1. Problem
2. Solution Overview
3. Tasks and scenarios
4. Design Evolution
5. Final Interface

1. Problem
Considerable time and effort is required to access information to help trace the individual histories of Holocaust survivors and victims.  The Holocaust Museum offers a search service but it can take more than a week to process each request.  They also provide public access to the Registry of Holocaust Survivors, searchable by last name in the Learning Center.  The Learning Center reference space has several deportation lists and memorial books, though staff assistance is generally required to even begin working with these complex documents.  Moreover, many individuals may have limited information about the survivor's or victim's whereabouts during the War.  As most of these resources were compiled by place, the individual has no choice but to search each list separately.

2. Solution Overview
In an effort to improve access to a valuable collection of resources, an online search service was designed in cooperation with the Holocaust Museum.  Many of the resources mentioned above have been converted into electronic format, and the Museum has started to merge the contents into a master database.  Users can access the database over the Web, and search or browse for survivor and victim information.  Search tools, such as Soundex and the Museum’s place name thesaurus, help users formulate and expand their queries, which may include first name, last name, place of birth, and date of birth.  Browse tools facilitate exploratory access to information, allowing users to access surnames and town names through lists organized in alphabetical order.

3. Tasks and scenarios
Based on observations made in the Museum and interviews with Registry staff members, a table of target users and tasks was constructed for the task analysis.  Although the task table identified educators as one of the target user types, when the lo-fi prototype was introduced to a local educator, it became clear that specialized tools were required to achieve their goals.  As a result, the initial scenarios were revised to include more common user tasks.  Similarly, while the original task table included eleven major tasks, the first interactive prototype proved that it would be difficult to optimize the system for all eleven tasks.  For the second interactive prototype, the design emphasis shifted to search, and browse by surname and place.  Thus, the scenarios were modified again to exercise specific search and browse tools.  The names and places mentioned in the scenarios were also changed to better reflect the database contents.

Scenario 1
You work in the Survivors Registry division at the Holocaust Museum.  A letter arrives from a woman in Israel looking for information about her cousin, Chana Rubinstein, who may have married sometime after the war.  She was born in a town called Maciejow in Poland.  The town was also known as Matseev, but is now called Lukov and is currently part of the Ukraine.

Scenario 2
You are a survivor from the Netherlands.  You are looking for information about family friends who may have survived the War.  You can’t quite remember, but their last name was something like Frank, Frenkel, or Franken.  They were from Amsterdam and had a daughter named Elizabeth. You recall hearing that they were in Rotterdam during the War.

Scenario 3
You are a historian writing a book about an underground group in Warsaw that was apparently led by men and women in their late teens (born between 1924 and 1926).  You want to try and locate all of the survivors from this city that could have somehow been related to, or knew about, this group of teenagers.

3.3 Storyboards of scenarios
Scenario 1: Start page --> Search results
Scenario 2: Advanced search --> Search results
Scenario 3: Advanced search --> Search results

4. Design Evolution
Incremental changes were made throughout the iterative design process, thus their impact is more striking if one compares the initial sketches to the third interactive prototype. Although many of the changes were based on the heuristic evaluation and pilot user study results, several changes were also related to the medium used.  For example, the first interactive prototype was developed in HTML with static content.  When the database was integrated into the second prototype, many of the deficiencies of the first prototype were revealed, such as limited search result feedback. Moreover, once the interface was connected to “real” data, the Museum staff was more inclined to test the system and provide feedback.  While several interface ideas were thrown out along the way, it is interesting to note that many of the designs presented in the initial sketches were carried over through the last prototype, such as the way frames are used to navigate through the search and browse results.  Although each design iteration contributed to the overall usability, the pilot user study was probably the most valuable.  The subsequent interface changes may appear insignificant next to some of the other iterations, however, these small changes dramatically improved the interface usability.  Summaries of the most prominent interface changes are shown below, followed by a table of more detailed design changes.

Sketches --> Lo-fi
Although many of the initial sketches needed to be restructured for the lo-fi prototype, changes to the Advanced Search form were probably the most dramatic.  Search options were made more accessible, and extraneous features were removed to simplify the layout.  Because the form contained several search fields, it also made sense to visually separate name, place, and date fields.

Start screen: Sketch | Lo-fi
Advanced search: Sketch | Lo-fi
Browse: Sketch 1,  2 | Lo-fi 1, 2
Search results: Sketch | Lo-fi

Lo-fi --> First Interactive Prototype
Lo-fi test results helped rule out some of the initial interface sketches.  Users preferred search and browse results in the frames as opposed to the tabular format, and found it easier to browse surnames by the first letter instead of searching through ranges of names.  New features included search by place on the start page, and the introduction of icons to help display related individual and family records.

Start screen: Lo-fi | First Interactive
Advanced search: Lo-fi | First Interactive
Browse: Lo-fi 1, 2 | First Interactive
Search results: Lo-fi | First Interactive

Heuristic Evaluation --> Second Interactive Prototype
While the heuristic evaluation helped identify some label inconsistencies and extraneous search options, most of the major changes implemented in this stage were related to search results.  When the database was integrated into the first interactive prototype, it became clear that results feedback and navigation was insufficient, and that the current browse structure was not scalable.  Information on the number of records retrieved and links between search results pages were added, and browse was restructured to accommodate long lists of names.

Start screen: First Interactive | Second Interactive
Advanced search: First Interactive | Second Interactive
Browse: First Interactive | Second Interactive
Search results: First Interactive | Second Interactive

Pilot user study --> Third Interactive Prototype
Usability problems identified in the pilot user study were subtle, however, the subsequent changes helped improve many aspects of the last prototype.  The display of other names, such as maiden or alias, in the short and long search results was modified to help distinguish these names from primary names.  Since one user thought Revise Search stored their previous search criteria, the form was changed to automatically copy the search terms into the form.

Start screen: Second Interactive | Third Interactive
Advanced search: Second Interactive | Third Interactive
Browse: Second Interactive | Third Interactive
Search results: Second Interactive | Third Interactive
 

Iterative Design Changes

5. Final Interface
5.1. Functionality
The primary functions of the service are the ability to search and browse for information about Holocaust survivors and victims.  Additional features are provided to complement these functions, such as sample traces, Search Support, and Make Connection.

Search
Users may search the service by name, birthplace, or date of birth.  With the Soundex coding system, they can retrieve alternate name and place spellings, and select which ones satisfy their search criteria.  Similarly, users uncertain about a name ending can use wildcards and partial text matching to retrieve possible names.  Users may also select the sort value, and the number of records displayed on each page.

Browse
In situations where the search criteria are limited, browse tools can help users access names of people and towns.  For example, some users may not have enough information to initiate a search, thus browse tools can help them better understand the scope of the system, and formulate their query more effectively.  Browse also supports alternative search strategies, as some users are overwhelmed by search forms, and prefer to look for information in an exploratory manner.

Additional features
In an effort to provide users with a starting point, a handful of sample traces are included on the opening page.  If users discover an individual entered in more than one database, they can submit this information through the Make Connection feature.  Similarly, if users find incorrect information, they may submit corrections online.  Users may also obtain provenance information about the resources included, and links to related resources.

5.2 User interface
Start screen
When users access the site, they are presented with a start screen, including surname and birthplace search fields, sample traces, and links to other site features.  If they choose to search from the start page, they may enter information in one or more of the fields.  Before starting their search, they can view the sample traces, which show how other users found information about a particular individual.

Advanced search
Advanced Search is organized into five major sections: name, place, date, additional options, and search tips.  Users may complete one or more fields, and can select search options for the first name, surname, and town name fields.  Search options include Soundex, wildcards, and partial-text matching.  If they are uncertain about a specific date, they may search a range of dates. Additional options include the ability to change the sort value, and the number of records displayed on each page.

Search results
After a search has been submitted, results appear in a frame format, with the names linked to “long” records containing detailed information.  The number of records retrieved appears at the top of the left frame.  At the bottom of the left frame are links to the next and previous search results pages.  If an individual has multiple records or family members in the database, users can access these links from the long format.  Other names, such as alias or maiden name, can be identified by the asterisk that appears besides the name.  Users can revise their search using the Revise Search form in the bottom frame.

Browse by surname or birthplace
Users may access alphabetical lists of names using the browse surname and browse birthplace tools.  When they link to either of these tools, a page appears with the letters of the alphabet in the left frame.  If they click on a letter, another frame will appear containing a list of “double-letters.”  For example, if they click on A, they will get a hyperlinked list containing Aa, Ab, Ac, and so on.  When they click on any two letters, a list of names that begin with these two letters will appear.  From that list, they may click on a name to retrieve all records with that name.

Additional services and resources
When users access the additional services and resources highlighted on the start screen, they will  see mock-ups or descriptions of the information we plan to include in these sections.  As we discuss in 5.3 below, these pages serve as placeholders since many of sections require detailed input from the Museum Registry staff.

5.2 Development tools
PowerPoint was used to develop the sketches and storyboards for the task analysis stage.  Although PowerPoint images are more formal than traditional pencil and paper sketches, it is debatable whether or not this had a negative impact on the creative process.  Some of the advantages of using PowerPoint were the ability to edit with ease, and quickly convert images into jpeg or gif format.  Dreamweaver 2.0 was used to develop most of the first interactive prototype.  Pages created in Dreamweaver looked different when viewed in a Web browser, thus additional time was required to tweak the code and render the layouts correctly.  Because of these problems, Home Site 3.0 was used to build the pages for the last two prototypes.  Home Site generated much more readable code than Dreamweaver.  In addition, the software included Cold Fusion tags, which was helpful when Cold Fusion was integrated into the site. Cold Fusion’s basic features were relatively easy to learn, and online documentation helped clarify many of the advanced features.

5.3 Next steps
As discussed in section 3, given the time limitations, the first interactive prototype proved that it would be difficult to optimize the system for all eleven tasks.  Therefore, some of the features outlined in the original task analysis were placed on-hold, such as browse images and sources.  Other content-intensive sections required input from the Museum, which had difficulty meeting the course deadlines.  For example, the Search Support section was designed to include search advice from experienced researchers in the Survivors Registry.  Depending on schedule constraints, we hope to integrate some relatively straightforward features by the end of month, such as access to search results by page, and the Soundex preview functionality. Below are suggested feature additions for subsequent versions of the service.

Immediate

• Provide access to search results by page.
• Incorporate Soundex preview functionality.
• Embed related images in Auschwitz and Registry records.
• Change Soundex to DM-Soundex (for European names.)

Short-term

• Develop Search Support, About Project, Related Resources, and Contact Us pages.
• Integrate Thesaurus into Advanced Search.
• Develop site-wide style sheet.

Medium-term

• Develop specialized researcher search forms and views.
• Allow users to make connections and submit corrections online
  (Information would be reviewed by Registry staff before it is entered in database.)
• Provide forum for survivors to exchange information, either among themselves or with the community.

Long-term

• Provide browse images tools.
• Develop search on sources tools.
• Create tools to annotate documents with correct information.
• Design Educators section with search guides, similar to passports provided at Museum.