UX2.0
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User Research
Usability Testing
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AquaBrowser User Experience
JISC (Enhancing Library Management Systems grant 12/09) funded a 6-month user study (04/2010-10/2010) aiming to evaluate the AquaBrowser service of the University of Edinburgh. Through the following objectives, the evaluation addresses fundamental and practical use aspects of resource discovery:
- to undertake user research and persona development
- to evaluate the usefulness of AquaBrowser
- to evaluate the usability of AquaBrowser
The work was carried out by a team of usability consultants: Liza Zamboglou (university IS), Lorraine Paterson (UX2 Usability Analyst) and David Hamill (freelance consultant), with Boon Low (UX2 Developer/Manager) all working online and on-site at the university campus/library. It is a collaboration between the National e-Science Centre (NeSC) and Information Services of the University of Edinburgh, managed under the UX2 initiative.
Overall outcomes
Results from the project have been disseminated through blogs, Twitter. The unique project tag (hashtag for Twitter): aquabrowserux. Short url of this page: http://bit.ly/aquabrowserux.
User Research and Usefulness (Objectives 1 and 2)
User research and a broader form of evaluation (usefulness) were the first focus of the project. These involved online surveys and ethnographic interviews of users of different background and information-seeking behaviour in the library. A field study was conducted to elicit user perspectives and recommendations for the service, gauging its usefulness in terms of function and fitness for purpose cf. use contexts.
Results: see UX2 user research (part of), digital library personas, contextual inquiry
Usability Testing (Objective 3)
To evaluate the user interface of AquaBrowser, usability testing was carried out.
Results: Aquabrowser usability testing
Contribution & Comments
Contribution and comment on all aspects of this project are welcome. Do get in touch if you wish to have editing access to this wiki:
- Edinburgh University staff: send us your University User Name (UUN)
- Other: sign up with Edinburgh University EASE Friend with your email, send us the email address you used in the registration.