Designing Digital Products?

“Ask” Your Users

Ronald J. Murray

Preservation Reformatting Division

Preservation Directorate

Once Upon A Rather Long

Time Ago…

Libraries were “only”

storehouses of culturally

significant, meaning-

bearing physical objects

With a point of view on

those objects that

reflected contemporary

philosophical, literary,

aesthetic, and practical

understandings of those

objects

Library Resources Meant

Something

Library resources conveyed original and reformatted content

In many institutions, scribes and scriptoria institutionalized physical reformatting, often in response to state mandates

Library Resources Meant

Something

Library resources conveyed original and reformatted content

In many institutions, scribes and scriptoria institutionalized physical reformatting, often in response to state mandates

New Types Of Library Resources

Still Mean Something Contemporary forms of

library resources still convey original and reformatted content to library users

Carrier physical (and digital) characteristics support improved resource creation

Improved technology revolutionizes resource reformatting, access and interactivity at time of use

Library resources in digital

form encourage user

engagement with original

and reformatted digital

content

Many original Cultural

Heritage resources are too

rare and/or fragile to be

displayed or handled without

damage

Library Resources For A Big

Data, Pinch-To-Zoom World

Library resources in digital

form encourage user

engagement with original

and reformatted digital

content

Many original Cultural

Heritage resources are too

rare and/or fragile to be

displayed or handled without

damage

Library Resources For A Big

Data, Pinch-To-Zoom World

This 16th century map is protected from

deterioration by a stainless steel, glassed-in

chamber filled with nonreactive Argon gas.

Library resources in digital

form encourage user

engagement with original

and reformatted digital

content

Mobile devices with easy to

use touch interfaces

encourage greater resource

interaction

Library Resources For A Big

Data, Pinch-To-Zoom World

Library resources in digital

form encourage user

engagement with original

and reformatted digital

content

Greater resource interaction

can and should generate

demands for improved

digital resource quality

Library Resources For A Big

Data, Pinch-To-Zoom World

How to define digital resource quality in a fashion that

can satisfy current and future users– and can exploit

current and future technologies?

Dictate from one’s own understanding/imposition of user

requirements?

Define by committee … and committee … and committee?

Define after experimenting with a few technological and/or

user factors?

Define with the support of well-established industrial and

market research methods?

Designing Big Data, Pinch-To-

Zoom Library Resources

Choice Modeling – Model the complex, strongly

subjective process library users employ to choose

between library resources “manufactured” according

to different specifications

What is it about the library user – and what do they

want, anyway?

What users say they notice about library resources

What they kinds of library resources users say they

prefer

What library resources users actually choose when

presented with combinations of possibilities

Designing Big Data, Pinch-To-

Zoom Library Resources

Create a set of possible “products” whose relevantimage attributes have been varied systematically

Asking Users To Behave

Create a set of possible “products” whose relevantimage attributes have been varied systematically

Asking Users To Behave

Asking Users To Behave

The images are different in appearance

Have a representative set of users choose among actual versions of the “product”

Asking Users To Behave

✔

Collect data. Calculate “utility” values

Asking Users To Behave

Collect data. Calculate “utility” values

Asking Users To Behave

600 PPI Quality 99 Tinted Paper Strong Sharpening

Products

With High

Utility

Values Are

Preferred

Products

With Low

Utility

Values Are

Not

Preferred

These choices would

pertain to 25-44 y.o.,

intensive mobile

device users

Designing Big Data, Pinch-To-

Zoom Library Resources

Remember This: Big Data is not getting smaller, and

library users’ desktop and mobile devices are

becoming more capable. Ask your users smarter

questions and you will get smarter answers!

Enlarge our initial experiment to include more

participants, more resource types, more resource

engagement scenarios

These methods are omnipresent outside of libraries,

tried and true, and efficient

Our data drudgery is another’s data delight. Draw upon

others’ expertise!