Building a User-Centric Website by Integrating Course Enrollment Data
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leveraging student data to create website personalization Ian Chan Web Development Librarian, California State University San Marcos 2012 SLA-SD Fall Seminar Spotlight on the User: Enhancing Value through User-Centric Design and Innovation 1 October 5, 2012
Transcript of Building a User-Centric Website by Integrating Course Enrollment Data
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leveraging student data to create website personalizationIan ChanWeb Development Librarian, California State University San Marcos
2012 SLA-SD Fall Seminar Spotlight on the User: Enhancing Valuethrough User-Centric Design and Innovation
October 5, 2012
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why did we do it?
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make life easier for our users
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get to know our users & vice versa
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we have (big) data
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low cost
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first, a look back…
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customized start pages 1998 ~ ?
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customization & library websites
MyLibrary – Notre Dame/NCSU, 1998developed at NCSU & Notre Dame and imlemented by VCU, LeHigh, others
MyLibrary – Cornell, 1998
More ExamplesMyLibrary – Univ. of Minn. Libraries, leverages campus CMS
National University of Singapore – Nexus (CMS)
Karolinska Institutet University Library – Drupal
PennPortal – Libraries – campus CMS
Galter Health Sciences Library – self-developed
derived from Aaron Tay’s 2010-06 blog post titled “Customizable library portal pages”
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a growing trend?
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similar goals, different approaches
customization
User drives content selection & layout
personalization
System drives content selection
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personalizationPersonalization is a process that ‘‘changes the functionality, interface, information content, or distinctiveness of a system to increase its personal relevance to an individual’’ (Blom, 2000, p. 313)
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assessment of a library portal
Galter Health Sciences Library studied the use of their portal from 2003-2008
“The automated application of specialty-based, personalized HSLs was more frequently adopted than manual customization by users” (Shedlock et al., 2010).
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students want smart systems
“Student and faculty groups both expressed a desire for systems that know the individual better and that behave “more like Amazon” in remembering who they are, what they like, and where they left off in their work” (Jafari et. al. 2006).
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what we’d like our site to do
Expedite access to our resources
Connect students with individual librarians
Personalize the research experience
idea
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how we did it
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project requirements (highlights)
Technical
Leverage existing user data transfer
Integrate login with EZproxy/campus authentication
Secure
UX
Don’t bother the user
… but add value
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we use…
Drupal
Small, custom PHP scripts Match subjects to user course selections Generate XML data to sync guide info into Drupal Generate personalized course reserve listings
Data export (for now)from campus enrollment management system and viable library ILS [Integrated Library System]
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connecting users with resources
CCK [D6] / Fields [D7]
User Profile
Views
Database
Taxonomy
Similar by Terms
Guide
Panels
PersonalizedWebPages
Content Profile
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essential, non-core modules
Content Profile http://www.diigo.com/item/image/qxh8/13jv?size=o
EZproxy
LDAP Integration
Similar by Terms
Viewshttp://www.diigo.com/item/image/qxh8/rgq4
CCK
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(really) nice to have
Panelshttp://www.diigo.com/item/image/qxh8/i50r?size=o http://www.diigo.com/item/image/qxh8/v6np?size=o
Context
Flag
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user data prep
Simple PHP scripting to analyze course data and cross-reference with subjects
Data prep - about 15 minutes of staff time for each load
But the above is all going away!
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user data load
User Import Module Batch import for account
Node Import Module Batch import for user profile
Data load occurs once a week – more often at semester start
But the above is all going away!
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InterestsAccountsAuthentication
user data interactions
User ImportLDAP
IntegrationNode Import
User Accounts
Recommendations
EZproxy Integration
Campus LDAP
User Profile
User Data
Source
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After login, users can flag databases as
favorites
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Assessment
Click tracking – CrazyEgg
Web Analytics – Google Analytics, Piwik
Talk to users… in person!
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4 days into test, we inserted the “Sign-in to access databases…” help
bubble and login button clicks jumped significantly…
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Upcoming developments
Query user data in library catalog directly and instantly update course data
Integrate saved articles from Summon Discovery Service
Provide dynamic, course-specific library widgets to learning management system
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Discussion / Q&A
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References
Blom, Jan. 2000. “Personalization: a Taxonomy.” In , 313. ACM Press. doi:10.1145/633292.633483. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=633483.
Jafari, A., McGee, P., Carmean, C., 2006. Managing Courses Defining Learning: What Faculty, Students, and Administrators Want. EDUCAUSE Review 41, 50–52,54,56–58,60,62,64,66,68,70.
Shedlock, James, Michelle Frisque, Steve Hunt, Linda Walton, Jonathan Handler, and Michael Gillam. 2010. “Case Study: The Health SmartLibrary Experiences in Web Personalization and Customization at the Galter Health Sciences Library, Northwestern University.” Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA 98 (April): 98–104. doi:10.3163/1536-5050.98.2.003.
Sundar, S. Shyam, and Sampada S. Marathe. 2010. “Personalization Versus Customization: The Importance of Agency, Privacy, and Power Usage.” Human Communication Research 36 (3) (July): 298–322. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01377.x.
