[Foundation-l] Usability Study Results (Sneak Preview)

[Brian]

>
> Based on these criteria, the 2,500 users that responded to our survey were
> filtered down to 500 viable subjects based on their answers to these
> questions. The team, along with B|P, partnered with Davis Recruiting to
> contact, filter, and screen these 500 participants based on their Wikipedia
> contribution history, Wikipedia usage patterns, their given reasons for not
> contributing, and their talkativeness and openness to discuss their thoughts
> and actions. From 2,500 users, we ended up with 10 study participants and
> 3-5 waitlisted participants.


You went from 2,500 subjects to just 10? Remote testing allows you to study
a virtually unlimited number of participants in a fully natural environment,
not some clean room. If you're going to clean up the interface by moving
high-utility elements to the areas users tend to look at most, then I'd
recommend bringing them into the office. Otherwise, you need to catch them
in their regular routine - they perform a Google search, it lands them at
Wikipedia. What happens next? Do you feel like you have the answer to this
question after your local studies? They see a bit of information is
incorrect. How many users *just don't get what Wikipedia is* at that stage?
Of those who get it, what happens next? I'm talking about in the course of
their day, in the middle of whatever it is they were doing they needed
information, how does Wikipedia actually get used? That's a usability test,
and you have no clue!



On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 6:22 PM, Brian <Brian.Mingus at colorado.edu> wrote:

> This usability study is so tiny. I want MediaWiki to be really, really
> good. Please tell me you guys hope to go large scale with the remote testing
> setup.
>
>
> On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 5:41 PM, Parul Vora <pvora at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi All!
>>
>> Thanks for all of the feedback, comments, and support. I just wanted to
>> let you know that our full report (including highlight videos!!) is now
>> up our the Usability Initiative's project wiki:
>>
>> http://usability.wikimedia.org/wiki/UX_and_Usability_Study
>>
>> - The Usability Team
>>
>>
>> Parul Vora wrote:
>> > Hi all!
>> >
>> > The Wikipedia Usability Initiative conducted a user research study
>> > with SF based Bolt Peters in late March to uncover barriers new
>> > editors face. We are in the process of completing a full report on our
>> > methodology, process and analysis, but wanted to share with you some
>> > of the major themes and findings in the meantime....
>> >
>> >
>> > Some quotes from our participants that illustrate these findings:
>> >
>> > “Usually it’s the most information in the easiest spot to access. It
>> > always looks very well put together….it boggles my mind how many
>> > people can contribute and it still looks like an encyclopedia.” –
>> ‘Galen’
>> >
>> > “I like Wikipedia because it’s plain text and nothing flashes” –
>> > ‘Claudia’
>> >
>> > “Rather than making a mess, I’d rather take some time to figure out
>> > how to do it right."
>> > (later) "There sure is a lot of stuff to read.” – ‘Dan’
>> >
>> > “ [I felt] kind of stupid.” – ‘Galen’
>> >
>> > “It’d be nice to have a GUI, so you could see what you’re editing.
>> > You’ve made these changes and you’re looking at it, and you don’t know
>> > how it’s going to look on the page. It’s a little clumsy to see how
>> > it’s going to look.” – ‘Bryan’
>> >
>> > “[This is] where I’d give up.” – ‘Shaun’
>> >
>> >
>> > Check out the full post on the foundation blog:
>> >
>> http://blog.wikimedia.org/2009/04/24/usability-study-results-sneak-preview/
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > We would love to hear any initial thoughts, opinions, and reactions.
>> > If you have any similar or dissimilar experiences - either personally
>> > or in your own work/research, we'd love to hear about that too!
>> >
>> >
>> > Always on your side,
>> > The Usability Team
>> >
>>
>>
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>
>