Usereducation Guidelines for Mobile Terminals and Eservices

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User-education Guidelines for Mobile Terminals
and E-services

• Martin Böcker, Michael Tate, Margareta Flygt,
  Pascale Parodi, Bruno von Niman, Matthias
  Schneider-Hufschmidt, David Williams, Pekka
  Ketola
• (ETSI STF 285)

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Overview

• Why User Guides matter
• Who needs them
• When are they needed
• Current problems and practice
• Minimum quality standards proposed by ETSI STF
  285
• Scope and Examples
• Outlook

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The general image
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Why user guides matter to the consumer

• They are a part of the overall user experience
• They contribute to the users perception of the
  product quality
• They help the user discover and understand new
  functions
• Like the product itself they are designed
  according to user needs

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Why user guides matter to the manufacturer

• They are one of the means for expressing brand
  values and messages
• A function that is not known or understood will
  not generate ARPU
• They are required (legal and regulatory
  requirements)

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Who needs them

• No need for user guides if the UI is
  sufficiently self explanatory
• Yes, but mobile ICT products
• are highly complex
• are difficult to set up
• have miniaturized input and output devices
• become even smaller even if screen resolution
  increases
• evolve fast
• are used by non experts

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Who needs them?

• No need for user guides if the UI is
  sufficiently self explanatory
• Yes, but mobile ICT products
• UI concepts are inadequately borrowed from PCs
• They interact with PCs and other devices (e.g.
  for synchronization)
• Many feature concepts arent understood
• Services are often presented seamlessly
• The source of errors (device, service, network)
  is often unclear

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Who needs them?

• Users are heterogeneous
• Previous knowledge about features and UI concepts
  differs
• They range from power users to one-feature-only
  users
• Users differ in their cultural background, but
  use ICT products that are produced for a global
  market without large differences
• Users differ in their physical and psychological
  needs and abilities (e.g. immigrants with limited
  local-language skills, low-literacy users,
  elderly or handicapped users)

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When is user education needed?

• User education is needed throughout the product
  life cycle

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Wider problem context

• Some typical problems users have
• Users fail to set up their device
• Users dont know about their personal
  subscription
• User guides are needed in first-time set up and
  in error situations
• Some features (e.g. Call Forwarding) are complex
  and have consequences
• Little or no information available on tariffing
  for services

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Wider problem context

• Problems with current user guidance
• User guide is incomplete
• The information cannot be found
• The language used is inadequate
• The structure of the guide is inadequate
• The explanation is too abstract
• The user guide is written without a specific user
  in mind
• The information cannot be perceived adequately
• The functionality or SW implementation is not
  frozen at the time the user guide has to be
  completed
• The technical writer describes a product s/he
  doesnt really know

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Cost-benefit trade-offs

• Some relevant cost-benefit trade-offs related to
  providing user education are
• Frustration with failure to fully being able to
  use a product leads to reduced ARPU and low brand
  loyalty
• Insufficient user education can lead to costs in
  customer care centres
• Written user guides are often not up to date at
  time of print
• Sometimes even the product is out of date at time
  of shipping (SW updates)
• Products are sent in as faulty because users
  dont understand how they work

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Current practice

• In spite of cost-benefit trade-offs
• Cheapest, minimum effort solutions
• Very small fonts for cost saving
• Symbols to save space for text and costs for
  translating
• Reduced volume to save paper and reduce box sizes
• Wrong assumptions about what the users know
• User-guide related activities are outsourced
• No effort spent of user education for handicapped
  users
• Too little time for adjusting user guides to
  product changes
• Not all procedures are mentioned in detail
• Functions are described without preconditions
• Usability tests of user guides are the exceptions
• Same text different target groups and products

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STF 285

• The European Commission (EC), as part of the
  eEurope initiative, commissioned ETSI to develop
  guidelines for improving user education.
• STF 285 is to address
• The definition of a minimum standard for user
  guides.
• Guidelines for user education using different
  media.
• User education for elderly and impaired users.
• The evaluation of user education.

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STF 285

• The deliverable ETSI DEG 202 417 covers
• An analysis of the role of user education for ICT
  products
• Generic (media-independent) guidelines
• Specific guidelines
• for paper-based user guides
• for terminal-based user guides
• for screen-based user guides
• for user guides on portable media
• for audio user guides
• Other ways of providing user education
• User education and design for all
• Usability evaluation of user guidance

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Which media for which users / products /
situations?
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Media-independent guidelines

• Requirements of the development process
• Content and structure
• Content Management Systems (CMS)
• Language and terminology
• Illustrations
• Localisation
• General customer requirements

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Media-independent guidelines

• Localization includes language and culture
• Terminology use simple and clear, consistent
  language, industry-standard and user-friendly
  terms (invisible, intuitive, logical in its
  context, easy to understand, avoid jargon or
  abbreviations)
• Lay-out simple and clear
• Illustrations as information bearer
• Information structure - consistent

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Media-independent guidelines
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Paper-based user guides

• Format and layout
• Formal structure
• Consistency and logical structure
• Main and secondary guides
• Legal and regulatory requirements
• The printing process

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Paper-based user guides

• Product description not how it works, but how
  to use it!
• Safety information
• Getting started
• Troubleshooting
• Maintenance service
• Recycling disposal
• If not complete where can you find more
  information

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Terminal-based user guides (Support in the
Device)

• Support in the device is available in many forms
• Help texts
• Demonstrations
• Interactive tutors / avatars
• Tips
• Setup / configuration wizards

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Screen / Web-based user guides

• Disadvantages
• Everyone can read a book
• Computers are not always available for use
• Computers are not always connected to the web
• Computers are normally in a fixed location
• Prolonged reading can produce eye strain
• Readers scan information rather than read in a
  linear fashion as they do with text

• Advantages
• Content can be updated in real time
• Text can be read in the dark
• Text can be searched for easily
• Text can be varied in size for partially sighted
  users
• The reader can be automatically led through the
  text
• The screen can be interactive

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Screen / Web-based user guides
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Screen / Web-based user guides
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Other ways of providing user education

• User guides on CD-ROM
• Audio user guides
• User groups and fora

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User education and Design for All

• User education for
• Elderly users
• Visually-impaired users
• Hearing-impaired users
• Users with cognitive impairments
• Low literacy users
• Users with communication impairments
• Children

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Usability evaluation of user guides

• Issues addressed
• Method
• Test sample
• Questionnaires
• Analysis
• Reporting
• Focussing on the specific requirements of testing
  user guides

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Outlook

• ETSI DEG 202 417 is available as a stable draft
  and will be finalised in May 2006 and published
  in September 2006.
• Prior to publication, the document is reviewed
  with experts from industry and academia.

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Thank you for your attention