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http://nadaleen.com is where my new blog resides. Thanks!
http://nadaleen.com is where my new blog resides. Thanks!
Emotional design is a pretty common concept in web design. Donald Norman has written extensively about emotional design, and come up with a methodology for designing according to the principles.
Emotional design is user centered and focuses specifically on the emotions of users and how design can effect emotion and be used to create positive emotion. If you think of products you like (not necessarily web based) you may find that they were designed in a calculated way to create positive emotions.
In the library world we don't delve into emotional design too much, though I think social media is changing that and putting a more human face on interfaces.
We do, however, have our very own 'Information Search Process Model,' created by Kuhlthau, that lays out a methodology according to emotions felt during users' common searching experiences. I wrote about this ISP model when exploring user centered design in libraries and my summary follows:
Information Search Process Model Some library literature has examined conceptual user interface search models that explore not only the physical actions of searching, but also emotional and cognitive aspects. Kuhlthau has standardized a library information search process model (ISP) that articulates users’ common searching experiences. Kuhlthau’s ISP model applies six stages to the information searching process and includes common emotions attributed to each stage. At the initiation stage, for example, uncertainty is the common feeling. The exploration stage begets confusion and anxiety followed by a steady movement (ideally) toward clarity in the formulation phase; direction in the collection phase; and relief and satisfaction or disappointment, in the presentation stage. The author argues that if systems and interfaces could be designed to anticipate common emotions present at each stage of the research process, design could account for anxieties by scaffolding and otherwise guiding users through certain stages of the search process. Intermediaries and the filtering of information are two suggestions the author offers as worth pursuing in order to alleviate user anxieties (Kuhlthau 1991).
I think delving further into emotional design and libraries would be a good direction to go.
Links:
Kuhlthau, C. C. Inside the search process: information seeking from the user's perspective. Journal of the American Society for Information Science v. 42 (June 1991) p. 361-71
The emotional design of firefox
Emotional design resources: http://www.deyalexander.com.au/resources/uxd/emotional-design.html
Persuasive design is becoming a more common term in web design. Persuasive design aims to create sites that are engaging and gain and promote trust in users.
It strikes me that one obvious way to gain trust in users is to provide consistency in site content. This includes things like keeping faq's up to date, keeping news up to date, making sure links work, etc.
This is not so easy to do in libraries. I think of our users trying to access articles and getting incorrect links through SFX, or inconsistencies in where the links go-to Journal holdings, directly to the article, etc. This is but one of the many examples of how libraries may fail to gain the trust of online users in libraries. Others include:
Because many of these interfaces are beyond our control, it seems to me that we are failing in persuasive design.
Links:
Furtive Librarian
Using NYU blogs? Want to track who is visiting your site using Google Analytics (free)? The documentation is less than ideal. So here are step by step instructions.
Feel free to comment to me if this does not work for you or you need more detailed instructions.
What is it?
Drop box is a free online storage systems which also offers sharing and syncing. Though there are many such tools, Dropbox has an intuitive interface and it's ease of use are propelling it past many of the other similar tools.
Is it free?
Dropbox offers both a free and pay service, but the free version allows for 2GB of storage.
How does it work?
Dropbox enables you to drop or upload a file into a folder that synced with Dropbox's web service. You can use any computer or mobile device with Dropbox and your files and folders will sync.
How do I use it? (What do I do?)
Other stuff
How are people using it?
Bibliographic citation management tools like EndNote and RefWorks allow you to attach files to your bibliographies. Here's a post about using Dropbox to sync your EndNote libraries.
Want more info?
For more information, see the support pages
I was thinking more about instructional design and user centered design processes. We're trying to determine the 'mental models' of our users, so our design can meet their expectations and be understandable to them.
Mental models are "users' mental representations of the system they work with (Zhang 2007). By designing interfaces that meet user expectations, extraneous cognitive load is minimized. Research has shown that user mental models differ from those of librarians (Veldof & Beavers 2001). Students tend to view research as a task, whereas librarians view it as a field in and of itself. Approaching library interface design using a task or goal based design methodology could more closely model a users conceptual model of the research task. (Tempelman-Kluit 2009)
So how does one explore and delve into the mental models of users? Partially with the tools we're already employing to create user centered interfaces-usability testing, focus testing, reference interviews, card sorting, analyzing ask a librarian questions, etc.
Another growing area of user centered design is in the employment of personas, "archetypal users of an intranet or website that represent the needs of larger groups of users, in terms of their goals and personal characteristics." (http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_personas/index.html) They don't need to be too formal or well developed. An article about website design in a list apart has this to say about them:
If you’ve ever worked with them before, you know how invaluable user personas can be to answering these questions. Maybe they’re not of the fake-name-and-glossy-headshot variety, but even the most rudimentary personas (i.e., “my mom” or “the skeptic”) transform your audience into real human beings. Human beings with day jobs, complicated espresso beverage orders, and no time to waste looking for things instead of finding them.
Exploring popular sites is another way to determine what users expect to see when they access interfaces. Huge corporate sites have spent a lot of money tracking consumers and determining what they need. Ethnographic studies are also incredibly useful. Steven Bell has written about ethnographic studies-see one post here.
My previous post questioned the role of Instructional Design Models to guide the creation of instruction. I mentioned that we should carry principles and practices of ID models with us but not necessarily feel confined or locked-in to a strict model.
I thought I should suggest which phases, elements, characteristics, and principles of ID models we may want to carry with us as we design instruction. Elements seen in most models include:
I'm reading up on how, if, or why Instructional Design Models (IDM's) are employed in librarianship. It seems to me that-unless familiar with the field of educational learning theory and instructional design-these models can hamper creativity rather than enhance it. Why? Because they seem daunting, overly formal, and inflexible. Sure, they claim to be flexible and not enforce their seemingly prescribed linearity but hey, lets call a spade a spade.
Of course, there are hundreds of ID models alive and kicking, so I'm sure many are less prescriptive than some of the traditional ones like the ubiquitous ADDIE, or Dick & Carey, etc,. But that begs the question-if there are so many models to allow for greater flexibility in design (as clearly one size does not fit all) why not just have a grab bag of guidelines from which designers (either trained or not) can choose?
Don't get me wrong. There are many wonderful aspects of ID models. Without them, people would not necessarily consider learning theories, audience characteristics, and specific design considerations, among other things, when designing instructional interfaces. But I think we need fewer road maps when considering the design of instruction for our users. We need to understand users, hear our users, identify with our users, learn their mental models, and respect them. We need no prescribed model for that. That's a philosophy, not a model.
And evidence shows that librarians are great at listening to-and deploying-interfaces based on user input. Look at the NCSU blog about usability testing for their new integrated search interface for proof. There are many others. We're also great at assessment and evaluation. We have the tools. No model(s) needed.
I'm on a two month sabbatical working on a book about instructional design and librarianship. I'm also using the opportunity to slow down a little and do things more mindfully. One of the things I've noticed about slowing down and having time to think is it allows me to make connections where normally I wouldn't.
For example, I have been using epicurious.com as I've more time to cook and have been wanting to try different recipes. I've used the site many times before, but have not explored much of the functionality beyond emailing recipes to myself. Until now.
In using the site more, it strikes me that it's more 'user centered' than many sites, both in discovery and delivery. It seems to have struck the elusive balance of catering to different audiences (from basic recipe searches for those who want quick and dirty, to 'power users' who want to share with the epicurious community, or use the site for personal recipe management.) It's done so not by paring down the content and options, but by laying them out in a way that makes sense and seems simple.
From a discovery aspect, it provides a plethora of options for searching, but it all seems intuitive:
-a basic keyword search with options for advanced search and browse under the recipes tab
-color coded tabs with drop down menus to refine searching
-facet refinement with a ajax sub-menu to refine even further. For example, refine this -search by main ingredients > flour
-sort by relevance (including ratings, photo, name, newest)
-the ability to search within results
-a 'did you mean' search (try squas and they'll suggest you try squash)
From a delivery perspective, users are able to:
-print (3X5 card, 4X6 card, full recipe, ingredients)
-email the recipe or ingredients to anyone
sign in (my epi) and save recipes to the 'recipe box'
-print a shopping list combining recipe ingredients from my recipe box
-add friends and family to your network, thereby enabling them to view your recipes and comment via the fridge door
-add and save your own recipes within your 'recipe box.'
They've also done a lot with social media, and as well as adding these tools to relevant areas around the site (rate this recipe, review this recipe, tweet this recipe, like this recipe on Facebook, among many others) one of their tabs is called 'Community,' and combines the social aspects of their site.
Rather than closing this post with a paragraph about how libraries should or could take advantage of site designs such as these, I'm going to explore several of these design aspects by creating a fictional library website culling from the user centeredness of epicurious and other truly 'user centered' sites. Stay tuned.
Just a few updates on Bib Citation Management tools.
1. Zotero now works with Chrome, Safari and IE (thus far it's only worked well with Firefox). As well, they are making a standalone desktop version of Zotero, available for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
A snippet from their blog:
"Until now, this powerful functionality has been tied exclusively to the Firefox browser, which not all researchers can or want to use. Today we are announcing support for Google Chrome, Apple Safari, and Microsoft Internet Explorer, which account for 98% of the web’s usage share. Plugins for these browsers will soon allow users to add anything they find on the web to their Zotero libraries with a single click, regardless of the their browser preferences. Rather than use the Zotero pane in Firefox, users will have the new option of accessing their libraries via a standalone desktop version of Zotero, available for Mac, Windows, and Linux."
2. EasyBib now has a source guide which helps students determine which citation style to use.
3. CSL (what is this?) is being integrated into Zotero and Mendeley.
4. NYU Libraries is working on its push to options via the e-shelf. Currently we have all the standard tools like RefWorks and EndNote Web. We should consider adding Zotero as it's going to have a standalone option (see above) and work with all browsers, and maybe Mendeley as well? I'd love to know what others are using in their push to options from catalogs, etc.