Development of Personas
and Goals
Because the target
population for this system is SIMS students, we had ready access to
a large pool of potential users. To take advantage of this, and to ensure
that we captured a representative sample, we used both a questionnaire
and a focus group discussion. The questionnaire was completed by 10
students, of whom 6 participated in the discussion. A sample questionnaire
is shown in Appendix A and the questionnaire results are tabulated in
Appendix B (appendices).
For most respondents,
predicted use of the system was moderately frequent (once a week or
once a month for the majority of users for three listed possible tasks).
While this may be skewed by self-selection of the volunteers for the
discussion group (i.e., those interested in using such a system are
more interested in discussing it), it is still helpful in suggesting
the pattern of use for a significant subset of users.
The majority of
respondents had used some type of bulletin board system before, but
not all. Of those who had used such a system, about one third had read
but never posted information.
For all four possible
topics listed on the questionnaire (Course Information, Events, Technical
Questions, Simians), moderate to high interest was indicated. Other
possible topics such as Housing were suggested by questionnaire respondents
and in discussion.
However, during
the discussion it became clear that expressed interest in the topic
did not necessarily correlate with use of a web-based forum. In some
cases, the discussion topics proposed correspond to an existing email
list. For topics where email seems to work well, or where the "push"
nature of email is advantageous (e.g., Events), the consensus was that
an alternative forum would have difficulty obtaining the critical mass
needed to make its use worthwhile. For certain other topics, such as
Housing, the consensus was that a web-based discussion would be a significant
improvement over current use of email, and would be used. This suggested
a need to focus on topic areas where the distinctive aspects of a bulletin-board
type system would be advantageous.
The overwhelming
majority of respondents expressed strong interest in the topic of course
information presented from the student point of view. Discussion of
this topic raised several issues related to access (whether information
can be viewed by anyone but SIMS students) and anonymity (whether the
identity of posting users could or should be hidden). Once these issues
were raised, it became clear that they might apply to other topic areas,
but with varying importance.
Justification for
Personas
A significant number
of the questionnaire / discussion group participants had used the Simians
web site before actually starting the SIMS program (i.e. when applying
or after acceptance). This indicated the need for a persona representing
an incoming student.
Several second-year
students expressed a desire for features oriented towards alumni, such
as maintaining contact with other alumni. Some of these anticipated
alumni needs overlapped with current student needs, such as job information.
This input suggested creating a persona representing a former student.
Other needs and
potential uses of the system seem more likely to vary with "place on
the program time-line" rather than demographic factors such as age or
gender. It also seemed important to represent variation in level of
prior use of web-based discussion systems. To further explore these
potential differences, we created three additional personas at different
stages in their studies, and with different levels of system experience:
a first-year Master's student in mid-year, a second-year Master's student
approaching graduation, and a PhD student in his third year.
Starting with these
five personas, we generated goals and tasks, which we then examined
for overlap. Given the nature of the site, we considered information
topics as well as functions (e.g., "Post information on housing", rather
than just "Post information"). Based on this examination, one of the
personas (Cindy, the incoming student) appears to be a central "touchstone"
persona. She performs all of the types of tasks we envision for the
system, and is interested in several different topics of information.
Since she is by definition a new user, she will help us to focus on
making the site readily accessable and understandable.
Three of the other
personas (Annie, Meg, and Ed), however, will still be used to represent
a spread of topic interests and system experience levels. The remaining
persona (Bosko) appears marginal, adding little to the range or frequency
of tasks and topics. For this reason, we do not expect to use or develop
the Bosko persona further, although we have included his description
for completeness.