Including Users in Knowledge Gateway Creation and Design

We will provide access for every citizen into the resources of our libraries, collections, museums, and much more.

- Larry R. Faulkner

Who are Texas citizens?

• Bandwidth availability• Income level• Ethnic/language background• Age

Why bandwidth is important

• How users connect drives the design of a site– functionality– image/media requirements

• One data point of the digital divide– “have-nots” suffer on dial-up

Density of broadband providers

Broadband in the States, 2003, p. 20

US K-12 Internet use

• 92% are connected– 72% use high-speed connections– 87% can connect in the classroom– 70% of teachers use the Internet for

instruction

• Based on 2001 school year statistics– Reasonable to conclude current numbers

are much higher

Successful School Marketer from Market Data Retrievalhttp://www.schooldata.com/ssm-positive.html

Texas home Internet use

• 47.7% of Texas homes are connected– 80% of those homes use dial-up– 19% use Cable or DSL

Broadband in the States 2003, p. 64

Broadband trends

• The rate of broadband adoption is decreasingBroadband in the States 2003, pp. 10, 12

Why the decline?

• Market Saturation?• Slow Economy?• How does this affect the Knowledge Gateway?

Why income is important

• Income drives– education, both:

• where you attend school• higher education - early adopters of the Internet

and high-speed connectivity

– consumer tendencies• technology spending

– broadband adoption

Median household income

Texas State Data Center and Office of the State Demographerhttp://txsdc.tamu.edu/maps/thematic/sf3dp-2k/sf3dp001.php

Why ethnicity and language are important

• 2040 Texas population projections – 276% increase in Hispanic population– 136% increase in Black population– Minimal increase in Anglo population

• Digital divide decreasing in size– 50% of Hispanic adults Online– 51% of Blacks have Internet at home

Texas State Data Center and Office of the State Demographerhttp://txsdc.tamu.edu/tpepp/2001_txpopprj_txtotnum.phpPew Internet Studyhttp://racerelations.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.nua.ie/surveys/%3Ff=VS%26amp%3Bart%5Fid=905357024%26amp%3Brel=true

Race Relationshttp://racerelations.about.com/library/weekly/aa073001a.htm

Hispanic percent of total population

Texas State Data Center and Office of the State Demographerhttp://txsdc.tamu.edu/maps/thematic/cnty_hipct.php

Percent speaking Spanish at home

Texas State Data Center and Office of the State Demographerhttp://txsdc.tamu.edu/maps/thematic/sf3dp-2k/sf3dp012.php

Black percent of total population

Texas State Data Center and Office of the State Demographerhttp://txsdc.tamu.edu/maps/thematic/cnty_aapct.php

Anglo percent of total population

Texas State Data Center and Office of the State Demographerhttp://txsdc.tamu.edu/maps/thematic/cnty_anpct.php

What this means for the Knowledge Gateway

• A Spanish version of the site is necessary to reach a large portion of the state– To reach every citizen– Regarding the K-12 push, parents need to know what is

expected of their children

• The Knowledge Gateway’s success depends on reaching out to cultural groups through “in-language, in-culture messages, and specialized content.” – In the Fray– Black Planet– MiGente– Asian Avenue

The Big Picture Demographicshttp://racerelations.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big%5Fpicture/demographics/article/0%2C%2C5901%5F590991%2C00.html

Why age is important

• Age, in conjunction with the other data sets, will help to define the user groups

• Under 18– Heavy internet users– Lie within the K-12 user group

Percent of population under 18

Texas State Data Center and Office of the State Demographerhttp://txsdc.tamu.edu/maps/thematic/dp_plt18.php

Percent of population over 65

Texas State Data Center and Office of the State Demographerhttp://txsdc.tamu.edu/maps/thematic/dp_pgt65.php

What this means for the Knowledge Gateway

• Although users over 65 are not a significant Knowledge Gateway user group, it is important to note that they reside in high income areas.

• A graphical look at the Under 18 age group relative to:– Income– Hispanic percent of total population– Percent of Texans speaking Spanish at

home

Under 18

Income level

Hispanic percent

Spanish spoken at home

Taking the data to K-12 users

• The data suggests two hurdles to K-12– bandwidth– language

• The focus groups were designed to further investigate these issues as well as gain insight to– functionality of the Knowledge Gateway– utility of the Knowledge Gateway

A note on usability

• Including the user in the development process of a technology is essential to its adoption and success because:– the effectiveness, efficiency, and

satisfaction of the end user’s performance can only be told by real users

– even if considered part of the end user group at the start of the process, once involved in the creation or design of the technology one become biased by project goals

ISO 9241 - 11

User profiles

• 7 users participated in the focus groups– 2 teachers– 3 librarians (note: forgotten user group)– 2 teachers/librarians

• 6 in K-8 environments, 1 in K-12• 6 in public schools, 1 in private

Discussion catalysts• Questions pertaining to:

– available technology in the school and classroom– technological expectations of students at school and at

home– bilingual concerns– reference methods for lesson planning, homework

help, etc.

• Brainstorm technologies to ease the work of the K-12 instructor (teacher or librarian)

• Introduce the concept of the Knowledge Gateway as a new teaching tool– How have new technologies been introduced in the

past?

What users said

• Only one participant displeased with equipment available at the school.– high speed internet clogged by old machines

• Three participants have ESL issues.– Important because they do not reside in Southwest

• All use the Internet as a research tool to see “what other people are doing” in the field and to spark “imagination.”

• Librarians expressed anxiety about recent state and national funding cuts and the loss of databases (i.e., Gale and Britannica).

Top K-12 recommendations

• Training– most emphasized point by all participants– in-service best bet for widest distribution

• invite district tech help/librarians to Austin for KG information session

• techie/librarian gives in-service

• Printable pages– most teachers still reluctant to assign Internet

homework or research

• Existence of sites already successful at Knowledge Gateway K-12 goals

Existing sites with similar goals to Knowledge Gateway K-12

• Marco Polo• Oasis• Classroom Connect - Community Page

K-12 librarian communities

• Texas Library Connection– Listserv

• LM_NET - worldwide

Recommendations

• Rate of broadband growth has declined– Texans use dial-up from home

• Hispanic community will be ethnic majority– Spanish version of site

• Geographically based focus groups– Southwest region

• what do real users have to say about their situation

• Accessibility not addressed in this study, but an important user group for future study.