IN4MATX 131 Term Project                            

The aim of this term project is to study users' navigation behavior in portions of the UCI Libraries website. The project should be carried out by two people: the "experimenter" (yourself) and the "test user" or "subject" (who must NOT be an ICS or Engineering major). The outcome of the project should be a written report that describes how the test user interacted with the course website, problems that the user encountered with the interface design and/or information organization, and design improvements that you suggest. The term papers are due by March 12 in the INF 131 dropbox. The estimated work time is 45 minutes for the experiment (30 minutes for the subject), 2-3 hours for analyzing the video, 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.

Preparation:  Several days before the experiment, determine where you will run the experiment and what computer you will use. The location should have a desk and two chairs as well as Internet connectivity that is good enough for web browsing. Subjects should also not become distracted by others, nor distract others by their talking. 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. Any capture software is fine as long as you are able to eventually submit an integrated video/audio file that can be played in Windows Media Player or Quicktime. HCI professionals typically use Camtasia Studio (for PC), Camtasia:mac or Morae Recorder (for PC), all of which have a 30-day free trial period. Mac users may alternatively look into the "Capture" column of this page . Download Snapz Pro only if you have a high frustration tolerance and are willing to study the PDF manual that comes with it (specifically p. 35).

• Install your screen and audio 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 noticebly 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.
• Download, print and read the entire Instructions for the Experimenter beforehand, but do not share them with the test user.

Setup on the Day of the Experiment:

• Have paper and a pen ready to take notes, and a coin to toss (seriously!).
• Point a web browser to http://www.lib.uci.edu/
• Test the screen and audio recorder (particularly whether it picks up the audio well).

Report and CD/DVD:

• To prepare the report, you should replay and analyze the video. Take notes while watching the video. Use these notes and the notes that you took during the experiment. Draft the report very soon after performing the experiment, so that you will better recall details which may be important.
• Write a report of about 12 single-spaced pages about your user study. About 1/4 of it should be illustrations (mostly screen shots) that illustrate what you explain in your text.
• 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
  • the thoughtfullness of your analysis of why these problems occurred
  • the thoughtfulness of your recommendations for improvement (less important)
• Since your report will be forwarded to the UCI Libraries you may omit your name if you want. Use a random 5-digit number as the file name in this case (don't use 12345 or 11111 etc.). Note though that the UCI Libraries sometimes hire INF 131 students.
• Burn a CD/DVD with your audio/video recording in a format that is compatible with Windows Media Player or Quicktime. Write your name or your 5-digit number on it, and turn it in at the beginning of the final exam on March 18.
• Upload your report in the ICS 104 dropbox, by March 12 at 11:45pm at the latest.

Some advice:

• 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).