Interview Personas and Scenarios MBGNA Peony Garden

7/29/2019 Interview Personas and Scenarios MBGNA Peony Garden

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SI 622 Assignment 4: Interviews, Personas, and Scenarios

Authored by:Group 3: The Garden Club

Alyssa Kata

Marlon PhillipsHan Kyong Yun

Jun ZhangJim Rampton

Prepared for: David Michener

February 26, 2013Word Count: 2,998


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Executive Summary

Our project is focused on the information needs of potential users to the University of Michigan

Peony Gardens website. With the help of the garden staff, we recruited five paid members of

the garden who volunteered to help us with our research by being interviewed. These people

constituted two main potential user groups- peony enthusiasts and garden visitors. It is worthnoting that the website has been recently redesigned and only one interviewee has used thesite in its current iteration. Therefore, we focused on finding out what type of general informationour interviewees find helpful when planning garden visits and/or researching peonies. Once all

interviews were complete, our team analyzed the data we had collected and generated four

findings and corresponding recommendations for each as follows: Finding 1: Users have a strong need to know when peonies are in bloom.

We recommend adding more salient information related to the bloom season, such as a

slide on the homepage with an estimated bloom date for the current year (once

available), an illustration of the peonys life cycle, and historical data on past bloom

seasons.

Finding 2: Accurate and detailed information on where to park when visiting the

Peony Garden is important to garden members.

We recommend adding more detailed information to the gardens website on parking

and adding maps to the parking information on the main Matthei Botanical Gardens and

Nichols Arboretum site. We also suggest adding pictures of parking garages or lots for

those who are unfamiliar with Ann Arbor.

Finding 3: Many users were unaware that there is a new, updated version of the

Peony Garden site, partly because the site is difficult to find through the main

MBGNA site.

We recommend promoting the updated site through the Peony Gardens Facebook page,

member listserv, and on the main MBGNA site, since that is how users indicated they

navigated to the old site. Promotion will be particularly beneficial just before and duringbloom season when interest in the garden peaks.

Finding 4: Users want to see a variety of pictures that focus on the experiences

they can have at the garden and not just the flowers, particularly on the main page.

We recommend including more pictures of garden events and of the garden overall to

complement the many pictures of individual peonies found on the site.

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Introduction

The University of Michigan Peony Gardens website (http://mbgna.umich.edu/peony) is a sub-site of the larger Matthei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum (MBGNA) site, as the

garden itself is a part of the Nichols Arboretum on UMs Central Campus. The sites global

navigation toolbar breaks the site into five different sections: About the Garden, Plan Your Visit,

Peony Database, Peony Resources, and Get Involved. Accordingly, there are a few different

ways that users would potentially use the site. The first way would be to find out general

information about the garden, such as garden history, news/events, and information on the

gardens historic peonies. Secondly, users might come to the site for information on planning

their visit to the garden, such as when the peonies are in bloom, how to get to the garden and

where to park, tours offered, and photomaps showing them where to find their favorite peonies

once there. Users may also come to the site in order to search for specific peonies in the Peony

Database section, or browse by cultivar, cultivar group, breeder, form, color, season, or country

of origin. Users may also take advantage of the Peony Resources section to find information on

how to care for their flowers, peony diseases, peony organizations, where to find other peony

gardens, as well as watch informational videos. Finally, users could potentially use the site to

find out how to give back to the garden with their time or money.

Taking into consideration these tasks, our group decided to target potential users of the site in

the form of paid garden members. We felt these people would encompass two main user

groups, garden visitors who want to find information on the garden itself and peony enthusiasts

who want to find information on peonies (with some being in both categories). Because we did

not target current users of the site specifically, our research questions focused more generallyon our interviewees information seeking habits and the type of information they are seeking

when using the Internet to plan garden visits or when doing online research related to peonies

or gardening. Specifically, our research questions were: 1) What do users want to know about

peonies when they research them online? and 2) What information do users look for in order to

plan garden visits? Our hope is that the information we have found will help our client develop a

picture of the information that is important to the sites potential users and what type of

information will bring them regular site visitors.

Methods

During this part of the project, we conducted five interviews with five different potential users of

the Peony Garden website. The interviews gave us qualitative data that we then analyzed to

form our recommendations.

Based on our initial meeting with our client, we concluded that our target population was

potential visitors to the Peony Garden who were interested in finding out specific information on


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peonies and who wanted to know when the garden was in bloom. This group mainly consisted

of photographers, peony enthusiasts, and retirees who were members of the MBGNA.

After talking with our client, we learned that the Peony Garden attracts thousands of visitors and

are made up of different demographics. Due to this large and diverse demographic of potential

users, we decided to only contact members of the garden because being a paid memberindicates some interest in the Peony Garden and/or peonies in general. These members were

sent an email invitation by staff at the garden to participate in our study and then emailed by our

group if their availability fit within our schedule.

Our interviewees were:

! U1: Female, Late 30s, Profession: Commercial Title Examiner, Photographer,

Residence: Howell, MI

! U2: Male, Mid 50s, Profession: Retired Teacher, Peony Enthusiast and in Master

Gardener club, Residence: South Lyon, MI

! U3: Female, Mid 60s, Profession: Retired Teacher, Peony Enthusiast and Grower,

Residence: Plymouth, MI

! U4: Male, Mid 50s, Profession: Information Technologist, Residence: Saline, MI

! U5: Male, Mid 60s, Profession: Professional Recruiter, Peony Enthusiast, Residence:

Temperance, MI

On average, our interviews lasted one hour. Three were conducted in person and two were

conducted over the phone. Each interview was conducted in pairs (one interviewer and one

note taker) and questions were read from our interview guide (See Appendix A). Some of the

questions helped us gather basic demographic information on the participants and theirexperience with computers and the Internet, but most focused on users experience researching

peonies, planning garden visits, and their familiarity with the Peony Garden website.

After the interviews, we met as a group and conducted an interpretation session, summarizing

each interviewees responses. Each interview was summarized in bullet form on a white board,

which was followed by a discussion of the common factors that were present. By analyzing

their comments, we uncovered trends and differences in their experiences, needs, and

expectations. We formed four findings and corresponding recommendations based on these

trends. Their comments also helped us create our personas and scenarios (See Appendix C).

Findings and Recommendations

Finding 1: Users have a strong need to know when peonies are in bloom.

Evidence: From the responses of all interviewees, we found one common information need

related to the Peony Garden is finding out when the peonies are in bloom. According to our

interviewees, peonies only blooms for a short period and unpredictable weather can effect the


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bloom date. Therefore, it is important for users to know information on blooming time so that

they can schedule a visit to the garden accordingly. U2, U4, and U5 treasure the blooming time

a lot because their purposes are either to visit the garden at an appropriate time to view the

beauty of the peony or to study the peony when it blooms. As a photographer, this information is

even more important for U1 because she wants to capture the most beautiful moments of the

peony.

Recommendations: Therefore, our first recommendation is to put an estimated date in a

conspicuous place on the website to let users know when the peonies are in bloom and when to

visit. Since the top slider only shows two slides with a short introduction, we recommend adding

one more slide to show the estimated blooming date or interval this year. Once the user clicks

on the date slider, the system can also show data related to the history of past seasons

blooming dates. We think this will also satisfy the need for people like U2 and U3 who research

peonies.

Another recommendation is to establish a visual timeline on a sidebar of the homepage to

represent the whole growing process of the peony. For example, right now the peony is covered

with snow, so the illustration could show the snow-covered roots and once it starts growing the

illustration grows too. By doing this, we think it will provide more delicate pictures for users to

learn about the peony but also give users a sense of the current status of the garden.

Finding 2: Accurate and detailed information on where to park when visiting the Peony

Garden is important to garden members.

Evidence: Three interviewees mentioned that when planning a trip to the garden they have

difficulty figuring out where to park. All three users were from outside of Ann Arbor and had

tried to obtain information on parking at the Peony Garden at some point before or during theirvisit. U1 mentioned that because parking is important to her and because she had difficulty

finding information online about it, she has called the garden staff directly to ask for directions.

U3 also indicated that parking was important to her friends that visited the garden with her and

who were less familiar with the area than she was. U5 stated that he is concerned about where

to park when visiting because he has had trouble in the past. However, he found brochures he

obtained at the garden to be helpful in solving this issue. Upon our further investigation, parking

information is present on the site currently but is difficult to find.

Recommendations: We recommend adding a link under the Plan Your Visit tab of the

navigation toolbar dedicated solely to parking in order to make this important information easier

to find. Alternatively, parking could be featured more prominently on the Getting to Nichols

Arboretum page, since currently it is mentioned only in an indistinguishable paragraph. We

also recommend that the Parking Instructions page on the MBGNA main site,

(http://www.lsa.umich.edu/mbg/files/Parking_instructions_Arboretum.pdf), which currently has

parking information in a text-only format, be updated to include a map alongside the text

directions. This will help users visualize the information they are reading, since many are not


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Ann Arbor residents and thus, do not recognize street names. For the specific lots and parking

garages that are listed, exact addresses and photographs of the outside may also be useful.

Finding 3: Many users were unaware that there is a new, updated version of the Peony

Garden site, partly because the site is difficult to find through the main MBGNA site.

Evidence: Only one of the interviewees had used the current version of the website or was

even aware that it had been updated. This user, U1, only knew about the updated sites

existence because garden staff had told her about it, since her photography was featured on the

site. Also, U2, U3, and U5 stated that they were unable to find information about the gardens

events, information that is clearly highlighted on the updated sites homepage, further evidence

that these users were unaware of the updated sites existence. Some users also said that while

they knew of the gardens old site, it was difficult for them to find it through the main MBGNA

site (the main way they had navigated to the old site). Even though the Peony Garden website

has been updated, according to our client the path from the MBGNA site to the Peony Garden

site has not changed. It is likely that users did not know that the site had been updated because

of the difficulty they have had in the past navigating to it.

Recommendations: We recommend promoting the gardens new website through the member

listserv and Facebook page. Users who have already shown an active interest in the garden by

liking the Facebook page or joining the listserv would be likely to use the new website after

being made aware of it. This would include a list of the websites new features, such as the

events calendar and database, in an email to the listserv and a graphic-oriented post or video

tutorial on the Facebook page, as well as a direct link to the site in both. Providing a direct link

to the site using these mediums will give potential users the opportunity to go to the site without

the difficulty of navigating though the main MBGNA site. It will be beneficial to inform users of

the new website, particularly on the MBGNA main site, near the bloom season, when interest inthe garden peaks.

In order to solve the problem with the difficulty of navigating the Peony Garden site from the

MBGNA site, it may be necessary to talk with the site administrators of the MBGNA site. Doing

this could help find a solution to make linking to the Peony Garden site from the main site easier.

Finding 4: Users want to see a variety of photographs that focus on the experiences they

can have at the garden and not just the flowers, particularly on the main page.

Evidence: U1 mentioned that during her visit to the current version of the site she felt that the

pictures in the database were generic and would like to see more variety. U5 mentioned that he

wanted to see pictures that encompass the whole garden and show off some of the experiences

that are possible. The current version of the site has landscape pictures, but there are only a

few and often buried. For example, there is a photo on the Plan Your Visit page that shows

several people watching a performance but it is small. On the main page of the website the


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slider picture switches between two close-ups and does little to show the landscape of the

garden or any identifiable images that are unique to the garden.

Recommendations: We recommend adding pictures to the slider and throughout the site that

encompass the landscape and the events that take place there. This would involve asking

volunteer photographers to take additional pictures of the surrounding landscape and gardenevents. According to U1 and U5, the Shakespeare Festival is a popular garden event and we

feel it is important to showcase photos of events like this on the site to remind people of the

overall experience they can have as a garden visitor, especially for those who might not

necessarily be peony experts/enthusiasts.

Discussion

The results generated from our interviews have some shortcomings because of our limited time

and resources. Our first limitation is our sample size. We only interviewed five people because

of our limited time to complete our assignment but in the future it may useful to collect

information from a larger number of people. This is especially true since the garden itself has

thousands of visitors each year, most of whom would likely need to look up some type of

information prior to their visit, such as where to park or where their favorite peonies are located.

Additionally, we only targeted garden members for our study but those who are not members or

even visitors of the garden would also be potential users of the site, considering its wealth of

information on peonies. Another shortcoming stems from the fact the site has been redesigned

since the last bloom season, and so most of our interviewees stated that they had used the old

site but not the new, redesigned one, (or they had not used either site). Although we asked

them general questions about their information needs, their answers may have been skewed if

they had the features of the old site in mind. We also conducted two of our interviews over the

phone and this may have led to different answers than in-person interviews would have. Finally,the people that we interviewed may not make up a truly representative sample of potential users

because we chose only those whose schedules aligned with our availability. In the future, we

recommend studying a larger group of potential users to generate more accurate results. It

would also likely be beneficial to interview current users of the updated site to get information on

how they use the site and what their overall impressions are, instead of just collecting general

information on potential users information needs.

Conclusion

Our initial interview with the stakeholder led us to the idea that the website primarily provided

information to visitors who were attempting to visit the garden and acted as a resource for

enthusiasts who wished to know more about the peonies. Even though we had to limit our pool

of interviewees to just members of the garden, the qualitative data that was gathered from our

five interviews helped us understand what type information is important to people when planning

their garden visits or researching peonies. Our recommendations address their needs and

other findings we came across in our research with the hope that they will increase the value


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and ease of use of the site. As we move forward the next step will involve sharing our

recommendations with our client and addressing their feasibility as they try and incorporate

them into their site. We will also conduct future research on how to improve the site.

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References

Rampton, James. n.d. [Photo of middle-aged man]. Retrieved from

https://www.facebook.com/jmrampton74

Rath, Alexander. n.d. Portrait of pretty senior woman gardening. Retrieved from

http://www.shutterstock.com/g/gajdamak/sets/437745-gardening

Vanzenten, Nicole. 2013. [Photo of red-headed man]. Retrieved from

http://www.flickr.com/photos/85211685@N04/8496740804


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Appendices

A. Interview Guide

Researcher Preamble:

Hi, my name is _______ and I am a masters student at the University of Michigan School ofInformation. Our team is going to conduct an interview with you and try to find out about your

motivations, goals, and habits related to your use of online resources to research peonies orplan garden trips or outings. The Peony Garden is a collection of historic peony species and itswebsite is designed to help people get a better understanding of the peony and arrange time to

visit the garden when it is in bloom. During the interview, I will ask you a series of questions.

Feel free to interrupt me and ask me anything in particular if a question does not make

sense. Anything you say will be kept confidential, as you will be assigned a random usernumber in our report. You can also stop the interview at any time or decline to answer aquestion. Our hope is that your answers will help us shape our recommendations for the Peony

Garden staff as they continue development of their website. Thank you again for your

participation.

Interview Questions

Demographic information and connection to the Peony Garden: What is your interest in peonies or the Peony Garden? Find out if they are a peony enthusiast or garden visitor, or both.

o Have you ever visited the UM Peony Garden?

o Do you ever visit other community gardens or plan outings to similar places?o Do you study peonies professionally or have a recreational interest in them?

Age

Gender Profession

Geographic Location/Current city of residence Level of educationTechnology Experience:

How often do you use a computer? Do you ever read blogs online? Tell me about a concrete example of a blog you read or

have read recently.

o Can you describe a time when you commented on a blog?! Why did you decide to comment?

How comfortable do you feel using the Internet to accomplish tasks? Low, Medium, or High.

How often do you use the Internet to find information? Have you ever used the Internet to look up information on peonies? (Question for peony

enthusiasts)

o If yes, how often and what sites do you normally visit?

o Can you give an example of a time when you used the Internet look up informationon peonies or the UM Peony Garden?


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Have you ever used the Internet to plan a garden visit, to the UM Peony Garden (or similar

garden)?o If so, how often?

o Can you give a concrete example of time you used the Internet to look up information

online to plan a garden visit?

o If so, what type of information is important for you to find out when planning your

garden visits? (If they respond positively to visiting the Peony Gardens website toplan a trip to the garden itself, ask: what information were you looking for on the siteto help them plan their trip?)

o If not, how do you plan your garden visits? What types of resources do you use and

what information do you look for on those resources?

Peony researching:

When you research peonies, what type of information are you interested in? What websites or resources do you use to find information on peonies? (for peony

enthusiasts)o How do you choose these resources?

o If you use the Internet to find information, what features of a website are most helpfulto you in your online research?

o How much do you trust the information that you find on these websites? Explain.

o What do you do to ensure that the information that you are viewing is accurate?

! Do you check multiple sources?o Which of the resources you mentioned above do a better job of supplying the

information you need?

! Why?Past experience with the UM Peony Garden Website:

Can you tell me about your most recent visit to the UM Peony Garden website?o How did you get to the site or how did you hear about it?

o When did you visit it?

o What were you looking for?o Did you find the information you needed?

o What problems did you encounter?

o What worked well about the site?

o What is your overall opinion of the site? Have you ever used the Peony Gardens mobile site while at the actual garden? (For people

who have both visited the site and the garden)

o Can you walk us through your experience? (Ask for a concrete example)o What did you like about your experience doing so?

o What could be improved?

o If not, did you know the garden had a mobile site? Have you ever used the Peony database on the UM Peony Gardens website? (Get

concrete example.)

o What did you like about it?

o What could be improved?o Did it help you find the information you were looking for?

o How useful was it in comparison to other peony research sources?


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Was there anything in particular that you didnt like about the site?

o Would you want to add anything? For users that have used the site before: Take me through what you did the last time you

were on the Peony Gardens website? (Show them the website if it is helpful)

o Why did you do what you did? (Ask at each step)

B. User Interview Notes

User 1 (U1)

Demographics and background information

Age - 30s

Gender - Female

Residence - Howell, MI

Level of education - Bachelors Profession - Commercial Title Examiner

Connection to Peony Garden - Volunteer photographer & garden member

Number of visits to garden each year - 10-12 times during the bloom season

Visits to other gardens - has visited the Washingtons National Arboretum, The Olympic

National Garden in Seattle, and anytime she goes on vacation she shoots a garden

Technology experience

Hours on the computer each week - 50

Blog use - slim to none

Comfort level using the internet - High

Sites that are typically used to find information - Google, Bing

Site used to find information on peonies - Google, Facebook, Austin Botanical Gardens,

the states garden website.

Sites used to plan social events and trips - none

Peony research

Information you want to know about peonies - when they are in bloom, and the type of

peonies that they have.

Main source of information for researching peonies - The gardens Facebook page

because it is update more frequently than web pages.

Sometimes she will just call them if parking is a hassle.

Features of a garden website that are most helpful - map to show location and parking,calendar of events (ex. Shakespeare Festival), what flowers are in bloom right now.

o Enjoys the Shakespeare Festival

Information on the site is trustworthy - Yes

Other garden websites that do a better job at supplying the information that you need:

o Prince Charles in England (http://www.highgrovegardens.com/)

o Tea Plantation in South Carolina (http://www.charlestonteaplantation.com/)

o Drayton Hall in Charleston, SC


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Past experience with UM Peony Garden website

Most recent visit to the website - looked to see which pictures of hers were used on the

site after finding out that they had updated it (garden staff told her about it)

Number of visits to the site - one

Found the information that was needed - yes Problems with the site - felt that a lot of the vocabulary that was used was to scientific,

and the pictures were very generic especially in the database

Features that worked well - Like the videos of David and Carmen

Features that did not work well - Felt that there was a lot of white space when viewing

the site in full screen mode.

Impression of the Peony Garden Mobile Site - Never used it

Never used database

Overall impression - felt that there was a lot of specific information of the types of

peonies and how to grow them, but because she is not a collector or grower a lot of the

information did not apply or was not helpful. All she wanted to know is where to park,admission fee (if any), and events and was able to find all of this information.

User 2 (U2)


Age - ?

Gender - Male

Residence South Lyon, MI

Level of education Masters

Profession - Retired Teacher Connection to Peony Garden - A member UM MBGNA & peony enthusiast

o Completed master gardener course in 2005

o Also in Master Gardener club, which has planned a visit to the garden

o Likes to shoot photography at the garden with his wife

o Did photography for the new site but has not looked to see if it was used

Owns part of 50 acre centennial farm

Likes being outdoors & enjoying the scenery of the garden


On the computer & Internet daily

Has high comfort with Internet

Uses laptop for email and things related to garden group

Uses ipad for magazine articles, news articles but doesnt load as quickly as he would

like

Utilizes bookmarks to keep track of important online resources

More likely use laptop to research peonies

Does not really read blogs but will occasionally comment on them if he sees a picture he

likes


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Peony research

Does research on peonies

o Wants to find specific species and raise them in personal garden

Also interested in finding out blooming time for UM Peony Garden Has interest in historic peonies because his mother and father grew them when he was

a child

o Trying to recreate some of his parents peonies in his own garden

Has some experience with other sites but cannot think of an example

Likes to look up peonies by color or picture

Just started peony research so cannot talk much to what resources he finds most helpful

Wants to know when peonies are in bloom

Likes to read up on professional research of peonies, like what is happening with the

bloom season

Appreciates information on how to care for peonies

Having timely, updated sources of information on peonies is important to him

Past experience with UM Peony Garden website Has not used site in its current iteration

Wanted to know if there were sales at the garden but had trouble finding information

online about such events in the past

Hasnt visited site in an entire year (since it has been updated)

o Has been traveling for a year

o Starts planning gardens around February- this is when he starts his research

Would like to delve into all the resources available on the site in the future, including the

database specifically to look up info on historic peonies

Looked at past version of Peony Garden website on both ipad & laptop and ipad version

was much harder to use Was hard to find site in the past, tried to find it through main MBGNA site but had a hard

time

User 3 (U3)


Age - 60s

Gender - Female

Residence - Plymouth, MI

Level of education Masters+

Profession - Retired Teacher Connection to Peony Garden - A member UM MBGNA

Number of visits to garden each year - at least 3 times when it is in bloom

Visits to other gardens - Franklin park, conservatory in Columbus, and New York City

garden

o Able to get into other gardens because of her membership at the MBGNA

She grows peonies in her personal garden for 40 years(enthusiast),

Has passed-down heirloom peonies from her grandmother that she cherishes greatly


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Hours on the computer each week - Everyday

Blog use - visits specific peony gardeners and researchers for getting information, but

never left comment on it

Comfort level using the Internet - Medium Sites that are typically used to find information - Google, Firefox

Site used to find information on peonies - Google, Firefox and Michael Dirr homepage

(http://www.dirrplants.com/)

sites used to plan social events and trips - Franklin park conservatory in Columbus

site(http://www.fpconservatory.org/Home) for looking up information about the garden

and flowers

Is familiar with Ann Arbor and where to park but parking information is useful to her

friends who are visiting the garden & are not as familiar with the area

Stumbled upon the Peony Garden one day- does not plan visits just instinctively knows

when they are going to bloom & if she is wrong, she will just go back again

Peony research

Information you want to know about peonies - She wants to see specific pictures and

information about peonies for her personal use. She is also interested in experts opinion

on bloom, mature size of the plant, color, density of petals, flower form, roots,

transplanting information, how-to videos online, and events, such as Peony Garden sale

Main source of information for researching peonies - She uses information from books,

and pamphlets, not nursery catalogs just trying to sell, specialists sites.

Information on the site is trustworthy - Yes, she follows specific peony gardeners and

researchers blog for getting information

Bookmarks the sites she finds interesting


Was not aware of Peony garden website

Impression of the Peony Garden Mobile Site - Never used it, but will use it in the future.

The site needs to have information about whats going on the flower in blooming

Interested in peony sale at Garden- Googled it but couldnt find anything so a UM Peony

Garden website would be helpful

o Would probably bookmark it with other research sites

Overall Impression - She did not know the existence of the clients website, but she is

willing to use it in the future for getting information and pictures with detailed explanation

for growing her own peonies.

User 4 (U4)


Age - 50s

Gender - Male


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Residence - Saline, MI

Level of education - Masters

Profession - Information Technology

Connection to Peony Garden - visits with family and during bloom season

Number of visits to Peony Garden- has visited several times

Is a MBGNA member

Visits MBGNA for hiking


How often do you use a computer- daily

Do you read blogs online? - Yes trade organizations and blogs relevant to my profession

(very rarely comments)

How comfortable are you with computers?- very comfortable with using computers

How often do you use the Internet to find information? Daily: Use the Internet to find

some sort information. Usually goes to Google to find something out but will use apps if

the app is easier or better than Google the answer (i.e. movie app, Google maps) Have you ever used the internet to plan a social outing - Used the internet to plan trips

and outings such as trips to Mackinac island, uses open table to plan reservations

Google maps to find a park (state park etc.).

How often - will use the internet for this purpose about once a week

Peony Research

Do you study Peonies professionally or have a recreational interest in them?- Not

professionally and not peonies specifically, but will look up plants and trees when visiting

the Arboretum

Also interested in when the peonies are in bloom in order to plan garden visits


Was not aware of Peony garden website

Used the Nichols Arboretum website once to find out an opening time for something.

Reason for not visiting arboretum site- not a lot of information to plan visit, things don't

change much also, gets email for special events have not really followed up.

What would you expect, most useful about the website? - Good information, information

about rate of bloom when to visit, got there too early got there too late, useful information

about timing.

User 5 (U5)


Age 50-70 years old

Gender - Male

Residence - Temperance, MI (near Toledo)

Level of education - Masters


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Profession Professional Recruiter

Peony enthusiast & garden member

Likes to visit different botanical gardens

Grows peonies at home


Uses computer 70 + hours a week

Very comfortable using the Internet

Reads blogs for info but rarely comments

Goes to other gardens websites frequently

When planning visits to other gardens, wants to see pictures of overall garden in a that

showcase what activities/events are coming up and what type of unique experiences he

can have there

o Wants to Why should I go to this garden?

! Pictures are a big factor in this

! Looks at pictures as an illustration of the experiences he can have at

gardens that are unique to each garden, such as events

Also wants to know when the peonies are in bloom

Looks for price of garden entrance

Parking info is important when planning visits to gardens, especially UM Peony Garden

because parking in Ann Arbor is difficult

o Has used brochures before that he obtained at the Peony Gardens house for

parking info, found those helpful

Websites he finds comparable:

o Daniel Stowe Garden, Charlotte, NC http://www.dsbg.org/

o Schedel Garden, Elmore, OH http://www.schedel-gardens.org/

o Fredrick Meijers Garden, Grand Rapids, MI http://www.meijergardens.org/

Looks for garden history on site

Wants to know a gardens story, what makes it unique, and what unique events or

activities they have there

o Thinks it would be good to highlight historical peony collection and their hiking

trail on UM Peony Garden site, for example

Peony research

Does not really research peonies, other than looking up when they are in bloom

Not really interested in scientific information on peonies


Has not seen current website but has experienced its old version

Would not use the database section of the site

Had difficulty finding parking info on old site

Did not like that the old site was text-heavy


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C. Personas and Scenarios

Our personas and corresponding scenarios are derived from the characteristics andexperiences of our five interviewees. Although only one of our interviewees had used the UM

Peony Gardens website in its current iteration, we developed scenarios in which the people

described in the personas actually use the site. We used the information we received from our

interviewees about how they used the previous version of the Peony Gardens website, as well

as how they use similar sites to conduct research on peonies or plan garden visits to make the

use of the UM Peony Gardens website described in our scenarios as realistic as possible. We

also wanted to represent three important general users of the site in our personas- a gardener

and peony enthusiast, a garden visitor who enjoys experiencing the garden and its events with

family members, and a photographer interested in shooting photos of flowers at the garden.

Although there are other ways users might utilize the UM Peony Garden website not

represented in the data we collected during our interviews, we wanted to keep our personas and

scenarios consistent with our findings from this study only. It is also worth noting that some of

the information in the scenarios reflects an idealized version of the site that may not be fully

developed at this point.

!


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Scenario 1:

In mid-February, Ramona decides it is time for her to plan her garden for the spring. Shewants to learn more about how to go about growing and caring for the heirloom peonies she

has inherited from her parents. She decides to search for peony websites using Googleand comes across the UM Peony Gardens website. When she sees the Peony Resourcessection of the website, she decides to read over the Care Calendar and GrowingPeonies pages. Both of these pages provide her with information that will be more usefulin the future so she bookmarks these pages for future use and continues to explore the restof the site.A month and a half later, spring has sprung and Ramona is ready to plant herpeonies. Looking at her garden, she realizes she is unsure where she should plant herheirloom peonies. Thinking back to the web pages she has bookmarked, Ramona goes

online to read about how close her peonies should be to her other plants, how they shouldbe positioned to get the appropriate amount of sun, and how much water and fertilizer she

should give them. Ramona prints off this page for future reference and applies what shehas learned to grow full, beautiful peonies. When her friends from her garden club comeover to see her garden, they ask her what she attributes to her success and she shares theUM Peony Garden website with them.


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Scenario 2:

Eddie has had a tight schedule the past couple of months and he wants to make sure toleave time for family events. Each week he plans an outing with his family. He is verytedious and likes to plan his schedule far in advance. Last year, he happened to catch theUniversity of Michigan Peony Garden during its peak bloom season but did not have the

time to bring his family to witness it. This year he plans on making it a family outing and hasheard about the Peony Garden website from a close friend.

He wants to use the site to find out when exactly the bloom season is during the spring. Healso wants to know what other events occur during the spring and summer months so thathe can take his family to the garden during an event they will all enjoy. He plans on going tothe Peony Garden website in order to find more information about what events areoccurring in the next few months, if there are admission fees, and what are some benefitsthat he can get from being a member of the MBGNA. He will use all of this information toplan and coordinate a family event. Eddie types Nichols Arboretum Peony into a Googlesearch engine and comes upon the main Matthei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum

page. Once there, he has trouble finding the Peony Gardens site, so he goes back toGoogle and searches UM Peony Garden, the result of which gets him directly to thePeony Gardens site. He then uses the Plan Your Visit tab of the navigation toolbar toexplore information on parking options, tours, events, and the peak bloom season. Heleaves the site satisfied with most of the information he has received but is still unclearabout the exact date of when the garden will be in full bloom so he bookmarks the site andplans to check back in a couple of weeks for any updates. A couple weeks later, Eddiechecks back and sees on the homepage slideshow, that the garden has started to bloomand uses the information he found previously to plan his visit.

Additionally, Eddie is used to using apps like Yelp! and other user-generated review sites

and blogs. He wants to go on the Peony website to see what other people who have visitedthe Peony Garden have done and what their experiences were like. He would use this toguarantee that his family outing for the weekend will live up to his expectations. He findsthe Share Your Story page of the site and is impressed to find exactly the information he islooking for- others stories of their experiences at the Peony Garden. This convinces Eddieeven further that a trip to the garden will be worth his and his familys while.


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Scenario 3:

Doug heard about the Peony Garden from a co-worker and was interested in learning moreinformation. Though he has been to the Arboretum and paid a membership fee last year, hehas not explored the Arboretum at length and became a member only after the Peony

Gardens blooming season was over. His co-worker also had taken some photographs andthinks it may be a great opportunity for some photography work between the two of them.Curious, Doug asks his co-worker what time of year would be best to visit but wants to

confirm this for himself so he decides to use the Internet to plan his visit more thoroughly, toget the right light for his photos, to ensure the peonies are in full bloom when he goes, andto possibly avoid large crowds blocking his shots.When Doug plans visits, he tends to go to several different places in a single trip. Before hegoes on his photography trips, he will visit the website of each location he plans to shoot (ifavailable) to make sure it is a worthwhile visit. For his visit to the UM Peony Garden, hewants to visit the website to get basic information as well as a feel for the scenic areas thathe can take photos of. He also wants to know what else he can check out nearby the

Peony Garden that he may not have been aware of before.When he visits the site he looks for pictures of the overall garden and photos of any placesthat make the Peony Garden unique. Since he is visiting several other places during the

same day he does not want setbacks or surprises on his visit. To make sure of this, Dougwants to know the details such as exactly when and what flowers are in bloom, where topark, if there are any admission fees, and what events are going on that day, if any. He alsowants to know visiting hours so can he get in and out of the garden as early as possible toavoid large crowds and capture the morning light. These bits of key information will help tomake sure that he can stay on schedule for his visit.

Doug visits the UM Peony Garden website before his trip. He gets to the site easily throughGoogle and searches around for photography opportunities and general visitor information.He sees a variety of photos, including some of the garden landscape, events, and close-up

shots of flowers. He is impressed by that the website is able to capture so clearly whatmakes the garden unique and he knows that he must plan a trip to take advantage of theunique photography opportunities there. Also, upon visiting the Plan Your Visit section ofthe site, he sees that admission is free, even for non-garden members like his friend whomhe might want to bring along. Doug also discovers a photomap of the garden and prints itoff so that he can easily find the flowers he is looking for. He also looks up parkinginformation because he even though he is an Ann Arbor resident, he has not been to theArboretum in a year and wants to make sure there are no parking issues to slow down hisday. Eventually, Doug visits the garden and is able to have a successful photo shoot

thanks to the information he found on the Peony Gardens website.

Interview Personas and Scenarios MBGNA Peony Garden

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Transcript of Interview Personas and Scenarios MBGNA Peony Garden