ux2 :usability and contemporary user experience in digital libraries

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USABILITY AND CONTEMPORARY USE EXPERIENCE IN DIGITAL LIBRARIE For Metadata and Web 2.0 – CIGS Seminar Boon Low eSI, University of Edinburgh 23 February 2011

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USABILITY AND CONTEMPORARY USER EXPERIENCE IN DIGITAL LIBRARIES

For Metadata and Web 2.0 – CIGS Seminar

Boon LoweSI, University of Edinburgh23 February 2011

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Agenda

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• Usability, contemporary user experience in digital libraries

– Highlights from the JISC UX2 Project: Usability and Contemporary User Experience in Digital Libraries

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Digital Library Environment“A resource representing the intellectual substance and services of a traditional library in digital form”

Putting in the human contexts, broader roles•A place for solving complex problem•A place for social interactions•A ‘sharium’, active workspace

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Contemporary User Experience• Web 2.0 - new ways providing user interface/experience

– User-centric, social networking, e.g. folksonomy– New technologies, UI interactions: AJAX and rich application UI– Virtual (2D/3D) environment

• User experience – a broad term– More than human-computer interaction, encompasses all aspects of the user's interaction– Goes beyond giving users what they say they want– How a user feels about using a system including overall perceptions– Objective (e.g. functional, usability) and subjective aspects (e.g. psychology)

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Digital Library - Examples

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• World Digital Library

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Implications

• What are the usability challenges? • What are the usefulness challenges?

• UX2 Project attempts to answer some of these questions w.r.t. digital libraries– A range of user research and usability

studies, – UI prototypes development

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Implications

Usefulness is about measuring/evaluating user experience (sum of interactions)• Usability, Usefulness, Appeal (Usability Week 2009)• Usable, Useful and Desirable (Jon Kolko 2010)

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Digital Library - Examples

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• World Digital Library

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Digital Library - Examples

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• Europeanabreadcrumb trail

facets

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Digital Library - Examples

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• WDL

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Digital Library - Examples

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• AquaBrowser

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User Research, Testing• Survey, interviews, focus groups

– Evaluating prototypes: low-fi (wireframe) or working• Usability testing: formative, agile• Field study: contextual inquiry, related to ethnographic methods• Broader understandings by observing + interviewing users in their

‘habitat’, involving natural and real use scenarios

Angrosino, 2007

Usability and Contemporary User Experience in Digital Libraries

Ethnographies are often narrative, telling the story behind the context being studiedEthnographies are often narrative, telling the story behind the context being studied

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User Research: AquaBrowser Field Study

• Where: describe library environments… • How: Approach Goal 1: A/B Goal 2: C

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Study Findings

AquaBrowser Usage: observing library users interaction with AquaBrowser UI•17 sessions observed, busier at short-loan•User goals sample:

– Search for a specific subject (humanism, physics etc.)– Looking up books on a reading list– Looking up shelf-mark (in short loan section)

•Main activities: keyword search, review results (metadata/TOC), make note on papers (online version?)

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Study Findings

AquaBrowser Usage: information seeking behaviour•Straightforward (7): keyword search once to obtain result

– Look up a specific book, a shelf-mark – Repeatedly looking known books from a reading list

•Term tactics (4): repeatedly modify search terms per results review or follow suggested terms, frequency 1-4 max•Information structure tactics (1): obtain other books via the shelfmark link of a known book•Query reformulation tactics (1): immediately narrowing a search through Boolean operations via facets

•Strategic (4): the above tactics used in combinant

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Study Findings

AquaBrowser Usage•No Tag Cloud usage observed•3 users collapsed the Tag Cloud UI

– 2 confirmed cases: closed UI accidentally mistook the collapse arrow as back button

– None re-open the UI and continued the search tasks (usefulness indication?)

•Users are aware of Tag Cloud (although they don’t use it)

– It’s a feature of related words– Better suited for novel finding and browsing

generally, not specific titles finding

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Study Findings

AquaBrowser Usage•3 (out of 17) users make use of facets•1 used author facet once (found a book) in the foyer before heading to short loan (quick search)•1 used it for browsing: subject facet, publication date facet•A notable case for browsing

– Did a term search (72 hits) -> select ‘more’ on subject facets -> review list and select ‘history’ facet (13 hits)

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Study Findings

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Study Findings

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Study Findings

AquaBrowser Usage: terminal hopping•A majority of the users observed (8 out of 17) attempted to select links near the top of the UI to begin search

– All attempts greeted with system error message (repeatedly)– Hops between kiosks as a result

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Study Findings

AquaBrowser Usage: terminal hopping •Common reason for selecting ‘Library Online’ or ‘Classic Catalogue’: clear current search, fresh session!•Users not able to wipe their session post-search

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Study Findings• Usefulness evidence of Faceted Search/Navigation• Tag Cloud not useful at library terminals, usability issues -

collapse button mistaken as back button• There ought to be a ‘start over’ feature on AquaBrowser• All links should function properly, otherwise shouldn’t be there

at all

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• UX2 project website, report, blogs, codes:– http://ux2.nesc.ed.ac.uk

• Library prototype,– http://ux2.nesc.ed.ac.uk:3000

[email protected], @boonious

Info

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