1. Problem and solution overview
2. Tasks
3. Revised interface design
4. Prototype overview
5. Index to pages
6. Scenario walkthroughs
7. PowerPoint presentation

1. Problem and solution overview
Considerable time and effort is required to access resources to help learn the histories of Holocaust victims and survivors.  In an effort to provide broader access to a diverse set of resources, the Holocaust Museum plans to merge all of their related electronic resources, with the goal of making them available through their Web site.  Various search and browse tools will be incorporated to help alleviate the problems associated with spelling variations.  In addition, the resource will include features that enable users to save and share their search experiences.

2. Tasks
Registry Staff:  A letter arrives from a woman in Russia looking for information about her cousin Isaac Kahane, who was born in Maciejow, Poland in 1921.  She heard from another cousin that he had an alias during the War.  She thinks he might be alive and wants to make contact.

Survivor:  Aron is interested in finding out about a man who helped him when he became seriously ill in the Lodz ghetto.  His first name was Abe and his last name was Veissman or Weissman.  During the search he is interrupted by someone who needs to use the computer.

Historian:  One of the Museum historians is working on a project about Auschwitz and wants to get a sense of the prisoners involved in the camp.  He is interested in finding vital information about these individuals, such as birthplace and nationality.

3. Revised interface design
Although many of the lo-fi observations were related to specific aspects of the interface, effort was put forth to use this knowledge to improve the overall interface.  For example, users found some of the labels on the Start Page misleading, thus all of the pages were reviewed for similar problems.  Interface changes are summarized below according to page.

Start Page

• Incorporated ability to search by birthplace.
• Moved Advanced Search link directly below the surname and birthplace search.
• Grouped menu items according to functionality and frequency of use.
• Provided more intuitive names for additional services and resources, such as Browse “Sources” instead of “Resources.”
• Added brief descriptions below browse tools and additional services.

Advanced Search

• Included example queries to demonstrate usage of search options.
• Inserted links to supplementary information such as Soundex and Sources.
• Provided more intuitive names for certain functions, for example, “Reset” and “Submit” were changed to “Clear” and “Search”.
• Restructured layout to help distinguish required and optional fields, such as separation of Soundex preview option from “Clear” and “Search” buttons.

Search Results

• Provided means to contact survivors found in system by including a link to a Third Party Contact Form in PDF format.
• Added icons to communicate additional information in the index to results, specifically a document icon to indicate more records about a person, and a family icon to indicate the presence of records about family members.
• Clarified link to source information by providing a brief description and an explicit link to more information.

Additional Services

• Expanded example search concept to include index to searches submitted by users.
• Incorporated ability to save and retrieve search results.
• Added bulletin board space to help users exchange search advice.
• Created Educator Resources section to accommodate educators’ special needs.

Scenario storyboards
Registry Staff: 1) Go to Browse Surnames, 2) Click on K – L, 3) Click on Kahane, 4) View Isaac Kahane record, and 5) Access Third Party Contact form.

Survivor:  1) Go to Advanced Search, 2) Preview Soundex, 3) View search results, 4) View desired record, and 5) Save search results.

Historian: 1) Go to Browse Sources, 2) Select Auschwitz, 3) Scan list, and 4) View individual records.

4. Prototype overview
Pages are provided for all major sections of the service, however, the Start Page, Advanced Search, Browse Surnames, and Search Results are the farthest along in the development process.  Since the desired backend software, ColdFusion, is in the process of being installed, “canned queries” were used to demonstrate the search and browse interfaces.  Dreamweaver helped expedite the page building process, though its faulty page rendering required switching back and forth between a “real” browser.

Start Page (go to Start Page)
The Start Page has six major components, including the menu, title and introduction, example searches, surname and birthplace search, browse tools, and additional services.  Components are organized based on their expected frequency of use, with search and example searches placed in more prominent positions than additional services.  Similarly, the menu provides quick access to the core features, search and browse.  Users can immediately search by either surname or birthplace, linking to Advanced Search only when additional search options are desired.  Brief descriptions below browse tools explain their underlying organization, particularly important for Sources and Images.  Additional services are also placed in order of their expected frequency of use, with sufficient space available to add new services in the future.

Advanced Search (go to Advanced Search)
Advanced Search includes the menu, page title, and search form.  Search tips are provided next to each section in the search form, and include links to additional tips and Soundex information.  The form has six sections – name, birthplace, date of birth, additional options, Soundex preview option, and clear and search buttons.  Descriptive text is provided in most pull-down menus to help users make their selections.  Similarly, backslashes are provided in the date fields to help users enter queries in the correct format.  User who select the “Preview Soundex results” radio button are presented with a page including spelling variations for a particular name or place.  Since the backend has not been developed, the search button simply links to a hand-crafted preview or search results page.

Browse Surnames (go to Browse Surnames)
The Browse Surnames tool presents users with ranges of letters in the left frame, and names that appear within the active range in the right frame.  For example, initially A – B is the active frame, thus all surnames that begin with A and B appear in the right frame.  Since the backend has not been developed, the number of names that fall within a particular range is not clear.  However, as the French lists alone have 80,000 names, smaller ranges will be required to browse the names most efficiently.  Once the user has browsed to the correct name, they may click on it to retrieve all records in the system with that name.  The results are displayed in the format described in Search Results below.

Search Results (go to Kahane )
When users enter a query from the Start Page, submit the Advanced Search form, or browse to a specific surname or place, their results will be presented in a frame format.  The menu is placed in the top frame, the index to results in the left frame, individual records in the right frame, and a revise search form in the bottom frame.  The index to results contains each individual’s name, place of birth, and date of birth.  Document icons are displayed next to individuals that appear in more than one resource, and family icons appear next to names with known family members in the system.  Users may save search results by clicking on the “Save Results” option located at the top and bottom of the index.  This feature is currently simulated with hyperlinks, however, cookies may be used in the future to store “My Search Results”.  Although the short format in the index is the same across data sources, the long formats are somewhat different for each source, for example, Survivors Registry records may include individual photos, whereas French Deportation records have images from convoy lists and related information.

Additional Services and Browse Tools
With the exception of “Search Services” most of the features in additional services are simply text pages.  In contrast, Search Services will be composed of dynamic content and several important tools, such as search advice from Survivors Registry staff members, examples of users’ search experiences, and a bulletin board to ask other users’ for search advice.  Since much of this content is currently being developed by the Museum, placeholder pages are provided for all additional services.  Browse Places, Sources, and Images will also be developed further in the next iteration.

Development Tools
The Dreamweaver WYSIWYG tool renders some objects, i.e., form fields, different from an actual browser, thus additional time was required to render the layouts correctly.  In addition, the software often generates excess HTML code, and the code is not always indented correctly.  Although ColdFusion has not been integrated into the backend, Mohammed’s tutorial provided enough information to begin planning the necessary query and output forms for the second interactive prototype.

5. Index to pages
Start Page
Advanced Search
Browse Surnames
Kahane Search Results

6. Scenario walkthroughs

Attention Heuristic Evaluators!
Please note that the current prototype focused on navigation for Browse Surnames and Search Results. Depending on the amount of time available, the next prototype will include enhancements to the other browse tools--places, sources, and images. Also, you may notice that the style of the "Kahane" search results is different from "Weissman". We are experimenting with "no border" frames, so consider this difference a beta side-effect rather than an inconsistency in the design.

Scenario 1: Registry Staff
A letter arrives from a woman in Russia looking for information about her cousin Isaac Kahane, who was born in Maciejow, Poland in 1921.  She heard from another cousin that he had an alias during the War.  She thinks he might be alive and wants to make contact. (Note that this task can be accomplished with Advanced Search but Browse Surnames is used to test its interface.)

1) Go to Start Page.
2) Go to Browse Surnames.
3) Click on K – L (left frame).
4) Click on Kahane (right frame).
5) View Isaac Kahane record (right frame).
6) Click on document icon next to Isaac Kahane’s name (left frame) to view Survivors Registry record that contains link to “contact request” (right frame but form not yet available).

Scenario 2: Survivor
Aron is interested in finding out about a man who helped him when he became seriously ill in the Lodz ghetto.  His first name was Abe and his last name was Veissman or Weissman.  During the search he is interrupted by someone who needs to use the computer.

1) Go to Start Page.
2) Go to Advanced Search.
3) Click on “Weissman Soundex results” (bottom of page) to preview Soundex results.
4) Click on “Weissman search results” to view Weissman search results.
5) View Abe Weissman record (right frame).
6) Click on “Save search results” to save results (left frame but feature not working yet.)

Scenario 3: Historian
One of the Museum historians is working on a project about Auschwitz and wants to get a sense of the prisoners involved in the camp.  He is interested in finding vital information about these individuals, such as birthplace and nationality.

1) Go to Start Page.
2) Go to Browse Sources.
3) Select Auschwitz (left frame).
4) Scan list (right frame).
5) View individual records (not shown but same format as Weissman and Kahane records).