Results of website testing

[Matthew Jadud]

Hello all,

I was suspicious that the results of our testing would not be
available until after release. This was always the likely possibility.
Additionally, I spent quite a bit of time wrestling with a video of a
presentation our class put together, and I've decided that this is not
the bottleneck we want in reporting back the results of our
explorations.

As part of CMPSCI 303: Human Centered Design, three groups of students
at Allegheny each engaged in a lo-fi testing process of several
different parts of the fp.org website. We used this as a "sprint"
through the testing process -- we carried out this work as our first
exploration of paper prototyping and user testing, and does not
represent expert work. Instead, it represents an exploration that
allowed us to move into our second project with more confidence.

The reports are linked in from our class wiki:

http://wiki.rockalypse.org/HCD/Website_Testing_Results

The students' discoveries are reflected, in some cases, in the current
design. We might take this as ex post facto validation of some of the
design elements in the site. Some of their work might inform further
evolution.

Comments on our work is welcome -- this was the first time we
attempted anything like this, and turning around this kind of process
within a month in a classroom context is challenging. (That, and I'm
still learning to use the video equipment... clearly, I have some
infrastructure issues that need to be resolved.)

Many thanks to Máirín Duffy and the rest of the websites team who
interacted with us constructively and positively -- you enriched our
classroom experience in HCD, and I hope the students' reports add a
bit of value to your ongoing process.

Cheers,
Matt