ux @ harvard's iqss (elizabeth quigley)
DESCRIPTION
On November 12, 2014, Elizabeth Quigley gave a talk titled "UX @ Harvard's IQSS." Details of the talk appear below. --------------------------------------------- When: November 12th @ 3:30-5:00pm Title: UX @ IQSS Who: Elizabeth Quigley, Usability Specialist, Data Science Team, Institute of Quantitative Social Science Where: Harvard University, Lamont Library, Forum Room Description: Over the past year and a half, the Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) has integrated multiple user experience methods into their product development cycle to enhance the user experience for multiple products and websites developed at IQSS. Elizabeth Quigley, Usability Specialist at IQSS, will outline how to start a user experience program for your products and/or websites, demonstrate the UX methods she uses, and show examples of how the UX of IQSS products and websites has been enhanced through these methods. If you have ever wondered how to start a user experience program, this is the talk for you. Bio: Elizabeth has an M.S. in Library and Information Science from the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College. She has conducted user research on the collaborative processes and profiles of undergraduates interacting with a Microsoft surface table, academic portals, the use of a library website by faculty members as well as the products and websites developed at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science.TRANSCRIPT
“‘User experience’ encompasses all aspects of the end-user's interaction with the company, its services, and its products.”-Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman
“User experience is the overall effect created by the interactions and perceptions that someone has when using a product or service.”-Leah Buley
“User experience (UX) focuses on having a deep understanding of users, what they need, what they value, their abilities, and also their limitations. It also takes into account the business goals and objectives of the group managing the project. UX best practices promote improving the quality of the user’s interaction with and perceptions of your product and any related services.”-usability.gov
What is User Experience?
Created by Peter Morvillehttp://semanticstudios.com/publications/semantics/000029.php
UX Honeycomb
Why is UX important?Being concerned with the User Experience of your product:● Influences the development strategy for a product● Helps reduce costs and “surprises” after releasing● Increases customer satisfaction
But most importantly, UX helps solve problems
Low risk & low cost starting methods
● Summative usability testing● Google analytics● Usability heuristics and usability checklist
○ www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/○ userium.com
● Content review
Two tips to get stakeholders interested:
● Find out the bounce rate
● Record two people using the product to show how individuals interacts with it○ Note: use someone who doesn’t work on the product
and someone who does.
My favorite methods
● Remote, moderated usability testing● Cardsorting● Heuristic evaluation● Competitive analysis● System Usability Scale
History of IQSS
● Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) ○ Established at
Harvard in 2005
IQSS!
What we do at IQSS○ Our approach:
■ create an environment that encourages scholars from across disciplines to collaborate
■ develop powerful statistical, computational, and analytical infrastructure and tools
■ remove impediments to discovery by providing exceptional research services
■ support and showcase innovative ideas through the creation of scientific programs
How UX fits in at IQSSProducts: Websites:
● IQSS Website● Data Science Team Website● Research Technology Team
Website
How UX fits in at IQSS
● Need to make sure our products fit user needs
● Research driven development ● Helps with planning development of products
and websites
IQSS Website
How were these problems identified?
● Google Analytics
● Usability Heuristics Review
Google Analytics● Showed less than 6% of visitors to the site were
accessing our team pages
● Returning visitors rate was very low
● IQSS website was being used to mainly learn more about our staff, faculty, and students
Usability Heuristics Review
● Used Userium’s checklist to determine issues○ For example: First impression. The homepage
creates a positive first impression and supports conversion.
Other methods used during redesign● Cardsorting
● In house usability testing
Cardsorting● Open style: grouping stacks of cards and assigning an overall label
to them
● Kick starts how to organize information and content
● Great way to get stakeholders involved
● Review the differences between results of this and how website is currently organized
In House Usability Testing● Did quick rounds of testing with IQSS staff members
who use the website as part of their job
● Identified content organization and layout issues
What is Dataverse?● Dataverse is an open-source software framework for publishing, citing and
preserving research data. GitHub - http://github.com/IQSS/dataverse
● Harvard Dataverse is a repository open and free to all researchers worldwide to publish research data across all disciplines.http://thedata.harvard.edu/dvn
The Harvard Dataverse Repository The Dataverse Network Website
Dataverse 3.6 to 4.0
● Summative & iterative usability testing
● Competitive analysis
● Mental models
● Understanding your user
Analyzing Findings
● Affinity Diagrams to determine behaviors and patterns
Using your findings
Mock ups created by Michael Heppler, IQSS
Resources● Coggle Site Mapping Tool● Balsamiq Mockups● Erik Runyon Carousel Article● Usability.gov● Nielsen Norman Heuristics● Usability Checklist
