Distributed Usability Research Team (DURT)
The Distributed User Research Team (DURT) is a short 3-4 month project for improving the UX/UI/accessibility of core Hydra products. As a pilot project, a team of 5 usability experts will conduct a distributed usability study of the Sufia 7.2 deposit process. Project documentation and findings will be available via the Hydra Duraspace page and high priority recommendations will be written up as Github tickets. We encourage the creation of a subsequent ‘Design and Development’ team to design solutions based on the DURT team’s Github issues/recommendations.
Objectives
We began the distributed research process with a few high-level objectives:
- Pilot a model and process for distributed usability research for the Hydra community
- Collect and synthesize distributed user research data into recommendations, bugs and UX/UI design recommendations in Github tickets
- Develop partnerships, experience, and insights around usability research across the Hydra UX/Usability community
Team Members
The Distributed Usability Research Team involves the expertise and collaboration of the following partners:
- Ben Howell University of Michigan
- Sonya Betz University of Alberta
- David McCallum University of Oregon (for Oregon Digital)
- Nik Dragovic Emory University
- Jennifer Colt Cornell University
We expect that future distributed user research teams will also involve contributions from multiple institutions.
Process
We will build on the past usability and UX work of the Sufia UI Working Group and the Hydra UX Interest Group. We are currently in the analysis stage for distributed usability studies with the goal of producing recommendations related to the deposit process currently found in Sufia 7.2. We hope to pass these recommendations on to a 'Design & Development' working group to develop solutions to our findings in February 2017.
A brief outline of project:
Intro & Planning
Project Intro (Identify and plan solutions to blockers (time, dev resources, training))
Team building(background/usability expertise, stakeholder objectives, special powers)
Phase 1 - Discovery
Development of usability study script
Test 3 users from each institution (participants fit one or more profiles from Sufia UI Working Group User Personas)
Phase 2 - Synthesis
Local debriefing - transcribe & consolidate usability session notes
Team affinity mapping - group and rank findings for user needs, requirement prioritization and conceptual models
Create Github tickets for critical accessibility/usability issues, and recommendations for improved UI elements
Initial Summary of Findings
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rJZCHQ14Vg5UJ_RD39bDB5ouMWDToWQq-7WbDIVsqP8/edit?usp=sharing
Related Resources
Slack Channel: https://project-hydra.slack.com/messages/durt-channel/
Timeline: DURT Timeline (Draft)
Meeting Notes
Date | Topic | Notes | Related Materials |
---|---|---|---|
Oct 31, 2016 | Intro | Notes | |
Nov 9, 2016 | Review Usability Heuristics, Script, Recruitment | Notes | |
Nov 23, 2016 | Recruitment, Moderating Sessions | Notes | |
Dec 6, 2016 | Session Note taking and Debriefing Note taking | Notes | |
Jan 25, 2017 | Affinity Mapping Session #1 | ||
Feb 8, 2017 | Affinity Mapping Session #2 | Notes |