Suffragists Speak User Assessment -- SIMS IS 290-2-A -- Fall 1998

Suffragists Speak: User Assessment
Project Members:
Carol Anderson
Arti Kirch
Rosalie Lack
Sally Thomas
IS290-2 Electronic Publishing
October 12, 1998

Introduction
Users of the suffragist speak site are expected to fall into three broad categories: researchers/students; educators; and "others". While researchers/students and educators are our primary audiences, we chose to include "others" since our site is intended to have broad appeal. In addition, "others" is not intended to mean "everyone" or "anyone" it is defined as people who are likely to use the internet as a reference tool. We have added profile's of typical users in the "other" category to help describe this kind of user.
A. Researcher/Student Assessment
Definition: The researcher/student includes a range of users from high school students, to undergraduate and graduate students, to university professors. Although the levels of detail that each of these groups may be seeking from the site could differ greatly, they all have the same need. For the most part, they are accessing the site for research purposes. They are in an educational setting and are looking for serious, scholarly materials to support work they are already doing or they are gathering information for assignments given by their instructors.
Demographics:
Age - Young adults to adults;
Gender - Male or Female;
Income Level - Medium to high income;
Ethnicity - Variety of ethnic groups;
Geography - Primarily North American, some European.
Psychographics: Although the researchers/students come from a variety of fields, an interest in history is the factor that connects them all. Most users also have a keen interest in women's history and feminist issues. Some have a more general interest in political/social movements. Other researchers/students could come from departments such as: Sociology, Political Science, and Communications (as we will offer primary source materials, this might be of interest to a student seeking historical footage of communications media).
Internet Use: It is assumed that the average user in this group has a fairly high computer literacy level. In addition, they have adequate resources available for accessing the Internet. However, it cannot be assumed that they are able to download large image or audio files (it is essential to take this into consideration when choosing formats).
B. Educator Assessment
Definition: An educator is primarily a person who teaches students at any level in the educational system -- kindergarten through graduate school. However, we envision that other educators such as lecturers or docents will also use the site. For the most part, educators would be using the site to provide material for classroom instruction, to refer students to for research studies, to obtain primary historical material, or simply to update their personal understanding and knowledge of recent scholarship. Given the broad range of intellectual development of this segment's students, educators will be seeking sources that speak both to their students, as well as enable themselves to improve understanding.
Demographics:
Age - 23 to 70 years old.
Gender - Overwhelmingly female in the lower grades, but male population increases to a greater proportion at the higher levels.
Ethnicity - Primarily European extraction but significant representation of African-American or Hispanic educators regionally and in urban areas.
Income/Class - Generally middle class but a significant number, especially in the lower grades are under the national median.
Education - Generally quite high, with typically a four year college degree. Large portion at the University level with PhDs.
Psychographics: Educators are expected to be similar to the researchers/students i.e., a common interest in history-with some emphasizing women's history-and other more general involvement in policy and sociology. This segment is consistently pressed for time according to many studies. Further, due to the presence of standardized tests, a certain level of "stuff" must be taught to students, regardless of whether it supports their individual cognitive development. Therefore, they value anything that can contribute to time efficiencies and effective teaching. Lastly, educators in some disciplines such as history value access to "original" materials, many historical materials are too fragile for handling or travel. Teachers thus are interested in joining the student to artifacts.
Internet Use: It is assumed that average computer literacy in this group is consistent with the average in the general population. However, there is a broad range of resource conditions, with a significant number of educators in elementary and secondary schools constrained by access to a devoted or powerful-enough computer. Concomitantly, the degree of resistance among certain portions of this segment may be quite high, given a) the value placed on access to original materials, b) conservative scholarship techniques, and c) doubts about the quality of on-line information. Therefore, this site must seek to minimize download bottlenecks, accommodate heterogeneous platforms and browsers, and convey some message about the unique and high value of the content.
C. The "Other" User Profile
Definition: The "other" user-that is, anyone who is not an educator or a student/researcher-could encompass many different types of people. Most importantly, however, the "other" user is most likely someone who uses the Internet as a reference tool. They are seeking a particular piece of information and that something leads them to our site. (The "other" user is less likely to be interested in purchasing our CD-ROM, because the topic of woman's suffrage is not necessarily something they want to learn much about-they're interested in obtaining only a small piece of information from our site.)
Demographics:
Age - 18-75+;
Gender - Male or female;
Language - English primarily
Geography - U.S. Resident
Income/Class - Predominantly middle-class; professional, using the computer at work for an assignment; non-professional, using the computer at home for recreation/hobby.
Psychographics: Enthusiastic about the Internet as a reference tool-the task at hand is either a professional assignment, or, in the case of the home user, is for "fun".
Internet Usage: Likes the challenge of finding information on the Internet. May still be in the early phase of Internet usage, at the "Wow, look what I found on the Internet" stage of usage. Could also be very skilled at searching for information on the Internet, and knows exactly which steps they will take to get that information.
To further define the "other" category we developed the following personal profiles:
* Jennifer B. is a feminist activist and she's organizing a demonstration for International Women's Day. She's looking for some profiles of "WomenWho Dare" (the theme of the demonstration) and wants to include some stories about historical figures who have risked arrest (and possibly spent time in jail) for promoting women's rights. She finds our site from a link on the National Women's History web site.
* The grand-daughter of Rebecca Hourwich Reyher is looking for information about her suffragist grandmother, and her great-grandfather, Isaac Hourwich, a notable socialist attorney and academic, on the Internet. A search on the name "Hourwich" leads her to our site.
* A corporate manager is writing a speech about the advancement of female executives in his firm. He is looking for a historical quote about women, and thinks the time period related to suffrage might be interesting. He finds a link to our site from the Historical Text Archive.
* Jane S. is helping her 9-year-old son search the Internet for information related to how women won the vote for his 4th grade class. Jane finds our site by doing a general search on "woman's suffrage" and shows her son our site because it is a multimedia site, with lots of photographs, a newsreel showing women marching in a suffrage parade, and an audio segment of a suffrage song.