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Users + modes of information seeking Design Challenges for libraries |
"There is no best in interface design" (Negroponte 1995, p. 97). Although, Negroponte may be correct in that there is no such thing as a perfect interface design, we certainly believe that some designs are better than others. The International Standards Organization defines usability as "the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use" (ISO 9241-11, 1998). This definition of usability forms the spine of the all user-centered design and usability testing. HCI is the science behind usability in the digital domain and involves understanding the psychology of users, their information seeking behaviour, and applying that understanding to the development of computer systems. Negroponte described the goal of HCI and interface design as replicating a human-to-human conversation. This concept occurs in the research of Amanda Spink with regard to IR systems and search term selection and was disclosed to Christina Wodtke in an interview for Boxes and Arrows: User-Centered Design: asks designers to understand the needs and capabilities of the likely users" (Hawthorn, 2007, p. 335).
Nielsen, a design guru, recommends the following heuristics for the design of websites. Although this is not intended specifically for search engines or IR systems, these basic principles still apply (our applications appear after each colon).
Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines A search engine specific set of design heuristics comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services which has published a list of guidelines for the creation of government websites and set design industry standards. The following nine points have been derived from the Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines for designing search interfaces: 1. Ensure that the results of user searches provide the precise information being sought, and in a format that matches user's expectations.
AS: Our research shows that the most effective search terms are those submitted by the user, from a user's interaction with another person about their topic, and terms they identify on the screen from retrieved output. Stimulating users to talk with someone or thing (or agent) about their information problem helps generate terms and look at the results for additional terms. CW: Hey, those sound like classic reference librarian techniques! (Wodtke 2006).
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Search Interface: In Your Face |
