mania…

7. 7 JISC funded national Portal Requirements Analysis project - http://www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/http://www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/ Both the news and the weather… form popular - near-ubiquitous in the case of the weather – portal features, yet they formed the lowest rated features over all…. …Laughter was a frequent response to the inclusion of a weather channel in the portal Liz Pearce, Ariadne, March/April 2003

8. 8 Meets requirements Plan the human centred process Specify the context of use Specify user and organisational requirements Produce design solutions Evaluate against requirements © Crown copyright 1998 ISO 13407 – User-centred design

9. 9 How to do the work? Unmeasurable objectives for the portal Project length – 2-3 months Literature review – virtually nothing! Visits and/or discussions with three universities in UK Analysing the LSE offering

10. 10 Start of analysis Identify (define) target audience –Staff – primarily teaching –Students – postgrads and under-grads Key potential content areas identified from –LSE list of content –List of content from an existing internal specification –Any other suggested by people –No duplication with Blackboard

11. 11 Content areas – staff: Room booking Personal data Calendaring / timetabling Programme / Unit information Staff info Financial data Personal web page Research (IRIS) Past exam papers Message boards Student info Programme admin Information services / libraries + 8 more Content areas – students: Contact students / staff Personal details Programme / Unit information Student info Timetabling Online document store Staff info Information services / libraries Past exam papers Financial data Assessment (student view) Find accommodation Students Union channel + 6 more

12. 12 Content areas: issues Staff vs students Was the content identified what was actually required? Definition of individual bits of content Too much of it

13. 13 Interviews Aim - to find out any additional content requirements (qualitative) - to prioritise requirements (quantitative) - to discover major issues and themes that could significantly affect the portal development (qualitative)

14. 14 Interviews Interview subjects Staff x 13 - 45-60 minute interviews Students x 12 - Postgrads and undergrads - 25 minute interviews

15. 15 Interview method 1.Task analysis 2.Open questions and carefully meandering discussions 3.Card sorting (prioritisation) 4.Content identification … all in 25 – 60 minutes!

16. 16 Did it work? probably! Good signs: 4 of the 10 most highly ranked content areas were originally identified by interviewees catalyst for clearer definition of business drivers technical development has started on implementing 4 of the top ten content areas identified issues raised are being taken seriously development more practical than aspirational

17. 17 Ranked in Top 5 by: Content areaStaffPostgraduatesUndergrads Online document store Access email via portal Contact staff / students Calendaring / timetabling Programme information Information services / libraries Notify Past exam papers Personal data Student information Top ten content areas

18. 18 Ranked in Top 5 by: Content areaStaffPostgraduatesUndergrads Online document store Access email via portal Contact staff / students Calendaring / timetabling Programme information Information services / libraries Notify Past exam papers Personal data Student information Top ten content areas

19. 19 JISC funded national Portal Requirements Analysis project - http://www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/ http://www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/

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23. 23 Internet Development (ID) 6 web developers 1 graphic designer 1.5 usability engineers 1.5 project managers 22 current projects, including…

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25. 25 http://www.234car.com/

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27. 27 References ID: www.ilrt.bristol.ac.ukwww.ilrt.bristol.ac.uk CROS: www.cros.ac.ukwww.cros.ac.uk 234car:http://www.234car.com/http://www.234car.com/ REDwww.bristol.ac.uk/researchwww.bristol.ac.uk/research University of Michigan cancels a closely watched portal project. Chronicle of Higher Education. April 11 th, 2002. http://chronicle.com/free/2002/04/2002041101t.htm University of Hull PORTAL project - http://www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/http://www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/ "Apart from the weather, I think its a good idea by Liz Pearce, in Ariadne April 2003. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue35/pearce/http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue35/pearce/ Full Bristol portal requirements report at http://www.bris.ac.uk/is/projects/portal http://www.bris.ac.uk/is/projects/portal Planning and implementing user-centred design. Nigel Bevan and Ian Curson. http://www.usability.serco.com/papers/ucdtut97.pdfhttp://www.usability.serco.com/papers/ucdtut97.pdf