Ethno-Cognitive Research – Search Engines

We got a really interesting assignment in HCI course (Human Computer Interface).

First Stage – We were asked to choose a search engine which is not that common and then make a small research about how people who never used this engine use it.

We chose delicious for this assignment, despite the fact that it’s not really a search engine, I personally use it as such, and we thought it will be really interesting to see how people will use it.

Delicious is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks.

Second Stage – The next stage was to write 3 scripts that will be given to 4 users.

1^st script – for a beginner user

2^nd script – for an advanced user

3^rd script – for an unusual use of the search engine (end case)

We are still trying to think of interesting scripts that will help us understand the way people use the search engine and its advantages. We have some good ideas but can really use some help from delicious users.

Third Stage – The next stage will be to give the scripts to the users and ask them to perform them. We will examine the way they are doing it by using Morae – premier software for deeply understanding customer experiences and sharing those insights clearly and powerfully.

So as you can see, we are still at the beginning of the process, but I think we will learn a lot from this assignment about people’s Mental Models, the way each people think, people’s creativity and many more!

If you’re an experienced delicious user, please contact us, we can use your help.

10 Usability Crimes You Really Shouldn’t Commit

A Very useful post by Chris Spooner Via LINE25

Over time certain conventions and best practices have been developed to help improve the general usability of websites during their design and build. This roundup of ten usability crimes highlights some of the most common mistakes or overlooked areas in web design and provides an alternative solution to help enhance the usability of your website.

Eye Tracking and Web Usability: A Good Fit?

A very interesting article that deals with the question – eye tracking and web usability – A good fit?

On the one hand, it makes intuitive sense that knowing what people look at (or don’t look at) on a webpage would be useful in assessing the usability and effectiveness of that page. However, as is the case with many qualitative research methods, it has proven difficult to completely validate this assumption. Even if the methodology adds value to traditional usability testing, some usability practitioners have argued that this value is not justified by the additional cost of the eye tracking equipment, software, and training. This assertion is also difficult to prove or disprove, so it’s still the subject of debate.

But the fact remains that many usability practitioners (ourselves included) are using eye tracking as a tool to better understand how people “see” websites and to make more informed design decisions as a result. Well-planned and executed eye tracking studies can supplement traditional usability research by providing information about user impressions that the test participant can’t report and the researcher can’t observe.

For further reading – The full article by Nick Gould and Jesse Zolna

Via UX Magazine