Usability and Contemporary User Experience in Digital Libraries

with Boon Low and Lorraine Paterson

20thApr '10

About the event

An introduction to UX2.0, a project which aims to contribute to the development of usability research and the assimilation of advanced user interaction technologies in digital libraries.

Demands for usability and user experience (UX) developments have become pertinent due to the increasing complexities of digital libraries and user expectations associated with the advances in web technologies. In particular, usability research and testing are becoming necessary means to assess the current and future breeds of information environments such that they can be better understood, well-formed and validated.

This talk introduces a project currently being undertaken at the University of Edinburgh - UX2.0, which aims to contribute to the development of usability research and the assimilation of advanced user interaction technologies in digital libraries. The project development is underpinned by user-centred design (UCD). Technological developments are implemented in tandem with research, UI prototyping, usability studies and evaluation. In this talk, we will present recent project findings: a heuristic inspection carried out on a variety of digital libraries, and research on emerging interaction design patterns.

More about the speaker(s)

Boon Low manages and undertakes web development for the Usability and Contemporary User Experience in Digital Libraries (UX2.0) project at the University of Edinburgh. He also leads development for other digital library initiatives at the University's National e-Science Centre. Prior to this, Boon worked in several library projects pioneering search engine technologies and interoperability mechanisms for the integration of digital repositories in virtual learning environments. He is currently interested in the research and development of interaction design patterns and advanced user interface.

Lorraine Paterson is a Usability Analyst for the UX2.0 project at the University of Edinburgh. As part of the project, Lorraine has evaluated the usability of existing digital libraries to provide a general impression of digital library usability. She is responsible for organising and conducting user research for the project and evaluating the technical outputs.

Before joining the project, Lorraine worked as a usability consultant at User Vision. There she worked with a range of clients applying a variety of research techniques to help companies meet their user's needs.

With a masters in multimedia design and interaction from Napier University, Lorraine's previous research has contributed to publications which examine information sharing behaviour in blogs and the value of online customer communities to businesses.

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previous events

2011
HTML 5 and its impact on Usability
An Introduction to Prototyping
Engaging industry and the public sector in accessible, inclusive design - do we need to shout louder or smarter?
A Virtual Seminar: Mobile Design: Designing Tapworthy Mobile Apps
Student attitudes towards mobile library services for Smartphones
2010
Persuasion Architectures: Nudging People to do the Right Thing
Web Analytics + Usability = A Sum Greater Than Its Parts
Agile and Usability
Modeling the mobile user experience
A virtual seminar: Leveraging Search & Discovery Patterns For Great Online Experiences
Usability and Contemporary User Experience in Digital Libraries
Designing for Personas
Mementoys - usability in product design
2009
Mobile Usability / iPhone App
Election Ballot Usability
Online Qualitative Research - new ways to find out what consumers really think
Prototyping - the landscape and review of Axure RP Pro
Improving Website Usability Using Google Website Optimiser
Web Accessibility update - new guidelines and standards for web accessibility
Designing for Dyslexia
2008
Building the Usability Profession
Exchange of Ideas: Agile/XP and User Experience
Comparative Usability Evaluations: Usability testing vs Expert evaluation
Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines
Scottish Usability Showcase
Sub-groups, Deviants and Navigational Alignment: Advanced topics in card sorting
The Perpetual Super-Novice
Label placement in forms (and other time-consuming forms controversies)
Implementing usability changes on an already successful site
2007
Games Usability
Scottish Usability Showcase for World Usability Day
Interactive TV usability: Is the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) dead?
Choosing the right technique - the right answers to the right questions
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Usability in the travel industry
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Designing and Evaluating Mobile Applications for New Social Experiences
University Showcase - Usability research projects from Scottish Universities
Usability and SEO - pulling in the same direction?
Scottish Usability Showcase 2006
2006
Usability standards, the Usability Maturity Model and what they are good for
Everything you've always wanted to know about card sorting
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Web Accessibility Primer on WCAG 2.0 and Including Users with Disabilities
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Presentation on usability testing software
2005
Web analytics and usability
Usability in government websites
Usability and accessibility with tomorrow's web technologies
Scottish Usability Showcase on World Usability Day
Information Visualisation
Conducting International and Cross Cultural User Research
Web accessibility
Ethnography in the 21st Century
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The Power of Hindsight
Eyetracking presentation
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Interactive TV usability and accessibility
Insights into Information Architecture for the web
2004
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Handheld Usability
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