California Digital Library Interface Design Project Task Analysis and Initial Sketches

Overview | Task Analysis | Suggested Solution | Experiment Outline

Experiment Outline

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Informal testing - compare our lo-fi prototype against a mockup of the existing CDL interface for ease and clarity of comprehension, and smooth, logical flow for executing task common user tasks. In trying to offer clearer information and more context, have we created new sources of confusion or too busy a look? What do users like best and least about each of the two interfaces?

• Independant variables - conceptual and visual structure; limited semantic elements.
• Dependant variables - the speed and confidence with which new users can form an accurate mental model of the resources presented by the CDL front end; the naturalness and flow (or lack thereof) of the interface as a tool for task execution. Some of these will be "tested" by asking users directly (see Method).
• Participants - fellow students and a few recruited graduate students from other programs. The addition of a few faculty members would be ideal, but may not be possible.
• Method - Procedures will include observation of users, thinking aloud, and questionnaires (or conduct interviews) after interaction.
• Results and discussion - We expect to encounter a few problems with our initial design and clues about how to fix them. Now that we have seen more of the complexity of the CDL interface problem, we might not even be surprised to validate some element(s) of their design over ours. We do expect users to have an easier time with the flow and clarity of our presentation of the resources.

Formal study - with the addition of some (mocked up) functionality, we can test scenarios in more depth and with a modicum of flexibility. Users will be able to make choices based on actual help screens and a site map, and try different paths through the interface. We will be able to test for the time taken to comprehend and execute certain tasks. Browsing behavior should also be studied.

• Independent variables - order of presentation for pages and options; conceptual and visual structure; semantic elements; metadata and feedback made available during search.
• Dependent variables - the speed and confidence with which new users can form an accurate mental model of the resources presented by the CDL front end; the speed and accuracy with which they can execute various predetermined queries; user satisfaction with the search process and confidence in the results; ability to recognize and utilize contextual information and feedback during searches. Some of these will be "tested" by asking users directly (see Method).
• Participants - fellow students and a few recruited graduate students from other programs. The addition of a few faculty members would be ideal, but may not be possible.
• Method - Procedures will include observation of users in a variety of scenarios, testing the time taken by both navigational as well as task-execution-strategy decision making. We will ask users to think aloud, and administer questionnaires (or conduct interviews) after interaction.
• Results and discussion - with a more complex testing regimen and a more refined interface, we will be testing more detailed aspects of our design and the resulting task flow. We will begin to get a real appreciation of whether, and how much, we have improved on the prior CDL design.

Overview | Task Analysis | Suggested Solution | Experiment Outline

Updated: March 1, 1999