1. BETTER TIPS FOR TAPS LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE 2017
JUNIOR TIDAL
WEB SERVICES & MULTIMEDIA LIBRARIAN NEW YORK CITY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY, CUNY

2. OVERVIEW MOBILE USABILITY TESTING MOBILE VS DESKTOP
SETTING UP THE TEST
CONDUCTING THE TEST
DATA ANALYSIS

3. WHAT IS USABILITY TESTING?

4. MOBILE USABILITY TESTING IS THE EVALUATION OF A MOBILE WEBSITE ON A DEVICE, SUCH AS A TABLET OR SMARTPHONE.

5. STEVE KRUG, DON’T MAKE ME THINK
“USABILITY REALLY JUST MEANS MAKING SURE THAT SOMETHING WORKS WELL: THAT A PERSON OF AVERAGE ABILITY AND EXPERIENCE CAN USE THE THING…”
STEVE KRUG, DON’T MAKE ME THINK
Krug, S. (2006). Don't make me think!: A common sense approach to Web usability. Berkeley, Calif: New Riders Pub.

6. USABILITY CAN DETERMINE IF THE USER’S EXPERIENCE IS SATISFYING OR FRUSTRATING.

7. USABILITY TESTING IDENITIFES OBSTACLES THAT USERS MAY ENCOUNTER.

8. OBSTACLES CAN BE AS SIMPLE AS BROKEN LINKS OR HIGHLIGHTING MORE SERIOUS BUGS IN A WEBSITE.

9. USABILITY TESTING GIVES INSIGHT TO USER PREFERENCES AND BEHAVIORS

10. WHY IS USABILITY IMPORTANT?

11. EXERCISE: MAKE A PB&J SANDWICH
WRITE INSTRUCTIONS DOWN FOR ASSEMBLING A PB&J
YOU HAVE…
1 PACKAGE OF A BREAD LOAF
1 CONTAINER OF PEANUT BUTTER
1 CONTAINER OF JELLY
1 KNIFE

12. WHY IS TESTING USABILITY IMPORTANT?
Hopefully this workshop has shown that as librarians, we have a bias on how users interact with our sites. There are no instructions when using a website. People play with it and stumble upon what they need to do. Plus, there can benumerous ways to do a single task.

13. LIKE PB&J SANDWICHES, WEBSITES DON’T COME WITH INSTRUCTIONS

14. LIBRARY WEBSITES CAN BE VERY COMPLICATED
Numerous transactions
Logins
3rd party vendors
Discovery tools

15. IMPROVES PERFORMANCE

16. KEEPS COST DOWN

17. TESTING IDENTIFIES WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN’T

18. IMPROVES EFFICIENCY SO DEVELOPERS CAN FOCUS ON OTHER TASKS

19. DATA-DRIVEN DESIGN DECISIONS CAN BE MADE

20. REDUCES REWORK OR BIG FIXES

21. HELPS MAKE DATA-BASED DECISIONS

22. INCORPORATES THE USER’S PERSPECTIVE AND VOICE

23. -SUMANA HARIHARESWARA
“YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT YOUR SERVICE FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF SOMEONE WHO KNOWS A LOT LESS THAN YOU AND SEE WHERE THEY’RE COMING FROM.”
-SUMANA HARIHARESWARA
Harihareswara, S. (2015). User Experience is a Social Justice Issue. Code4Lib, 28. Retrieved from

24. MOBILE VS DESKTOP

25. WHAT ARE SOME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MOBILE AND DESKTOP TESTING?

26. THE MOBILE CONTEXT - THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND ENVIRONMENT A MOBILE DEVICE IS USED.

27. MOBILE DEVICES ARE PORTABLE AND CAN BE USED ANYWHERE AND ANY TIME.

28. DESKTOP MACHINES ARE TETHERED.

29. LAPTOPS ARE NOT AS MOBILE WHEN IN USE.

30. THE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH DESKTOP AND LAPTOP WORKSTATIONS ARE STATIC.

31. MOBILE DEVICES HAVE SMALLER SCREEN SIZES.

32. SMALLER SCREENS FORCES A DRAMATIC CHANGE TO THE INTERFACE.

33. WEB PAGE REAL ESTATE AND LAYOUTS ARE MORE RESTRICTIVE IN THE MOBILE CONTEXT.

34. TOUCH INTERFACE

35. USERS INTERACT WITH THEIR FINGERTIPS AND NOT WITH A KEYBOARD AND MOUSE.

36. OPTIMIZE TASKS THAT DOESN’T REQUIRE A KEYBOARD AND MOUSE.

37. NETWORK ACCESS

38. DATA TRANSFER IS AT THE MERCY OF CELL PHONE AND WIFI SIGNALS.

39. LIMIT CONTENT, SUCH AS IMAGES, SO THEY CAN BE DOWNLOADED QUICKLY OVER MOBILE BROADBAND.

40. TEST SETUP

41. WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF YOUR TEST?

42. BEFORE YOU CAN TEST, IT’S IMPORTANT TO IDENTIFY YOUR GOALS.

43. EXAMPLE GOAL:
YOUR DESKTOP SITE HAS BEEN MOBILE OPTIMIZED AND YOU WANT TO SEE HOW WELL THAT FARES WITH SMARTPHONE USERS.

44. EXAMPLE GOAL:
A DISCOVERY TOOL WAS RECENTLY INTEGRATED WITH YOUR SITE AND YOU WANT TO SEE HOW TABLET USERS UTILIZE IT.

45. EXAMPLE GOAL:
A WEBSITE IS IN THE PROTOTYPE STAGE, AND YOU WANT INCORPORATE THE EXPERIENCES OF MOBILE USERS BEFORE CREATING A BETA VERSION.

46. GOALS DETERMINE TASKS TO TEST

47. A TASK IS A PROCESS THAT USER NEEDS TO ACCOMPLISH.

48. A TASK IS NOT A TASK SCENARIO.

49. “TASK SCENARIOS ARE ASSIGNMENTS THAT ARE GIVEN TO USERS.”
Task Scenarios for Usability Testing. (2014, January 12). Retrieved from

50. TASK SCENARIOS ARE WHAT ARE THE QUERIES USED IN A USABILITY TEST.

51. THESE ARE USED TO OBSERVE USER BEHAVIOR BY PLACING THEM IN A REALISTIC, HYPOTHETICAL SITUATION IN USING THE LIBRARY WEBSITE.

52. TASK VS TASK SCENARIO

53. TASK: FIND THE HOURS OF THE LIBRARY WEBSITE.

54. TASK SCENARIO: IMAGINE THAT YOU ARE STUDYING FOR FINALS AND NEED A SPACE TO STUDY. USING THE LIBRARY WEBSITE, DETERMINE THE LIBRARY’S HOURS.

55. WHO ARE YOU TESTING?

56. WHO IS YOUR USER BASE?

57. MOBILE USABILITY TESTING INHERENTLY GIVES A SET OF USERS, THOSE WHO USE MOBILE DEVICES

58. WHAT TYPE OF MOBILE USERS?

59. TABLET USERS?
SMARTPHONE USERS?
ANDROID TABLET USERS?
iPHONE USERS?
ALL OF THE ABOVE?

60. ANALYTICS CAN PROVIDE CLUES ON WHAT KIND OF USER IS BEST FOR USABILITY TESTING.

61. ANALYTICS CAN HELP CREATE A PERSONA OR A “REALISTIC REPRESENTATION” OF YOUR AUDIENCE.
Affairs, A. S. (2013, October 09). Personas. Retrieved from

62. EXAMPLE PERSONA: A 19 YEAR OLD FRESHMEN STUDENT WHO IS A FIRST-TIME RESEARCHER THAT PRIMARILY USES A SMARTPHONE FOR INTERNET ACCESS.

63. EXAMPLE PERSONA: A 51 YEAR OLD CONTINUING EDUCATION STUDENT WHO USES A TABLET COMPUTER PRIMARILY FOR AND SOCIAL MEDIA.

64. PARTICIPANTS SHOULD BE COMFORTABLE AND FAMILIAR WITH THE DEVICE THAT THE TEST IS CONDUCTED ON.

65. IF THEY ARE USING A DEVICE THEY ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH, THIS COULD TAINT THE TEST.

66. YOU MAY FIND PROBLEMS WITH THE HARDWARE RATHER THAN THE WEBSITE.

67. HOW MANY USERS TO TEST?

68. LITERATURE SUGGESTS 5 USERS FOR A COGNITIVE WALKTHOUGH USABILITY TEST.
Nielsen, J. (2000, March 19). Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users. Retrieved from

69. LABORATORY TESTING VS
FIELD TESTING

70. THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF TESTING: LABORATORY TESTING AND FIELD TESTING.

71. WHAT IS LABORATORY TESTING?

72. A LABORATORY TEST IS CONDUCTED IN A CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT.

73. IN A LAB TEST, DEVICES MAY BE PROVIDED BY THE PROCTORS.

74. NETWORK ACCESS IS READILY AVAILABLE.

75. WHAT IS FIELD TESTING?

76. FIELD TESTING IS CONDUCTED OUTSIDE THE CONTROL OF A LAB FOR MORE REALISTIC RESULTS.

77. THE USER MAY HAVE TO CONFIGURE THEIR OWN NETWORK CONNECTION.

78. FIELD TESTING CONTAINS THE DISTRACTIONS OF THE REAL WORLD.

79. TEST COMPONENTS

80. METRICS

81. METRICS MEASURE USER INTERACTIONS WITH THE APPLICATION.

82. TASK TIMING

83. NUMBER OF TAPS TO COMPLETE A TASK

84. SUCCESS/FAILURE RATE

85. TALK ALOUD PROTOCOL (TAP)

86. CONDUCTING THE TEST

87. PROCTORING THE TEST

88. THERE SHOULD BE A LEAD TESTER, AND ADDITIONAL SUPPORT SUCH AS NOTE TAKER.

89. THE PROCTOR WILL CONDUCT THE TEST.
The proctor will navigate the test with the user.

90. THE PROCTOR CANNOT ANSWER QUESTIONS, SO NOT TO LEAD THE PARTICIPANT.
IT MAY BE MANDATORY IF THE TEST IS NOT RECORDED IN AN ELECTRONIC WAY.

91. A NOTE TAKER(S) SHOULD ALSO BE PRESENT.

92. DIGITAL RECORDING IS BEST.

93. WHERE TO TEST

94. A CLOSED CONFERENCE ROOM.
LAB TESTING:
A CLOSED CONFERENCE ROOM.

95. NO DISTRACTIONS, PARTICIPANT CAN FOCUS IN A QUIET ROOM.

96. ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT CAN BE USED, SUCH AS A MONITOR TO TRACK NAVIGATION

97. EASIER TO RECORD RESULTS IN A LAB TEST

98. LAB TESTING ALLOWS INCORPORATION OF OBSERVERS

99. EASIER TO INCORPORATE OBSERVERS THROUGH GOOGLE HANGOUTS, CLOSED CIRCUIT FEED, OR SKYPE IN A LAB TEST.

100. FIELD TESTING

101. FIELD TESTING WOULD BE ANYWHERE THEY COULD USE A MOBILE DEVICE.

102. FIELD TESTS CAN BE CONDUCTED IN LINE AT THE CIRCULATION DESK, A CAFE, OR IN THE STACKS

103. THE DOWNSIDE OF FIELD TESTING IS THAT IT IS HARDER TO CAPTURE RESULTS

104. NETWORK ACCESS MAY BE SPOTTY IN A FIELD TEST.

105. WHEREVER YOU TEST, MAKE SURE IT MEETS INSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENTS.

106. IRB TESTING AND APPROVAL

107. FUNDING FOR INCENTIVES

108. SCHEDULING

109. SCHEDULING PARTICIPANTS CAN BE DIFFICULT

110. ONLINE SURVEYS, DOODLE POLLS, AND GOOGLE CALENDAR CAN BE USED TO FACILITATE SCHEDULING.

111. ONLINE SURVEYS CAN BE USED TO SCREEN PARTICIPANTS.

112. THE ONLINE SURVEY CAN ALSO BE USE TO DETERMINE A USER’S PREFERRED DEVICE.

113. PARTICIPANTS MAY CANCEL LAST MINUTE OR NOT SHOW UP AT ALL.

114. TECHNICAL SETUP

115. TOOLS TO CAPTURE THE TEST

116. SCREEN CAPTURE SOFTWARE CAMERAS DOCUMENT SCANNERS DIGITAL MP3 RECORDERS

117. FREE TOOLS: QUICKTIME (MAC OS X ONLY) FOR SCREEN CAPTURE AUDACITY FOR AUDIO CAPTURE PHOTOBOOTH (MAC OS X ONLY) FOR PARTICIPANT CAPTURE

118. PROPRIETARY TOOLS: CAMTASIA (SCREEN AND WEB CAM CAPTURE) MORAE (USABILITY SUITE) REFLECTOR (MOBILE DEVICE SCREEN CAPTURE)

119. OBSERVERS

120. OBSERVERS SHOULD BE HIDDEN FROM PARTICIPANTS.

121. OBSERVERS COULD BE OTHER STAKEHOLDERS.

122. OBSERVERS CAN TAKE NOTES AND OFFER DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES.

123. USABILITY EXERCISE

124. 1. FIND A PARTNER OR CREATE A TRIO 2
1. FIND A PARTNER OR CREATE A TRIO 2. TEST EACH OTHER’S WEBSITES ON A MOBILE DEVICE 3. DISCUSS FINDINGS

126. DATA ANALYSIS

127. METRICS AND TAP RESPONSES CREATE PATTERNS AND IDENTIFY PROBLEMS.

128. RE-DESIGN THE SITE TO SOLVE THOSE PROBLEMS.

129. RE-TEST TO DETERMINE HOW WELL THAT WORKS OUT

130. CONCLUSION

131. QUESTIONS?

132. THANKS!