Writing to the World Wide Web

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Writing to the World Wide Web
Session
http//www.rpi.edu/fernhj/WWWWsp07
Jan Fernheimer
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Today in Class

• Mid-term Feedback
• Intro. To Websolutions
• CSS Workshop 1

• For Next Time
• Read BulletProof
• Work on Proposals
• CSS Workshop 2

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WebSolutions Project Overview

• WebSolutions is a (simulated) research and
  consulting firm that provides a unique service.
• We research targeted groups of users and make
  recommendations, based on this information, about
  how to create or upgrade web objects and systems
  to better perform for these target groups.
• Usability consulting is our shorthand for this
  service, but our strength lies in our ability to
  improve the way a client organization
  communicates, both within their organizations and
  with others, via the WWW.

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WebSolutions Mission

• WebSolutions prides itself on
• providing relevant and useful information about
  users to its clients...and quickly
• focusing information for a specific client's
  needs and situation, including target user
  populations and demographics
• recommending feasible improvements based on solid
  usability research--options that can be
  reasonably implemented by the client
• delivering professional reports that are
  accessible, well researched, well designed, and
  well written
• backing up our recommendations with examples -
  prototypes and/or demo sites which showcase key
  design elements or changes

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WS Project Goals

• The specific goal for this project is for you to
  work as part of a team to develop a
  recommendation report for building or upgrading a
  web page. Your client will be an organization
  (e.g., a department, group, company) that
  currently lacks a web page or wishes to expand,
  improve, or upgrade one. This organization should
  also be committed to the idea of usability. That
  is, learning more about who uses their site and
  who doesn't, who may use it in the future, and
  how their target populations use the site, all in
  order to improve the quality of the site and the
  client's approach to managing it. You will then
  present your findings in the form of a report and
  a presentation.

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Research Goals

• Because WebSolutions prides itself on
  well-researched and user-centered solutions (our
  clients believe not just any old web page will
  do), you have several research goals to meet to
  ensure that your team can produce a quality
  report
• Improve your knowledge of usability and
  user-centered design
• Practice your research design, notetaking,
  analysis, and reporting
• Improve your knowledge of what makes web pages
  more or less usable for specific user groups
• Clarify what the client and user group(s) you
  select may need and want

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Reporting Goals

• As you produce the report and presentation, you
  need to reach typical reporting goals
• Clear and compelling problem statement (including
  an overarching recommendation)
• Discussion of appropriate criteria developed to
  support your decision-making
• Presentation of design and content features or
  changes that are backed up by usability data
• Well-developed discussion of the research you
  have conducted
• Conclusion that offers additional clarification,
  qualification, and direction for the future
• Appropriate visual support of data and design
  options throughout the report and in the
  prototype or demo

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WS Project will build on

• Your rhetorical analysis experience
• Your growing fluency in web genres
• Principles of Visual Design that you learned in
  your first assignment
• And, of course, the skills you have practiced so
  far in inventing, drafting, revising, and
  polishing text for both web-based and print-based
  genres

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WS Project Deliverables and Dates
Deliverable
Due
Who Turns it In?
Proposal Analysis of User/Client Needs and Site
sketch Functioning Protoptype/Final Report
3.1 Final Report (3.2)
Each individual Each Team Each Team Each Team
3/27 4/10 4/20 5/2
drafts (3_1)due on4/20
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WS Project Timeline
Find a client
User testing
Drafting designing
Presentations
Progress reports
Project intro
Proposals Due
Final projects due
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A persuasive proposal

• Identifies an accessible client
• Frames the clients problem or need as a
  usability issue
• Describes a project that is reasonable in scope
  and technical level for our time constraints
• Emphasizes research, not solutions up front
• Argues the benefits the project will have for WS,
  for the class, and for the client

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The Best Clients

• Are Nearby
• Are Non-profit
• Know you already
• Interested in knowing about their users
• Willing to share information with all members of
  your team
• Interesting to all members of your team

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What Should You Do Now?

• Start thinking about potential clients
• Visit their web sites and those of similar
  organizationsinformally doing a genre analysis
• Talk to someone there, tell them about the class
  project. See what they think
• Try to imagine what kinds of things we could help
  them learn by testing their site with real users

Any ideas come to mind right away?
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Peer Review of UA

• Trade drafts and do a walkthrough of the
  procedure.
• Note on the draft any places where the
  instructions seem unclearbase this not only on
  reading, but on trying to do the task.
• Also note any missing information.
• Using the revision strategies we discussed, go
  back through and make suggestions for revising
  for clarity
• Then, go back and work through the procedures for
  succinctness and scannability. Make a
  revision plan for the team, referring to as many
  specific impediments and enhancements as you
  can.

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To get feedback from me

• Send me the link to your UA text
• Send me the revision plan the review team made
  and your response to it (agree/disagree,
  additions, etc.)
• Due tonight

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How will we test UA sites?

• Well pick a volunteer who doesnt know the
  procedure very well.
• Well have them use the site to do the
  procedureon the instructor machine.
• Well observe, then ask them questions about the
  experience afterwards.
• Well make a list of usability issues that
  surfaced from the test.
• Well rank the issues in order and suggest ways
  of revising the site to address them.

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Satisfaction Measures

• Well ask users
• On a scale of 1-7, how easy was this task to do
  using the UA site?
• What problems did you encounter along the way?
• Point out what you consider the best section of
  the UA site and tell us why you liked it.
• Point out any areas that were unclear to you.
• How confident are you, on a scale of 1-7, that
  you could do this task again on your own?