Worlds for Internet Technology and

Science 2008

A Usability Studyinto

SciCentr and ManyEyes

By Sara Liu

Usability (as defined by Wikipedia)

• a term used to denote the ease with which people can employ a particular tool or other human-made object in order to achieve a particular goalachieve a particular goal.

• the study of the principles behind an object's perceived efficiency or efficiency or

eleganceelegance.

This definition raises two questions…

1. What’s our “particular goal”?

Ultimate Goal:Introduce users to Many Eyes and teach them how to use its features.

Hidden Goals:Improving tutorials within SciCentrby analyzing how users engage in in-world tutorials

• What’s got them laughing?• When do their eyes glaze?

Bottom Line: What works? What doesn’t?

Wait! Our ultimate goal leads us to Wait! Our ultimate goal leads us to two more questions!two more questions!

Wait! Our ultimate goal leads us to Wait! Our ultimate goal leads us to two more questions!two more questions!

1.1 Who Are Our Users?Actually, the correct question is:

What is SciCentr?

…taken from the scicentr.org About Us page

What we do: Engage teens, especially those in underserved and minority communities, in STEM learning through the social and playful medium of online multi-user virtual worlds.

Goals: • Prepare students to think critically about science and technology within and beyond the classroom context through laboratory and fieldtrip experiences based on interactive, open-ended simulations and through situated learning games.

• Increase motivation to pursue STEM learning and to acquire technical skills for education and workplace through a structured and supportive social model.

• Build math and language arts skills through communication, presentation, and challenge exercises.

WARNING: Potentially egocentric detour!

Based on Past Experience…Cornell’s SciCentr/CYFair mentors worked mostly

with 6th grade students from Elmira City Schools– An early lesson: creating signs

• Which box do we click on?• How come nothing shows up? and I don’t see

anything!• I don’t know what you want me to do.

– Another lesson : teaching the students to create picture objects. • We noticed numerous errors in the links.• The students were typing all the links• They didn’t know how to copy and paste text

…now back to our regular programming

1.2 What is Many Eyes?

Many Eyes is a website that allows users to upload and represent their data sets in the form of various visualizations.

Points to Consider:• What are data sets?

– Uh… what’s data?

• Why should they visualize numbers?

( The ‘ I ’ comes into play; begin Snowball effect)• How do I explain tab-delimited text to 6th graders?• Do they know how to use Excel?

• Dangit! Do they even have Excel?

• How much do they know about data chart organization?• Where do I even begin the tutorial?

…and the snowball keeps rolling

The Rest of the TheoryStudents would be more excited if:• First, they explored the visualizations already

uploaded in Many Eyes– The visualizations are really cool– Better to discover possibilities of Many Eyes for themselves

• Then learn about data sets, how to create one, how to format them, and how to do it all in MS Excel

– After all, the visualizations have to be created from something!

• Finally, learn how to upload their own data sets onto Many Eyes

– Sign up for Many Eyes accounts– Learn to properly title data charts and visualizations

WARNING: Don’t click! Fake hyperlink.

Prevention Tactics:

Keep Cues Consistent

Look! A Beginning!

Scene Setup: Leafy enters the Many Eyes Adventure. Signs surround

Leafy. He’s so confused! What should he do?

All Done?

The solution: Start and Stop Signs!

If It Can Be Drawn, Draw It!

Text vs. This

• Go to the Many Eyes website

• On the left hand column, you’ll see a list of links

• Click on the link: “upload data set” – It’s under the 2nd

heading, labeled “Participate”

Usability (as defined by Wikipedia)

• a term used to denote the ease with which people can employ a particular tool or other human-made object in order to achieve a particular goalachieve a particular goal.

• the study of the principles behind an object's perceived efficiency or efficiency or

eleganceelegance.

This definition raises two questions…

Wait! What about this?

Let’s now answer the second question.

2. Is it Elegance and Efficiency

…or Elegance vs. Efficiency?

Even Core 2 Duos Need to Rest

Sign Objects:

• Can make exclusively in-world• Typo? No problem!

Picture Objects:

… but most importantly, the Space Issue:

vs.

• Just a link away• Oh so pretty!

Guess how many bytes we are?

C’mon, just guess!

Maybe 200 bytes? Only if you’re verbose. Each letter is a byte.

The ones in the WITS08 world are anywhere between 20 to 200… kilobytes.

Yikes!

The Hidden Uglies of Picture Objects

The Object: Reasons behind my Picture Object Infatuation

• More visually pleasing• Intimidating chunks of text,

broken up, become approachable

The Uglies:• Slower than signs to load: how

fast are the computers at middle schools?

• If sentences must be segmented so children don’t run away, consider:– An actual picture

Remember: If it can be drawn, draw it!

– A better explanation

In-World Webpages

Step Back for a MomentConsider:

– How detailed should an in-world tutorial be?– Many Eyes has two separate tutorials on its website

• Integrated within each link (e.g. “upload data set”) is another mini-tutorial

• Each visualization comes with detailed guidelines

• They even teach how to copy and paste!

– A Google Search on “Excel Tutorial” returns 630,000 hits• Is my way of teaching better than all 630,000 tutorials out

there?• Can an in-world tutorial ever compare to a dedicated tutorial?

Basically: Am I underestimating these 6th grade students and overestimating my tutorial-building skills?

In Other Words…

The End

Just Kidding!

Concluding Thoughts• Engaging students in a virtual setting leaves

open many possibilities• Presentation still matters:

– Do not overload the world with picture objects if signs are a viable alternative

– On the flip side, do not compromise clarity for an easy way to fix typos

– Keep in mind: a picture is worth a thousand words• Use consistent cues to keep navigation fluid• Obtain frequent feedback to keep improving

your tutorial• If it has been done 630,000 times already,

maybe a 630,001st time isn’t necessary.

and on that note… what are your thoughts?