Suffragists Speak

Rosalie LackJoanne MillerSally Thomas

Overview

Suffragists Speak Web site• Text marked up in SGML

– Primary Sources: Correspondence, Newspaper Articles, Books, Diaries, and Speeches

– Secondary Sources: Books, Journal Articles, Bibliography

• Multimedia– Audio (Songs and Interviews), Ephemera,

Photographs, Newsreels

Problem Overview

Integrate a variety of resources • Primary and secondary sources

– text – multimedia

Create a cohesive wholeMake it easily navigableProvide easy, accessible search of

full-text/SGML documents

Goals of the System

Create multimedia “thematic archive”• Provide depth and breadth of resources• Add context and factual detail for Oral

Histories (content development)• Enliven history through multimedia • Serve a variety of users

– Researchers, educators, casual users

Pilot Usability Test

Goal: Get feedback from actual users • Confirm heuristic evaluation• Could users find information?

– Satisfied with search page? Search results?– Easy to navigate?

• Is site useful? – For research? – For teaching?

• Prefer specific types of content?

Test Procedure

Participants: three history graduate students

Demographic questionnaireVideotaped test:

• Browse site for 15 minutes• Work through three scenarios• Discussion and questions

Post-test survey

Changes

Layout of search results

Search page

Labeling/Design

Content• Provide more information

• Organization

Changes - Search Results

Change layout of search results pages• Mocked up better results pages

• Added buttons to return to original search results/search page

Search Results - Old

Search Results - New

Changes - Search Page

Clarify search page options• Make search tips more obvious (?)

• Keyword vs. Exact phrase

• Examples for entering search terms

Search Page

Changes - Labeling/Design

Change the name of some of the links• Bibliography • Timeline

Make some features more prominent • “Sort by”• Browse terms

Plus:

More links between sources on the site

“Sort by” option

Changes - Content

Increase information about source of the materials (provenance)

More on scope of the site• Selected contents• International? Men?

Put lists in consistent order (and explain)

Concentrate on primary sources

Most Surprising

No one read the search tipsOnly one user saw the “sort by”

featurePeople did not question (notice?) the

buttons in DynawebSecondary sources not as important

as primary

UI Design Lesson

Seemingly trivial things are not trivial. Even small changes to the design can have an impact on the user’s experience• Enabling users to find what they need• Reducing level of frustration• Specifying and restating what users are

looking at