1. The Information School of the University of Washington Information System Design Info-440 Autumn 2002 Session #14

2. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 2 Agenda Participatory design & prototyping –Finish Usability testing –Introduction Assignment #4 –Introduction

3. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 3 Admin Announcements –Who wants a lab on Visio? –Who will not be here next Wednesday? Reminder –IA summit 2003 (March 21-23 Portland, OR) Poster submissions: 15 Jan Great opportunity to present assignment #2 http://www.asis.org/Conferences/IA03/

4. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 4 Upcoming This week and next week: Usability –Read Nielsen, Chapters 5 & 6 Prototyping project –Bring prototypes to lab –1 st iteration of prototype (25 Nov) Quiz #4 –25 November –Chapter #6 only Assignment #4 –December 4

5. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 5 Review Development process –Waterfall vs. prototyping models Prototyping methods –Storyboards –Wizard of Oz –Semi-working system –Video prototyping –Etc.

6. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 6 Review (continued) Prototyping: Two major questions –What materials to use? Low vs. high fidelity –How should users participate? Indirectly vs. indirectly No simple choices – just trade-offs

7. The Information School of the University of Washington Prototyping Patterns

8. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 8 Patterns for employing prototyping Pattern A 1.A business analyst brings an idea to engineering 2.Engineering builds a specification and starts implementing 3.Visual design paints an interface 4.Using detailed page renderings on paper, usability conducts an evaluation

9. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 9 Patterns for employing prototyping Pattern B 1.Marketing, design, engineering, and usability develop a spec 2.Design mock-ups some pages in paper 3.Using detailed page renderings on paper, usability conducts an evaluation

10. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 10

11. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 11

12. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 12 Participatory design Pattern C 1.Marketing, design, engineering, and usability propose some user goals 2.Design & usability sketch a prototype 3.Design, usability, and a user revise prototype together 4.Iterate #3 for a week 5.Design and usability finalize design spec

13. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 13 Participatory design Intimately involving users in the design process How the process can work? –Agree on goals and activities (from contextual inquiry) –Give users elements of a design (building blocks) –Guide users in constructing a solution –Ask users to complete their goals using their designs –Gather feedback –Iterate Many variations possible

14. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 14 Trade-offs with participatory design Pros + Users are intimately involved in process + Users are giving a continuous stream of feedback + Teams are prompted to look outwards (harder to design for yourself) Cons –Users unlikely to think strategically –Users unlikely to be skilled in sketching, user-interface look-and-feel, etc.

15. The Information School of the University of Washington Usability Testing

16. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 16 Books Krug, S. (2000). Don’t Make Me Think. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders Publishing Rubin, J. (1994). Handbook of Usability Testing. New York: John Wiley.

17. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 17 Objectives of usability tests Science/engineering view –Estimate usability Easy to learn Efficient to use (once learned) Easy to remember Few errors –Test correctness of features

18. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 18 Objectives of usability tests Design view –Test assumptions for how people behave –Develop an intuition for the users –Gather inspiration for what to do Social role –Develop common ground within a team –Persuade decision makers

19. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 19 Reasons to test Develop understanding of user goals –Before beginning a project –You observe people working with systems –Goal: Identify tactics, strengths, weaknesses, etc. Competitive tests (X vs Y) –You believe a competitor is better than you –Determine which is more usable –Goal: Uncover best practices at competitor site

20. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 20 Reasons to test Alternative interfaces (X 1 Vs X 2) –You have two alternative versions of a UI –Goal: Determine which is the better direction Test-and-iterate –Iterative development process –Goal: You seek incremental improvement

21. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 21 Usability process 1.Decide on objectives 2.Decide on participant profile & develop scenario 3.Analyze system & make predictions 4.Decide on participant goals 5.Prompt participants to complete goals 6.Carefully observe 4-6 participants Identify critical incidents Measure performance (time, errors, etc.) 7.Debrief participants 8.Prioritize issues Team discussion Develop presentations, reports, etc.

22. The Information School of the University of Washington Video examples

23. The Information School of the University of Washington Assignment #4

24. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 24 Four parts Part I: –Heuristic evaluation Part II: –Task analysis Part III: –Task performance estimate Part IV: –Usability evaluation

25. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 25 Deliverable A usability report –Outline is given in assignment Target audience –Product design team, which includes business people, engineers, visual designer, and information architect

26. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 26 Part I & Part II To be discussed on Wednesday

27. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 27 Part III: Objective Derive an estimate for how long it takes to discover movie times using: –Telephone –News paper

28. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 28 User goal Find the playing times for movie, M, at location, L, around the following time, T –L == “University district, Seattle, Washington” –T == “Between 6-9pm” –M ==

29. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 29 Part III: Data collection Each person in the class will generate this table: User IDTrialMethodTime Dgh-mem1news40 Dgh-mem2news67 Dgh-mem2tele40 Dgh-mem1tele67

30. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 30 Part IV: Main objective Determine which of three movie sites is the best The sites: –Yahoo: http:/movies.yahoo.com –Lycos: http://entertainment.lycos.com/movies/http://entertainment.lycos.com/movies/ –MSN http://www.movietickets.com/default.asp?afid=msn

31. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 31 Part IV: User goal Find the playing times for movie, M, at location, L, around the following time, T –L == “University district, Seattle, Washington” –T == “Between 6-9pm” –M ==

32. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 32 Part IV: Procedure Participant #1 –Complete goal for M1 –Complete goal for M2 Participant #2 –Complete goal for M2 –Complete goal for M1

33. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 33 Part IV: Data collection Each person in the class will generate this table: User IDTrialMethodTime Dgh-P1m1Yahoo40 Dgh-P1m2Yahoo67 Dgh-P2m2Yahoo30 Dgh-P2m1Yahoo87

34. The Information School of the University of Washington Break

35. The Information School of the University of Washington A huge number of details are important – We will consider only a few

36. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 36 Some details Human subject ethics Participants Creating good tasks Being a good moderator Think aloud protocols

37. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 37 Human subject ethics Guidelines –Acknowledge that that system is being tested, not the participant (remind repeatedly) –Tell the participant that she is free to leave at any time –Reveal who is watching & what is being recorded –Do not report results such that a participant is identified –Avoid telling the participant that he is making mistakes or doing things wrong –Acknowledge participants efforts but in a neutral fashion Bottom line: Treat people with great respect

38. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 38 Participants Participant profile –Computer/net experience –Experience with system –Interests Example –You want to study an online teen magazine –Consider 15 year old girls who use IM Anyone else The most important decision to make

39. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 39 Creating good tasks Clear beginning and end states Easily stated Cover target areas of the system Consider –Find the 5-day weather forecast for Toronto –Here’s $75.00 -- use eBay to buy something

40. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 40 Being a good moderator

41. The Information School of the University of Washington Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session 14 - 11/18/2002) 41 Think aloud