A Theoretical Design for University Department Web Pages Based on a Task Analysis

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A Theoretical Design for University Department
Web Pages Based on a Task Analysis

• Andrew R. Freed
• Computer Science and Engineering
• Pennsylvania State University
• IST SURF Presentation
• July 3, 2002

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A Theoretical Design for University Department
Web Pages Based on a Task Analysis

• Why do we need a design for department web pages?
• Book design evolved for a long time before it was
  easy to use and complete, the Web will be no
  different
• A similar process is needed for the Web

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A Theoretical Design for University Department
Web Pages Based on a Task Analysis

• The increasing role of the Web on dissemination
  of information for university departments
• Task analysis for department websites
• Comparison of tasks with existing department
  websites
• Areas for future work
• After the website is built

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The increasing role of the Web on dissemination
of information for university departments

• Internet 450 million global users
  (Nielsen//Netratings)
• ist.psu.edu 120,000 unique visitors during 2001
• Lots of users, looking for lots of information
• -- but what information are they looking for?

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What is a task analysis?

• A family of techniques for describing various
  aspects of how people work
• Why? Gain a deeper understanding of the goals
  people are trying to achieve
• Answers the question, Does the design support
  the task?

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Approaches for building a task analysis

• Know your users!
• Consider all tools user has to solve goals
• Determine procedures of user from collected data
• Generate list of tasks that the users have

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Task analysis for department websites

• Analysis of existing sites
• Analysis of hardcopy materials
• Analysis of search queries
• Open interviews of users
• Summary of tasks

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Analysis of existing sites

• Looked at websites from our departments (IST, EE)
• Generated initial list of tasks

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Analysis of hardcopy materials

• IST prospective student blue packet and
  Computer Science graduate brochure
• Generate new list of tasks
• Merge this list of tasks with the list from the
  existing websites

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Analysis of search queries

• Looked at Spring 2002 search logs from psu.edu
• Over 1 million queries
• Sorted logs based on most common queries
• Extracted certain types of queries department or
  registrar-related
• Compare to current list of tasks and add new tasks

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Analysis of search queries

• The number one query is.
• (Number two webmail)

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Open interviews of users

• Interviewed current/prospective students,
  parents, alumni, faculty
• Showed them list of tasks and asked for
  additional tasks
• Added new tasks to task list

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Final summary of tasks

• Came up with 100 tasks
• Organized into 13 categories
• This is a good starting point for informational
  design
• Point of note High overlap between
  hardcopy/website, hardcopy materials included
  website printouts

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Comparison of tasks with existing department
websites

• Methodology
• Sites examined
• Summary of conclusions

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Checking analysis against websites

• Took list of tasks and added five yes/no columns
• Visited these five sites to see if each task was
  easily supported
• Also looked for new tasks

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Sites examined

• IST at Penn State
• Psychology at Penn State
• EE at Penn State
• EE at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne
• Rutgers Business School

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Summary of comparisons

• Wide variety of supported tasks
• Highest 87 (IST)
• Lowest 51 (PSU Psych, Rutgers)
• Seven new tasks found
• Rankings, summary of reasons to come,
  applications, job openings, minors, student
  resumes, merchandise

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Areas for future work

• Evolution of this task analysis
• Using cognitive models or AI agents to check a
  website against a list of tasks

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After the website is built

• Search engines
• Beyond search engines
• Maintenance
• Useful website features

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Conclusions

• Task analysis necessary to determine what
  information users need
• Collect data through direct and indirect
  interaction with users, review of information
  available to them
• Lots of improvement possible for many department
  websites

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Thank you!

• Any questions?