iwmw 2003: focussing on users: gathering users' requirements
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Focusing on users:Gathering users’ requirementsSarah Agarwal Consultant Web development Project Manager and Usability Engineer Internet Development group Institute for Learning and Research Technology University of [email protected]
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$120
m
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$1m
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Portal-mania…
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JISC funded national Portal Requirements Analysis project - 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 aweather channel in the portal”
Liz Pearce, Ariadne, March/April 2003
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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
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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
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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
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Content areas – staff:Room bookingPersonal dataCalendaring / timetablingProgramme / Unit informationStaff infoFinancial dataPersonal web pageResearch (IRIS)Past exam papersMessage boardsStudent infoProgramme adminInformation services / libraries+ 8 more
Content areas – students:Contact students / staffPersonal detailsProgramme / Unit informationStudent infoTimetablingOnline document storeStaff infoInformation services / librariesPast exam papersFinancial dataAssessment (student view)Find accommodationStudents Union channel+ 6 more
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Content areas: issues• Staff vs students• Was the content identified what was actually required?• Definition of individual bits of content• Too much of it
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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)
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InterviewsInterview subjects
Staff x 13 - 45-60 minute interviews
Students x 12 - Postgrads and undergrads - 25 minute interviews
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Interview method1. Task analysis2. Open questions and carefully meandering discussions3. Card sorting (prioritisation)4. Content identification
… all in 25 – 60 minutes!
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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
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Ranked in Top 5 by:
Content area Staff Postgraduates Undergrads
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
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Ranked in Top 5 by:
Content area Staff Postgraduates Undergrads
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
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JISC funded national Portal Requirements Analysis project - http://www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
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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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http://www.234car.com/
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References• ID: www.ilrt.bristol.ac.uk• CROS: www.cros.ac.uk• 234car: http://www.234car.com/• RED www.bristol.ac.uk/research• “University of Michigan cancels a closely watched portal project.
Chronicle of Higher Education. April 11th, 2002.http://chronicle.com/free/2002/04/2002041101t.htm
• University of Hull PORTAL project - http://www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/• "Apart from the weather, I think it’s a good idea“ by Liz Pearce, in
Ariadne April 2003. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue35/pearce/• Full Bristol portal requirements report at
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.pdf