0.26 Underpinnings of the social edition  (Page 24/32)

5.3.1. user needs: analyzing the audience

Before embarking on a new interface design, it was pertinent to identify the features and functions that users would expect and desire from PReE. Surveys and interviews were conducted, and the results led to our distinguishing between users of PReE in terms of their backgrounds, goals, and needs. Of course, it was recognized that the usefulness of these user profiles was limited, particularly with respect to the needs of interdisciplinary users and users from less text-centric disciplines (such as Fine Arts). These limitations notwithstanding, this initial discussion allowed us to identify three general user profiles: graduate students (“students”), teaching professors (“teachers”), and research professors (“researchers”).

“Student” users were characterized as coming from potentially broad disciplinary backgrounds. Their goals were to conduct self-directed research for the purposes of acquiring a thorough knowledge of a particular field; to complete their doctoral or masters theses; and to build their scholarly reputations. Needs and desires dictated by these goals included access to citations and bibliographies; a way of assessing the impact-factor of a given article, topic, or researcher in a particular field; and a system to facilitate both formal and informal peer review of their research.

“Teacher” users were characterized as potentially belonging to broad disciplinary backgrounds (such as history) and/or specific fields (such as late medieval English military history). Their goals included recommending readings to students, and undertaking self-directed research for the purpose of compiling knowledge-area bibliographies (often annotated), and writing and delivering lectures. These goals required access to citations and surveys of new and recent research in their particular field(s).

“Researcher” users were similarly characterized as potentially coming from a broad field and/or a more specific field of research expertise. Their goals included self-directed research for the purpose of building knowledge-area bibliographies (often annotated), writing and presenting conference papers, writing and delivering lectures, engaging in scholarly publication, and building and maintaining their scholarly reputations.

As a whole, these results suggested three key user requirements: the facilitation of high-level research, the facilitation of collaboration, and the achievement of recognition in their field of study. Although additional features were suggested, meeting these key requirements would be the driving force behind the design of the new PReE interface.

5.3.2. design principles, processes, and prototypes

A series of design principles were also agreed upon, which dictated that the interface design should focus on providing efficient ways to complete tasks ( efficiency ), on managing higher and lower priority objects ( visual balance ), on testing usability ( prototyping ), and on the ability to rapidly execute tasks in an agile work environment ( flexibility ). These principles suggested a design process of four steps. The first step was to conduct environmental scans in order to survey successful features offered by other web applications and assess their applicability for our present needs. The next step was to construct workflow sketches. The third step was to develop simple prototypes, and the fourth, to develop initial designs.