kcrw.org Dino Anastasia Mellanye Lackey Mary Morgan Abbey Potter

November 16, SI Fall Overview Background Methodology Audience Current Site Observations & Recommendations: –Organization, Labeling, Search, Findability, Navigation Summary

November 16, SI Fall About KCRW… an NPR station a community service of Santa Monica College more than 450,000 listeners each week member-supported with 50,000 subscribers boasts largest youth (25-44) audience among NPR stations programming reflects diversity of community award winning programming includes music; local, national & global news; radio drama; and arts & cultural shows

November 16, SI Fall Goals of KCRW on the Web Provide streaming music and news Generate membership Promote KCRW programming Support community activities Provide access to program archives

November 16, SI Fall Observations are Informed By IA for the WWW by Rosenfeld & Morville Usability tests & audience analysis Card sort exercises Competitive analysis of related sites

November 16, SI Fall Audience: User Personas “I listen to music and get weather and traffic reports from KCRW.org” --Steve “As a longtime member of KCRW, I check the web site for events and benefits for subscribers” --Barry “I use KCRW.org to listen to music at work and to find out about concerts in the area” --Cloe

November 16, SI Fall Current Site link to kcrw.org

November 16, SI Fall Current IA - a BIRD’s eye view Broad Inconsistent Redundant Deep

November 16, SI Fall Organization: “Not a clue” Observation: Organization scheme and structure are unclear and scattered. Recommendation: Eliminate redundancies, develop a more consistent and unified organization scheme. “There doesn’t seem to be any unifying theme.” KCRW Home Page - join/subscribe There are 8 different ways to subscribe/join the KCRW family from the home page alone. Observation: Organization scheme and structure are unclear and scattered.

November 16, SI Fall Organization: “Cognitive Model” Observation: Hard to create a consistent cognitive model of the site. Recommendation: Group similar links and content areas together and carry this layout through the entire site. “Seems like I’ve been somewhere before where I found this information.” KCRW Home Page - wireframe Observation: Hard to create a consistent cognitive model of the site.

November 16, SI Fall Labels: Ambiguous Labeling “KCRW presents” is a listing of live shows in L.A. New York, San Francisco, AND BEYOND? “Calendar” is a calendar of groups playing at local establishments and listings of “KCRW presents”? “KCRW programming” is a synopsis of the awards KCRW has received? Observation: Labels are hazy as to their meaning. Recommendation: Labels need to be more descriptive regarding the content they represent. Observation: Labels are hazy as to their meaning.

November 16, SI Fall Labels: Uncontrolled Vocabulary Observation: Labels aren’t implemented consistently across the site. “Do join and subscribe mean the same thing?” Recommendation: Create a controlled vocabulary and implement it reliably within the site structure. Observation: Labels aren’t implemented consistently across the site.

November 16, SI Fall Labels: Non-Descriptive Labels Observation: Program names that are used as Labels do not give good “scent” as to their content. Recommendation: Use Labels that acquaint the user to the content it represents. Observation: Program names that are used as Labels do not give good “scent” as to their content. Recommendation: Use Labels that acquaint the user to the content it represents.

November 16, SI Fall Labels: Poor Label Navigation Observation: Same label name navigates to different locations. Program Grid navigation from Home Page Program Grid navigation from News Page Recommendation: Maintain consistent label navigation. Observation: Same label name navigates to different locations.

November 16, SI Fall Search: find it! page Observation: Format of results problematic in sorting, look, findability. Recommendation: Move ‘search again’ to top of page; make text of results obviously different; number results; highlight sorting mechanism; clarify ‘other results’. Observation: Format of results problematic in sorting, look, findability. Recommendation: Move ‘search again’ to top of page; make text of results obviously different; number results; highlight sorting mechanism; clarify ‘other results’. link to kcrw.org/find

November 16, SI Fall Search: Results differ Observation: Results vary depending on where user starts search. Recommendation: Make home page search box and find it! page search same place. Observation: Results vary depending on where user starts search. Recommendation: Make home page search box and find it! page search same place. Home Page FIND IT Page

November 16, SI Fall Findability: Where’s KCRW? Observation: Poor findability from Internet search engines. Recommendation: Research and prominently feature the most popular search terms on the pages of kcrw.org, in the title and descriptor HTML tags. Observation: Poor findability from Internet search engines. Recommendation: Research and prominently feature the most popular search terms on the pages of kcrw.org, in the title and descriptor HTML tags.

November 16, SI Fall Navigation: Too Flexible Observation: Too much information, illogical redundancies, inconsistencies in links. Recommendation: Eliminate redundancies and inconsistencies in links and group content into logical hierarchical categories. “Too complicated.” Observation: Too much information, illogical redundancies, inconsistencies in links. Recommendation: Eliminate redundancies and inconsistencies in links and group content into logical hierarchical categories.

November 16, SI Fall Navigation: “Where am I?” Observation: Global navigation is not easily identifiable. Recommendation: Rename and consolidate major sections, tone down graphics, enlarge font size. “I got lost a lot.” Observation: Global navigation is not easily identifiable. Recommendation: Rename and consolidate major sections, tone down graphics, enlarge font size.

November 16, SI Fall Navigation: “What’s Here?” Observation: Local navigation doesn’t provide clues about what’s available. Recommendation: Move and rename local navigation links. Use contextual navigation for links outside sections. “There doesn’t seem to be any unifying theme.” link to “Program Grid” page Observation: Local navigation doesn’t provide clues about what’s available. Recommendation: Move and rename local navigation links. Use contextual navigation for links outside sections.

November 16, SI Fall Navigation: “What’s This?” “ Organization appeared random.” Arts & Culture Program Grid Observation: Inconsistent and irrelevant bottom links. Recommendation: Mirror global navigation in bottom links; add useful links like “Contact us” or “Copyright Information”. Observation: Inconsistent and irrelevant bottom links. Recommendation: Mirror global navigation in bottom links; add useful links like “Contact us” or “Copyright Information”.

November 16, SI Fall Navigation: “What the -?” Observation: Keyword drop-down menu has poor usability, is poorly labeled, and is overused. Recommendation: Eliminate drop-down menu, use a site index. Consolidate and organize contextual links. “No descriptions for drop downs” link to kcrw.org Observation: Keyword drop-down menu has poor usability, is poorly labeled, and is overused. Recommendation: Eliminate drop-down menu, use a site index. Consolidate and organize contextual links.

November 16, SI Fall Next Steps Recommend IA strategy –Clarify overall schema –Improve labeling –Enhance search and findability –Make navigation consistent Content Analysis, Wireframes Unite content – context – user needs

November 16, SI Fall Fin.