Time for Reflection

I first began this blog as a requirement for a class I’m taking called Elements of Visual Design. This is the final required post for this course. However, don’t expect this to be the end! I have plenty of things I want to discuss and the web is large enough for yet another librarian’s blog.

I started this blog on September 6th, 2007. When I began, I had no idea how my writing would change. I started out experimenting with embedded video, but only gradually did I integrate media with writing. Let’s take a look back, back into time, and review how things have changed over the past four months.

Writing

My very first blog entries read like extended essays. My paragraphs are much too long. Over time however, I begin to make use of things like typography and lists to separate out long sections. I start to provide links to relevant material. My blog “voice” becomes less stodgy and more familiar.

My favorite entry is the post on social bookmarking. My writing style is the perfect mix of scholarly and familiar. At this point I’ve achieved the style I want to use in my blog. I use images and links appropriately and remembered to keep the paragraphs short and relevant.

Another entry I’m proud of is the one on usability. This is an issue that I’m very familiar with, since this topic comes up again and again in my professional career. I enjoyed reading research on some attempt to measure usability by using Eye-Tracking studies. I need to keep abreast of new research and concepts in the field. Consequently, I was able to relate the assignment directly to an issue in my workplace. Now I just need to apply what I’ve discussed to solve the situation.

As I progress and continue to update this blog, I need to keep the lessons I’ve learned in mind. My writing should be intelligent and relevant, however, I should not forget the format. Also, it is important to consider is how people read on the web. I don’t want to bore my readers or keep them from engaging in my information because of how I crafted my blog entry. I need to take advantage of the nature of the web and include images, links and media such as embedded video.

A note on embedded video: I’ve included it at least twice in my blog, however, when viewing my blog through a reader such as bloglines, the video does not show up, although the images do. I should indicate that embedded video follows for those who follow on such readers.

Design

The blogger template I chose when I began is called Scribe. I liked the look of an old manuscript. I’m a fan of reproducing the joy of paper documents in online form. Also, I like the irony – I’m writing a blog about technology and the future, but I’m keeping in mind the history of the library, like the library at Alexandria, which contained only manuscripts.

I also liked that this template didn’t look like every other blog on blogspot. Several blogs I follow all seem to have the same design. I liked the left hand navigation, which is different from so many others I’ve seen. I resisted the temptation to make the entire background purple. As you can see from my portfolio I have a great affection for the color purple.

I modified the design in several ways from the standard Blogger template. I started out by adding a few widgets, namely del.icio.us and Twitter. I’ve been experimenting with Twitter, since it’s a new technology, but didn’t intend for it to be anything more than a simple widget to add to my sidebar to fill up the blank space. Since I started blogging and Twittering, I’ve had two people “follow” me on Twitter. I can only assume they like what they saw on my blog.

As the semester went on, I added a few more items. First I added my personal logo. Although I created two, I felt that the first one fit in better with the style of this blog. My other logo, which you can see to the right, was fun and interesting, but not quite right for this color scheme. Recently, I just added an avatar picture of myself, which you can now see under my logo.

After reporting about how much I loved Library Thing I found I was able to add a widget for that service here, so I did. I like how the widget adds some color to the blog with the book covers. It’s visually interesting, and it entices readers to click on my collection.

My biggest success was changing the way bulleted lists look. Originally lists were designated with a tiny flower, probably to match the background image. I’ve changed this image to be a little book instead, which you can see in the following list:

• start a blog
• write
• have fun!

Intellectual Concepts

I think I was most successful relating key concepts to my professional work as a librarian. That is one of my goals in taking part in this graduate program. I want to integrate these new technical skills in what I already do every day. There’s a lot of publicity with web 2.0 and libraries these days, and I like to cut through to what’s really useful.

Even when a concept wasn’t directly related to something I could apply to my work, I found it interesting for the sake of intellectual curiosity. Some of my early posts on paintings and typography may seem unrelated, but that doesn’t take into account how much these concepts actually affect my work. For example, I never paid much though to the typography of a handout I designed, or how to effectively use the space on the page. These discussions help to engage my interest and help me to do my job better.

The Future

The only thing left to discuss is where to go from here. What are the lessons I’ve learned in my four months of blogging?

• Keep it short, but relevant
• Remember to use the nature of the web: include plenty of links, and media
• Stay informed of web 2.0 trends, but don’t blindly accept the latest gadget as the best
• Respond to comments
• Constantly rethink and re-vision – both my own writing and the entire blog design

It’s been an amazing experience. I can’t believe how quickly the past four months have passed. I hope you’ve enjoyed my writing so far and that you’ll continue to tune in to see how this blog will continue to grow and change.

Collaboration, easy as 1, 2, 3...

Throughout my professional career, I’ve had to collaborate with colleagues on a variety of projects. Some of these experiences were on large committees and others were with smaller groups. I found that the Three Musketeer rule as put by out 37 signals is probably true. The smaller the group, the better the results.

How does this translate to online collaboration? Instead of a boardroom filled with people trying to hash out changes to a document or website, now collaboration can be done remotely. Employees can be on opposite sites of the globe and yet work together on documents.

This all sounds fantastic, but the road to collaboration isn’t easy. You can’t just slap a document online and expect people to be able to produce content without prior planning. In fact, planning is of utmost importance. And after planning, the next consideration is relationships. People who collaborate need to have trust in each other and be able to rely on each other to get the work done.

Recently in the graduate course I’m taking, Elements of Visual Design, we have had some unique opportunities to collaborate online. Not all of these ventures turned out perfectly, but each project taught valuable learning experiences.

Wiki
One of our first projects was to collaborate on a class wiki dedicated to specific elements of our class. Each student was responsible for a different element. Because of this, most students wrote the entirety of their own entries. Instead of collaborating on the wiki pages together, it became more like editing each other’s work. Now, this is an element of collaboration that is important, but not necessarily the intent of the assignment.

The class truly came together when one student was unable to do more than a simple outline on his/her page. I wrote the first paragraph. Then another student jumped in to add more. Then another. Together, we all finished the page. This situation turned out to have encouraged collaboration between students eager to pitch in and help out.

Writeboard
This experiment was truly more a collaboration. Unlike the wiki experience, where the setup made us merely editors of each others work, the setup of the writeboard contributed to more cooperation. The writeboard consisted of a single document, where users can see changes made by others. Unlike the wiki where a single person was responsible for the content of a page, no single person was responsible. So, students were more likely to add to the work, feeling less like they were treading on another’s territory. The resulting document has a little bit of everyone.

Forums
Online forums are another area of collaborative learning. Students can hold discussions on certain topics. At first this method was not very active in my particular class. It felt as if students were talking directly to the professor, but not each other. In this area more student/professor interaction occurred. This parallels the interaction that normally occurs in a face to face class.

However towards the end of the semester when our final shared project began, more discussion is beginning to take place in the forums. Students are sharing plans and ideas.

Online class vs face to face

One would think that an online class would foster online collaboration. It is the only way the students converse, and therefore should make sense that they would have to work together that way. However, each student reads assignments and does homework at different times and at their own pace. One might not even be aware of a posted collaborative assignment before another starts working on it.

Another disadvantage for an online class is that lack of physical connection. There is no hanging out after class to discuss how to approach a project. There is no eye contact and no way to gauge another’s interest.

This goes the same for student/professor interaction. There is no way to judge tone of voice, to see if one is getting something right. It is difficult to judge tone in electronic text.

Since students approached assignments like the wiki project on their own time, there was no discussion beforehand. As Maish Nichani, points out in Planning: Sustaining Wiki-based Collaboration Projects prior planning is key. In our eagerness to attack the wiki project, we didn’t sit down and discuss it first.

One of the advantages is that members of an online class are accustomed to using technology to communicate and create projects. Online students also need to be good at time management in order to complete the coursework. These skills are key in online collaboration.

Suggestions

Each class is different, and especially with an online class, students have their own time commitments outside of the online classroom. However, one way to address the lack of planning before a collaborative project would be to hold a real time chat beforehand. This doesn’t have to be long, and should give students enough time to brainstorm the project and parcel out duties so they could work separately.

When I took my first online course, my professor had students introduce ourselves and then required us to respond to other’s introductions. This had the side effect of having the students relate to each other on a personal level before the class began. This way, we were less afraid to speak to each other. This parallels that whole ‘hanging out after class and chatting’ situation that is difficult to recreate in an online course.


Final Thoughts

Collaboration is an important aspect of the workplace in various different industries. Working in an online setting has various pros and cons. The technology makes communication easier. It’s also easier for changes to be seen and commented on across screens instantaneously. There is no more waiting for packages or faxes to arrive and go through yet another editing process. Also, online collaboration allows members of a team to contribute to projects no matter where they are, even if they’re on the beach.

However this online collaboration breaks down if there isn’t a personal relationship between the collaborators. Add in lack of planning and then no manner of technology can help. Technology is a tool, like so many others. Users need to use this tool to help them, not let technology take over for the sake of technology.

After my experiences with this course, I am going to use one of the technologies we explored in my professional career: writeboard. However, I am going to use it in combination with face-to-face meetings with my coworker, where we will plan elements of our grant application before we set out to write our document. This way we will make the best use of the technology to serve our needs.

Usability on my mind

When designing anything: a webpage, a building or even a car, it’s important to keep usability in mind. Simply put, “usability” means ‘ease of use:’ how easy it is for your consumers to use something, remember how to use it when they come back to it, and keep the number of errors involved low.

In my field, I’m particular concerned with testing usability for online services, such as websites and electronic databases. But how can we measure how usable something is? Sure, there are a variety of testing procedures, such as Nielsen’s heuristics evaluation. This type of testing is important, however, it’s subjective and can’t be empirically measured.

There is one way to scientifically measure exactly how someone’s eye moves across a webpage, to see exactly what the person is looking at while performing web tasks. That would be through eye tracking studies.

Eye Tracking is a technology that uses a camera to measure the movements of a person’s pupil as they perform particular tasks. According to an article by Lynne Cooke in Technical Communication, there are two ways to track eye movement. The first is from a camera mounted to someone’s head, looking like some mix between an orthodontic device and a reality TV camera. This takes into account head movement as well as eye movement. The second way to track eye movement is by a device that is placed remotely. In this case, however, users must be careful to keep their heads very still.

According to the same article, the head-mounted camera method has been used to study the eye movements of pilots as they go about their tasks in the cockpit (456). These results enabled the redesign of cockpits to improve usability and ensure the reduction of human error. This is an area where usability is so important, yet is often not thought about.

What kind of information is obtained using eye-tracking studies? Software collects the data which can then be organized. According to Cooke, the data is broken down into fixations and saccades “that can be visually represented onscreen (457).”

• Fixations – how long someone looks at something
• Saccades – the eye moving from fixation to fixation
• Scanpaths – the sequential organization of the above to. The line that the eye travels.

When this kind of study is done while a person is navigating a webpage, researchers can see “how people visually progress through a page(457).” It’s implied that whatever a person is gazing at is directly linked to what they are thinking. This gives greater insight to the thought process in webpage navigation than through verbalization studies (458). In verbalization studies – where a person narrates their thought process as they work – it is not always evident where their gaze is. Also, a person can click faster than they can verbalize. Eye-tracking studies give empirical, verifiable data behind the use.

How can the above be used in web and interface design? Well, it allows designers to understand how people read online, how their eye tracks across the screen. I find Frank Spiller’s comment “The reality is that eye-tracking, while valuable, doesn't make usability testing any more powerful. It's what you do with the observations and the usability test data that counts” most apt.

Spiller points out in his blog entry that eye-tracking research must be made meaningful. He cautions users to focus on what they are trying to learn and to match what users are actually doing with the eye-tracking reports. He also states, most wisely, in response to the fact that ads in the top and left portions of a homepage received the most eye fixations that “I wouldn't recommend putting ads there. Just because they receive eye fixations doesn't mean they put a smile on the user's face.”

What this means is that eye-tracking studies alone should not exist in a vacuum. Designers must not only be aware of what users are looking at when they view their webpages, but how they react. Also, audience is very important, as are changing web trends. For example, in Cooke’s article, she states that eye-tracking studies corroborated Nielson’s supposition that people prefer text over graphics as entry points into web sites.

This study was done in 2000. Seven years later we have the web 2.0 generation, who view websites very differently than those who were studied nearly a decade ago. So the results of this study might not necessarily be applicable since users expectations of what the web is has changed.

Practical Example

In Cooke’s article, one of the findings indicate that eye movements follow a “Z” pattern. People started at the upper left corner, across to the right, “then scanned the page in small ‘z’ patterns progressing down the page…scanning…continued up the right column of the page…(460)” So the very last thing a user would look at would be the right hand column.

I’d like to relate this finding to a particular issue we were having at our library. Lexis-Nexis, an electronic database that provides access to legal materials, recently redesigned its interface. Although the page is much improved aesthetically, based on the number of issues we are finding, the usability of the new design was not well thought out.



For example, the screencap above shows the main search function of the legal resource page. A normal user scanning the page and intending to do a search, will see the sources section I’ve circled in red and stop there, thinking the drop down menu will cover all the possible sources. However, since the right hand column is the very last thing users see, according to eye-tracking studies, users will miss that in order to change the source to either case law or statutes, they need to click on the links on the very right hand side.

Also, if the user wants a specific state code, they cannot even access it from the main search screen. They need to click the sources tab and pinpoint the particular state and then return to the search screen.

I have had numerous students call asking for help in navigating the new interface. We even had a professor who was a lawyer call, unable to find the way to limit her search to NJ statutes. It took two librarians (one of whom is also a lawyer) to figure out how to change the source. And if I hadn’t attended online training on the new interface, I’m not sure I would have figured out where to go for specific state statutes.

The design fails on some of the usability principles indicated here at usability.gov:

Ease of Learning – New users to Lexis-Nexis find it difficult to quickly determine how to get the information they need.

Efficiency of use – Experienced users of Lexis-Nexis will be able to determine the steps needed, but the steps are not efficient.

Error frequency and severity – based on the number of calls and complaints we’ve received, the frequency of errors is quite high.

Subjective satisfaction – Users won’t like using the resource if they need to jump through hoops to figure out how it works.

Perhaps if the designers of the new interface had used eye-tracking studies, or even a heuristic evaluation, they might have reconsidered the placement of the Legal Searches section. If they had, it would have saved those of us at the library a lot of headaches.

Usability is an issue that impacts us all the time. It cannot be ignored. Usability testing must be conducted frequently and carefully. Otherwise designers will have created a product that cannot be used by the very people it was designed for.

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Lynne, Cooke (2005).Eye Tracking: How It Works and How It Relates to Usability. Technical Communication. 52, 456-463.