L503  User Needs and Behavior in Theory and Practice

Spring 2000 - Section 6731-- Mondays 1:00 pm - 3:45 pm -- Library 031


Instructor:  Jean Umiker-Sebeok -- umikerse@indiana.edu -- Office hours: by appointment

Readings on the Web may be accessed through the online syllabus at: http://www.slis.indiana.edu/umikerse/L503/L503iub/syllabus.html.  Readings unavailable on the World Wide Web are on reserve in the SLIS Library.

Class listserv: umikerse_L503S00. You will receive a test message to let you know when the list has become operational.

COURSE  SYLLABUS

Overview and Objectives
Class Format
Student Evaluation
Course Schedule
Roster (with Projects and Discussion Groups)
Course Projects:  SeniorCyberNet, Inc. | System Evaluation |  Building and Testing Prototypes

Schedule
Jan 10: Introduction
Jan 17: No class (M. L. King, Jr. Day)
Jan 24: User-Centered Approach
Jan 31: Social Matrix
Feb 7: Methods
Feb 14: Participatory Design
Feb 21: Information Search Process
Feb 28: Information Retrieval (General IUE Description due)
Mar 6:  Human Intermediary
Mar 13:  Spring Recess
Mar 20: Hypermedia I (Task Analysis due)
Mar 27: Hypermedia II
Apr 3: Digital Libraries
Apr 10: Marketing On-Line Information Resources
Apr 17:  Evaluating On-Line Information Resources
Apr 24:  Project Reports (System Revision, Management Report, Oral Report due)

Overview and Objectives

At what point does an individual in a given context need information beyond what is at hand? At what point does an individual overwhelmed with sources need guidance? At what point must s/he interact with a professional system or service? At what point, in other words, does an individual become an information system user? Can those who provide such systems and services be proactive in what they do, or must they respond to those who have identified their own needs?  Identifying, analyzing and modeling those who seek information, the tasks they work on, and the environments in which they work are fundamental concerns of the information professional. This course introduces students to theories and techniques which have emerged in the LIS field. Some of these are amalgams from theory and practice in other fields (psychology, organizational theory, market research), some are indigenous to LIS; what unites them is their application of a user-oriented approach to information products and services.  By the end of the course, students should be able to:
 
  • Understand a user-centered approach in the design and provision of information systems and services
  • Identify techniques for profiling potential user groups in a variety of organizational contexts
  • Understand the application of theories of users (or user needs and behaviors) and how these inform information professionals' practices

    • Class Format

    This class will be conducted as a seminar rather than as a lecture course. Each class will begin promptly at 1:00 pm and will follow the following schedule:

    1:00-1:30 pm  Discussion of Readings. Each week, a group of students will introduce and lead a discussion of the week's readings. Instructions about this are given below.
    1:30-2:00 pm  Lecture
    2:00-2:15 pm  Break
    2:15-3:45 pm  Projects Discussions. Discussion of how to translate the week's course concepts into carrying out semester projects.  Students working together on semester projects may meet with one another to discuss their work.  Individuals and groups may consult with the Instructor about their projects.

    Student Evaluation

  • Class Participation (10%) -- This includes the quantity and quality of contributions made to class and listserv discussions.

    •  
  • Leading Discussions of Readings (30%)-- Each student will help lead two 30-min. class discussions during the semester. After studying the readings for the week, the group to lead a discussion will email the rest of the class possible answers to the questions found in the syllabus for that week as well as a set of questions or issues around which the discussion will revolve. The group should bring to class practical exercises, illustrations, etc. to stimulate and develop conversation.   The group should NOT merely repeat the answers to the questions.  It should NOT prepare lengthy speeches or presentations.  ALL members of the discussion group should take part in leading the discussion.  Emails are due 10:00 pm of the Sat. before the class in which the discussion will take place.

    •  
  • Course Project (60%)--  Students will evaluate an existing SeniorCyberNet information system from the point of its adequacy in fulfilling users' needs and accommodating their behaviors.  Findings will be presented in a written report. They will then revise the system so that it is more user-centered. Finally, an oral report of the project will be made. They will make an oral report to the class at the end of the semester and submit a written report detailing recommendations for implementing, managing, and evaluating the revised system.
    • Grading -- Both group and individual work will be evaluated according to: how well course concepts are understood; how well course concepts are integrated into the project; quality of written and oral presentations; how well instructions are followed, including deadlines.  All grades will be assigned according to the SLIS academic standard which was defined by student and faculty members of the Committee on Improvement of Instruction and approved by the faculty of the School of Library and Information Science as an aid in evaluation of the student performance.

    Course Schedule

    Jan 10: Introduction to the Course

  • Introductions of Instructor and students
  • Review syllabus and course requirements
  • Introduction to SeniorCyberNet, Inc.

    • Jan 24: The User-Centered Approach to the Information Professions

  • The emergent market for information professionals
  • The marketing principle and customer service philosophy
  • The shift from systems-centered to user-centered in LIS

    •  

     

    Questions Concerning This Week's Readings: (Post questions to the class listserv if you are having trouble answering these questions.)
    1 - What are the main differences between a systems-centered and a user-centered approach to information services?
    2 - What are the 9 user-centered principles mentioned by Nahl?
    3 - What is the marketing principle and how does it apply to the provision of information?
    4 - What is the best way to define information if you want to be a user-centered information professional?

    Required Readings:
    Buckland, Michael (1991) Information as thing. JASIS 42: 351-60. 

    Nahl, Diane (1996)  The user-centered revolution:1970-1995. Encyclopedia of Microcomputers vol 19, p. 143-199.  New York:  Marcel Dekker.  http://www2.hawaii.edu/~nahl/articles/user/user1toend_toc.html 

    Umiker-Sebeok, J. and K. Gregson (1997)  Learning Guide chapter on The user-centered approach to the information professions

    Jan 31: The Social Matrix of User Needs and Behavior: Communities and Organizations

    Feb 7: Methods for Analyzing Users’ Information Assets

  • Defining needs: Tasks, tools, relationships, situations
  • Types of situations in which user needs analysis should be done
  • Methods for studying users' needs
  • Who needs to be studied
  • Triangulation
    • Questions Concerning This Week's Readings:
    1 - Who needs to be included in an information assets analysis?
    2 - What is the difference between top-down and bottom-up analysis?  Give examples of the types of situation in which  each approach is particularly useful, and reasons why.
    3 - What are the basic strengths and weaknesses of the following methods for studying users' needs:  brainstorming, scanning/document analysis, storytelling, ethnography, large-scale survey/questionnaires, and focus groups?
    4 - What is triangulation and why is it important for information assets analysis?  Explain why and how Van House and her colleagues used triangulation to improve their analysis.

    Required Readings:
    Erickson, Thomas (1996)  Design as storytelling.  Interactions 3(4) (August). http://www.pliant.org/personal/Tom_Erickson/Storytelling.html 

    Hale, Martha L. (1986) Administrators and information: A review of methodologies used for diagnosing information use. Advances in Librarianship 14: 75-99.  New York: Academic Press.

    Hughes, John et al. (1995) The role of ethnography in interactive systems.  Interactions April: 57-65. 

    Umiker-Sebeok, J. and K. Gregson (1997)  Learning Guide chapter on Methods for analyzing users' needs and behavior.

    Van House, Nancy A. (1995) User needs assessment and evaluation for the UC Berkeley Electronic Environmental Library Project: A preliminary report. Digital Libraries '95: 2nd Annual Conference on the Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries. http://csdl.tamu.edu/DL95/papers/vanhouse/vanhouse.html 

    Feb 14: The Participatory Design Process

  • The challenge of designing usable computer-mediated tools
  • What is participatory design?
  • Challenges to evaluation of interfaces in networked environments
  • Concurrent vs. linear models of design
  • Implementation as a critical factor in user-centered design
  • Steps in the Design Process
  • Problems with user-centered design today

    •  

     

    Questions Concerning This Week's Readings:
    1 - What is participatory design?
    2 - What are the major steps in participatory design?  What design tasks are associated with each step and what methods are useful in accomplishing them?
    3 - What is a scenario (and a microscenario) and what is a scenario-based approach to task analysis? Give some concrete examples.
    4 -What are the 4 basic categories of usability criteria?  Give concrete examples of each.
    5 - What are some of the major problems with participatory design today?

    Required Readings:
    Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (National Research Council) (July/August 1998) Design and evaluation: A review of the state-of-the-art. D-Lib Magazine http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july98/nrc/07nrc.html

    Neale, Dennis C. and Jonathan K. Kies (1995)  User-generated scenarios for requirements specification and design rationale. http://hci.ise.vt.edu/~hcil/research/Neale_Kies_95.html 

    Nielsen, Jakob and Darrell Sano (1994)  SunWeb: User Interface Design for Sun Microsystem's Internal Web. http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/IT94/Proceedings/HCI/nielsen/sunweb.html

    Umiker-Sebeok, J. and K. Gregson (1998)  Learning Guide chapter on Participatory design

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    Feb 21: The Information Search Process

    Feb 28:  Information Retrieval

    Mar 6:   The Human Intermediary

    Mar 20: Hypermedia I

  • Introduction to HCI models and methods
  • Hypertext and Hypermedia
  • Reading online
  • Navigation in complex information spaces

    •  

     

    Questions Concerning This Week's Readings:

    1 - What are "hypertext" and "hypermedia"?
    2 - What are some of the principal problems that users have in reading hypertext and what are some ways to prevent these problems?
    3 - When does browsing in a hypermedia context to locate information become difficult and what kinds of information retrieval techniques can be used to supplement browsing?
    4 - What is a sub-site, why is it used, and what are some of the issues to keep in mind when creating one?
    5 - What is the inverted pyramid style and why is it used?

    Required Readings:
    All Things Web. (1998) The Usable Web
    http://www.pantos.org/atw/usable.html

    Balasubramanian, V.  (1994) State of the Art Review on Hypermedia: Issues and Applications, Chapters 1, 4, and 5. http://www.isg.sfu.ca/~duchier/misc/hypertext_review/index.html 

    Nielsen, Jakob (1996a) Inverted pyramids in cyberspace? http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9606.html 

    Nielsen, Jakob (1996b) The rise of the sub-site http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9609.html 

    Nielsen, Jakob (1997)  How users read on the Web
    http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html 

    Nielsen, Jakob (1997)  Search and you may find. http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9707b.html 

    Mar 27: Hypermedia II

    Apr 3: Digital Libraries

  • Digital libraries:  Searching for a definition
  • Filtering
  • Intelligent agents
  • Functional requirements for digital libraries:  How close are we?
    • Questions Concerning This Week's Readings:

    1 - What is a digital library?
    2 - What is filtering and what need does it serve? Give some examples.
    3 - What is an intelligent agent and what role might they would play in a digital library?
    4 - Based on your reading of the list of functional requirements for DLs, what patterns do you see in the features that people say they want see built into these libraries?
    5 - What do Van House et al. mean when they talk about the need to balance economy and customization in the design of DLs which serve several distinct populations of users?

    Required Readings:
    Atkinson, Ross (1996)  Library functions, scholarly communication, and the foundation of the digital library:  Laying claim to the control zone. Library Quarterly 66: 239-265. 
     

    Canavese, Paul (1994) The future of information filtering http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/impact/s94/students/paul/paul_final.html 

    Foner, Leonard? (1996) What's an agent? Crucial notions.
    http://foner.www.media.mit.edu/people/foner/Julia/subsection3_4_1.html 
    #SECTION0004100000000000000 

    Harter, Stephen P.  (1996)  What is a digital library? Definitions, content, and issues.? http://php.indiana.edu/~harter/korea-paper.htm 

    Kostor, Martin (1997) Robots in the Web: Threat or treat? http://info.webcrawler.com/mak/projects/robots/threat-or-treat.html 

    Levy, David M. and Catherine C. Marshall (1995) Going digital: A look at assumptions underlying digital libraries.  Communications of the ACM 38(4): 77-84. 

    Maes, Pattie (1995)  Interacting with virtual pets and other software agents.  http://www.mediamatic.nl/doors/Doors2/Maes/Maes-Doors2-E.html 

    Toward functional requirements for the digital library (1994) http://anshar.grainger.uiuc.edu/dlisoc/DLI.specs.html 

    Umiker-Sebeok, J. & K. Gregson (1998)  Learning Guide chapter on Digital libraries

    Van House, Nancy A. et al. (1996)  User-centered iterative design for digital libraries:  The Cypress experience.  D-Lib Magazine.  http://www.dlib.org/dlib/february96/02vanhouse.html


     

    Apr 10:  Marketing On-line Information Services

  • Marketing as user-centered design
  • Developing the marketing mix for information services
  • Organizational Involvement in the Marketing Plan
  • Modifying the Marketing Plan
  • On-line marketing techniques
    • Questions Concerning This Week's Readings:

    1 - What elements make up the Marketing Mix for an information service or product?
    2 - What are Moon's 7 strategies for web-integrated marketing?
    3 - What are some of the types of communities and relationships that are important for successful on-line marketing?
    4 - According to Nielsen, what kinds of advertising work and which kinds do not work on the Web, and why?
    5 - What is a "reputation manager"  and how could it contribute to on-line marketing of small web sites?

    Required Readings:
    Armstrong, Arthur & John Hagel III (1996)  The real value of on-line communities. Harvard Business Review (May-June):  134-141. 

    Holzberg, Carol S. (1997) Publicity ploys. Internet World (March): 68-71. 

    Moon, Michael (1998)  Hitting your TARGET:  Seven strategies for web-integrated marketing. NewMedia May 5, 1998. http://newmedia.com/NewMedia/98/06/feature2/Seven_Strategies_Web.html 

    Nielsen, Jakob (1997)  Why advertising doesn't work on the Web.  http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9709a.html 

    Nielsen, Jakob (1998) The reputation manager http://www.useit.com/alertbox/980208.html 

    Umiker-Sebeok, J. and K. Gregson (1998)  Learning Guide chapter on Marketing

    Ward, Eric (1998) Hawking your message in the virtual marketplace: Using the Web as a marketing tool. http://www.netpost.com/speaking/npodc/private.html


     

    Apr 17:  Evaluating On-line Information Services

  • Evaluation tools and methods for on-line information products

    •  

     

    Questions Concerning This Week's Readings:

    1 - What are the 10 most important rules regarding heuristic evaluation according to Jakob Nielsen?
    2 - What are the Top Ten Mistakes of Web Management, according to Jakob Nielsen?
    3 -  What do Jakob Nielson and WebResults recommend concerning the evaluation of a web site?
    4 - What guidelines do Tillman and Kirk propose for evaluating information?

    Required Readings:
    Instone, Keith (1998)  Site usability evaluation.  http://www.webreview.com/97/10/10/usability/index.html

    Kirk, Elizabeth E. (1996)  Evaluating information found on the Internet.  http://milton.mse.jhu.edu:8001/research/education/net.html 

    Nielsen, Jakob (1997)  Top ten mistakes of Web management. http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9706b.html 

    Nielsen, Jakob (1998) Cost of user testing a website.http://www.useit.com/alertbox/980503.html 

    Tillman, Hope N. (1997)  Evaluating quality on the Net. http://www.tiac.net/users/hope/findqual.html#3 

    WebResults Guide to Web Evaluation (1996) http://www.webresult.com/webr/eval/eval.html

    Apr 24: Project Reports


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