Browsing by Subject "Usability"

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    Analysis of Google Analytics
    (2014) Lee, Yoo Young
    This report is a summary of data about University Library website from Google Analytics from January 2013 to April 2014.
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    Brand and usability in content-intensive websites
    (2014-07-11) Yang, Tao; Bolchini, Davide; Pfaff, Mark; MacDorman, Karl F.; Cox, Anthony D.
    Our connections to the digital world are invoked by brands, but the intersection of branding and interaction design is still an under-investigated area. Particularly, current websites are designed not only to support essential user tasks, but also to communicate an institution's intended brand values and traits. What we do not yet know, however, is which design factors affect which aspect of a brand. To demystify this issue, three sub-projects were conducted. The first project developed a systematic approach for evaluating the branding effectiveness of content-intensive websites (BREW). BREW gauges users' brand perceptions on four well-known branding constructs: brand as product, brand as organization, user image, and brand as person. It also provides rich guidelines for eBranding researchers in regard to planning and executing a user study and making improvement recommendations based on the study results. The second project offered a standardized perceived usability questionnaire entitled DEEP (design-oriented evaluation of perceived web usability). DEEP captures the perceived website usability on five design-oriented dimensions: content, information architecture, navigation, layout consistency, and visual guidance. While existing questionnaires assess more holistic concepts, such as ease-of-use and learnability, DEEP can more transparently reveal where the problem actually lies. Moreover, DEEP suggests that the two most critical and reliable usability dimensions are interface consistency and visual guidance. Capitalizing on the BREW approach and the findings from DEEP, a controlled experiment (N=261) was conducted by manipulating interface consistency and visual guidance of an anonymized university website to see how these variables may affect the university's image. Unexpectedly, consistency did not significantly predict brand image, while the effect of visual guidance on brand perception showed a remarkable gender difference. When visual guidance was significantly worsened, females became much less satisfied with the university in terms of brand as product (e.g., teaching and research quality) and user image (e.g., students' characteristics). In contrast, males' perceptions of the university's brand image stayed the same in most circumstances. The reason for this gender difference was revealed through a further path analysis and a follow-up interview, which inspired new research directions to unpack even more the nexus between branding and interaction design.
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    Connecting Library Instruction to Web Usability: The Key Role of Library Instruction to Change Students’ Web Behavior
    (2015-04) Lee, Yoo Young; Snajdr, Eric
    This article is a conference proceeding for the 4th International Conference of Asian Special Libraries. Library instruction plays a key role in web usability. During instructional sessions, librarians shape the ways students behave on the library website (user’s web behavior). They teach students how to use the library website and demonstrate various pathways by which students can access library resources and services. Although library instruction and user’s web behavior are closely intertwined, very little research has combined these two realms. Many usability studies have focused only on the library website itself without considering the various contexts in which students use it. Few usability studies have had any connection with library instruction. This study investigated the intersection between user’s web behavior and library instruction. During instructional sessions, freshman students were asked to perform a series of information seeking tasks on the library website both prior to, and immediately after, instruction. A usability tool – Verify – recorded individual student use of the website during the completion of each of these tasks. The results allowed us to investigate how students behaved on the library website to complete the tasks and how the steps demonstrated by the librarian during instruction strongly influenced how students completed the tasks afterward. This paper suggests how these techniques could be used to improve library websites.
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    Evaluating a Prototype Clinical Decision Support Tool for Chronic Pain Treatment in Primary Care
    (Thieme, 2022) Allen, Katie S.; Danielson, Elizabeth C.; Downs, Sarah M.; Mazurenko, Olena; Diiulio, Julie; Salloum, Ramzi G.; Mamlin, Burke W.; Harle, Christopher A.; Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health
    Objectives: The Chronic Pain Treatment Tracker (Tx Tracker) is a prototype decision support tool to aid primary care clinicians when caring for patients with chronic noncancer pain. This study evaluated clinicians' perceived utility of Tx Tracker in meeting information needs and identifying treatment options, and preferences for visual design. Methods: We conducted 12 semi-structured interviews with primary care clinicians from four health systems in Indiana. The interviews were conducted in two waves, with prototype and interview guide revisions after the first six interviews. The interviews included exploration of Tx Tracker using a think-aloud approach and a clinical scenario. Clinicians were presented with a patient scenario and asked to use Tx Tracker to make a treatment recommendation. Last, participants answered several evaluation questions. Detailed field notes were collected, coded, and thematically analyzed by four analysts. Results: We identified several themes: the need for clinicians to be presented with a comprehensive patient history, the usefulness of Tx Tracker in patient discussions about treatment planning, potential usefulness of Tx Tracker for patients with high uncertainty or risk, potential usefulness of Tx Tracker in aggregating scattered information, variability in expectations about workflows, skepticism about underlying electronic health record data quality, interest in using Tx Tracker to annotate or update information, interest in using Tx Tracker to translate information to clinical action, desire for interface with visual cues for risks, warnings, or treatment options, and desire for interactive functionality. Conclusion: Tools like Tx Tracker, by aggregating key information about past, current, and potential future treatments, may help clinicians collaborate with their patients in choosing the best pain treatments. Still, the use and usefulness of Tx Tracker likely relies on continued improvement of its functionality, accurate and complete underlying data, and tailored integration with varying workflows, care team roles, and user preferences.
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    Holistic Approach to User Experience: Understanding of Users
    (2014-06-06) Lee, Yoo Young
    The IUPUI University Library recently initiated a project to improve the user experience on its website. In order to enhance the digital user experience, it should start from a thorough understanding of users such as who they are, what they do, how they interact with, how long they stay, where they come from, and etc. The first task called ‘Library Website Evaluation & Needs Assessment’ has been performed with various measurements from user survey to Google Analytics to better understand its users as well as to identify current issues and gaps between what the website currently is and how it should be. This poster will share some of the findings from the first task.
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    Human Factors and Ergonomics Methods for Pharmacy Research and Clinical Practice
    (Elsevier, 2021) Holden, Richard J.; Abebe, Ephrem; Russ-Jara, Alissa L.; Chui, Michelle A.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Background: Human factors and ergonomics (HFE) is a scientific and practical human-centered discipline that studies and improves human performance in sociotechnical systems. HFE in pharmacy promotes the human-centered design of systems to support individuals and teams performing medication-related work. Objective: To review select HFE methods well suited to address pharmacy challenges, with examples of their application in pharmacy. Methods: We define the scope of HFE methods in pharmacy as applications to pharmacy settings, such as inpatient or community pharmacies, as well as medication-related phenomena such as medication safety, adherence, or deprescribing. We identify and present seven categories of HFE methods suited to widespread use for pharmacy research and clinical practice. Results: Categories of HFE methods applicable to pharmacy include work system analysis; task analysis; workload assessment; medication safety and error analysis; user-centered and participatory design; usability evaluation; and physical ergonomics. HFE methods are used in three broad phases of human-centered design and evaluation: study; design; and evaluation. The most robust applications of HFE methods involve the combination of HFE methods across all three phases. Two cases illustrate such a comprehensive application of HFE: one case of medication package, label, and information design and a second case of human-centered design of a digital decision aid for medication safety. Conclusions: Pharmacy, including the places where pharmacy professionals work and the multistep process of medication use across people and settings, can benefit from HFE. This is because pharmacy is a human-centered sociotechnical system with an existing tradition of studying and analyzing the present state, designing solutions to problems, and evaluating those solutions in laboratory or practice settings. We conclude by addressing common concerns about the implementation of HFE methods and urge the adoption of HFE methods in pharmacy.
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    Innovative Data-Driven Methods to Improve Digital User Experience
    (2016) Lee, Yoo Young; Smith, Andy; Calvert, Lisa; Snajdr, Eric
    This article is a conference proceeding for the 8th International Conference on Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries. Digital user experience (DUX) is a combination of art and science. From an artistic point of view, DUX should provide a simple, clean and engaging web or mobile interface. In order to design such an artistic interface which guarantees the best user experience, scientific user research must be conducted to better understand users’ needs, their motivation to use websites, as well as their web behavior. This paper explores qualitative and quantitative user research methods in each DUX stage in order to build excellent user experience on the library website. In general, DUX is comprised of 6 stages: planning, user research, design, development, launch, and quality control. At Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) University Library, a variety of qualitative and quantitative usability research was conducted in different settings. This, along with data from Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools, were used before launch in order to know the users. After launch, user experience research was conducted during multiple library instructional sessions to ensure that users had a good experience on the website. This paper addresses diverse user research methods and discuss tools used during DUX research conducted from January 2014 to December 2015. In addition, the paper will compare pros and cons of DUX methods; discuss practical tips on how to apply data gathered from user research to design and improve websites; and share lessons learned such as DUX research planning, challenges, and effective methods in each DUX stage.
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    The journey to improve digital user experience
    (2014-09-08) Lee, Yoo Young
    A library website is a confluence to connect users with resources, information and knowledge. In order to provide extensive information and knowledge for their users through library websites, academic libraries tend to subscribe to various technologies such as LibGuides, integrated library systems (ILSs), discovery services, and CONTENTdm. However, it is challenging to integrate a variety of technologies into a web presence for a more dynamic and holistic experience. This poster will describe the design project for usability and steps that the Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) University Library has undertaken to improve digital user experience on its website. In addition, the poster will demonstrate hands-on examples of how the IUPUI University Library has integrated and streamlined various technologies into a unified web presence through all library web pages.
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    Keeping Users in the Dark: The Design and Implementation of a Dark Mode for a University Library Website
    (2022-05-25) Maixner, Gary; Smith, Andy
    Dark modes of websites have become a popular feature for users in recent years. While the option to create a contrast mode has existed for decades at the system level, what we are seeing now are designs not only focused on accessibility, but also usability. Library personnel at the Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis University Library took it upon themselves to follow this trend and begin the design, development, and implementation of a dark mode version of the library’s website. This involved some trial and error in the initial prototype, taking feedback from users, and then writing the new stylesheet.
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    Lessons Learned: Beta-Testing the Digital Health Checklist for Researchers Prompts a Call to Action by Behavioral Scientists
    (JMIR, 2021-12-22) Bartlett Ellis, Rebecca; Wright, Julie; Soederberg Miller, Lisa; Jake-Schoffman, Danielle; Hekler, Eric B.; Goldstein, Carly M.; Arigo, Danielle; Nebeker, Camille; School of Nursing
    Digital technologies offer unique opportunities for health research. For example, Twitter posts can support public health surveillance to identify outbreaks (eg, influenza and COVID-19), and a wearable fitness tracker can provide real-time data collection to assess the effectiveness of a behavior change intervention. With these opportunities, it is necessary to consider the potential risks and benefits to research participants when using digital tools or strategies. Researchers need to be involved in the risk assessment process, as many tools in the marketplace (eg, wellness apps, fitness sensors) are underregulated. However, there is little guidance to assist researchers and institutional review boards in their evaluation of digital tools for research purposes. To address this gap, the Digital Health Checklist for Researchers (DHC-R) was developed as a decision support tool. A participatory research approach involving a group of behavioral scientists was used to inform DHC-R development. Scientists beta-tested the checklist by retrospectively evaluating the technologies they had chosen for use in their research. This paper describes the lessons learned because of their involvement in the beta-testing process and concludes with recommendations for how the DHC-R could be useful for a variety of digital health stakeholders. Recommendations focus on future research and policy development to support research ethics, including the development of best practices to advance safe and responsible digital health research.