IN4MATX 131 Term Project                            

The main aims of this term project are to determine (a) whether users have troubles finding the web page for making appointments with a librarian, and (b) whether they are satisfied with the confirmation message that they receive once they submitted an appointment request. Other comments from them on the usability of this page, or the Libraries website in general, are also welcome.

The project should be carried out by pairs of two INF 131 students (the "experimenters"). You can sign up for a project team here (join an existing student if you don't have a partner yet, or open up a new team). The outcome of the project should be a written report that addresses the above aims. The term papers are due by March 18 in this dropbox. The estimated work time is 2 hours for the experiment (10 minutes each subject, and one hour for setup), 2-3 hours for analyzing the videos, and about a day for writing the report.

This project will be conducted in collaboration with the UCI Libraries who will be very eager to read about your findings.

1. Choice of Loation, Time, Computer, Capture Software and Web Browser

Several days before the experiment, determine where you will run the experiment and what computer you will use.

Location: The location should have a desk and three chairs as well as Internet connectivity that is good enough for web browsing. It should be indoors or at least in the shade so that subjects can easily view the screen. Subjects should also not become distracted by others, nor distract others by their talking. The best strategy is to install yourselves at some public space and to lure nearby students to your experiment, rather than asking people to come to a specific location at a specific time.
Computer: The computer should have a screen of at least 13", be powerful enough to run screen & audio recording software while the test user browses the web, and record audio through an internal or external microphone.

Screen and Audio Recording ("Screencasting") Software: Any such software is fine as long as you are able to eventually create an integrated video/audio file that can be played in Windows Media Player or Quicktime. HCI professionals typically use Camtasia Studio (for Mac and PC) or Morae Recorder (for PC only), which both have a 30-day free trial period. In addition, many freeware and shareware choices exist, both for Windows (the Libraries like CamStudio) and MacOS .

2. Preparation for the experiment

• Install your recording software, restart the computer, launch your web browser and the screen/audio recorder, and record some of your own web browsing with oral commentary. Make sure that this software does not noticeably slow down your web browsing. If it does, reduce the color depth of the recording, down to grayscale if needed. If this is not enough, reduce the frame rate of the recording, down to four frames per second if needed. If this does not help either, use a faster computer.
• PC users will most likely need an external microphone.
  
• Download, print and read the entire Instructions for the Experimenter beforehand. Do not share them with the test users.

3. Setup on the Day of the Experiment:

• Perform the study on six test users who must NOT be ICS or Engineering majors, following the Instructions for the Experimenter.
  

4. Report and CD/DVD:

• Draft the report very soon after performing the experiment, so that you will better recall details that may be important.
• To prepare the report, you should replay and analyze the videos. Take notes while watching them.
  
• Compare your notes with the notes that you took during the experiment.
• Draft a report that discusses
• whether users have troubles finding the web page for making appointments with a librarian
• whether they are satisfied with the confirmation message that they receive once they submitted an appointment request,
  
• anything else that users reported or that you observed, and
• recommendations for design improvements that you may have.
  
• If your subjects encounter problems with other parts of the website (e.g., with its interface design and/or information organization), then also describe those together with possible suggestions for design improvements.
• Write a report of around 8 pages about your user study (use the default format of MS Word, which means single-spaced, 1" margin at the top and bottom, 1.25" margin left and right, and 10pt extra space after new paragraphs). About 1-2 pages total should be non-textual, including e.g. figures and tables with some of your results, [annotated] screen shots that illustrate what you explain in your text, or mockups that show your redesign.
• The report will be graded based on
  • the clarity of your description of what the user did and said, and what problems s/he encountered (feel free to quote users verbatim if it is important)
    
  • the thoughtfulness of your analysis of why these problems occurred
  • the thoughtfulness of your recommendations for improvement (less important)
• Submit a single copy of your report and make sure it includes the names of both students but not their IDs. Since your report will be forwarded to the UCI Libraries you may also omit your names, but then send both names to the TA. Note though that the UCI Libraries sometimes hire INF 131 students.
  
• Upload your report to the class dropbox, by March 18 at 11:55pm at the latest.
• Burn a CD/DVD or create a USB stick with your audio/video recording in a format that is compatible with Windows Media Player or Quicktime. Write both names on it, and turn it in at the beginning of the final exam on March 22 at 8am.

5. Some advice on the report:

• Include some statistics on the demographics of the subjects.
• Do not use subjects' real names, but rather codes like "Subject 1" or similar.
• Organize your report preferably by issue and not by subject. You can then "summarize" certain findings by saying things like "4 out of 6 subjects were not able to find..."
  
• When describing user actions and associated problems/difficulties, state them clearly. For example: "The user clicked on the <insert name of link/button/whatever> to go to the <descriptive name>" is better than "She went to the link on the left to go to the next page." You can't receive credit for what we have to guess you mean.
• Your criticism and recommendations in your report should be based on HCI and web design guidelines presented in class (but you are welcome to also present a few personal opinions that are not grounded in HCI theory).
• No, you don't need an "IRB approval" for this user study (don't bother if you don't know what this is).