[Asis-l] Call for Participation: JCDL Tutorial, Lightweight User Studies for Digital Libraries

[George Buchanan]

TUTORIAL: Lightweight User Studies for Digital Libraries

June 19th 2009, Austin, Texas (as part of the ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on
Digital Libraries)

OVERVIEW

User studies are useful tools for both researchers and practitioners. They
offer a means of identifying user needs, responses to technologies and
institutional values. In turn, the findings of such studies can shape the
practical organization of an active digital library, or the design of DL
software being built by a researcher.

This tutorial will introduce those with little experience of performing user
studies to a range of effective methods that assume little expertise. The
goal of the tutorial is to equip each participant with techniques that they
can quickly put to use in the field.

PROGRAMME

The tutorial will focus on three key methods in detail: observations to
identify user needs, performing a simple comparison of two systems and
semi-structured interviews. Each method will be detailed with DL-specific
material drawn from the organizer’s own experience, using concrete scenarios
using real case studies.

Starting from a general view of why user studies are needed, and what they
can and cannot do, we will then focus on our three chosen methods in turn.
Appropriate goals and methods for each technique will be introduced, to
enable the participant to identify the right method for their own practical
needs. Suggested tactics - e.g. example questions for an interview – will
help attendees create their own material for a study in a short period of
time. The evaluation of the results of a study will also be outlined with
examples.

After attending the workshop, a participant should be able to design an
appropriate study within one working day (4 to 5 hours), conduct it and then
perform a simple evaluation of the results in a further couple of hours.

FORMAT AND DATE

The tutorial will run for a full day, divided into five sessions of
approxately 1 hour each. As part of the JCDL program, it will run on June
19th, immediately following the main conference.

AUDIENCE

The tutorial will be relevant to people from many backgrounds, including:
librarians running operational digital libraries (or DLs in the planning
stage); PhD students in digital library and information seeking related
fields; faculty members of a technical background seeking user-centred
evaluation methods, and those needing to assess DL services (e.g. DL funding
bodies).

ORGANIZERS

George Buchanan is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at City University,
London. George has extensively published on CHI issues in digital libraries,
and has run several previous usability tutorials.

Sally Jo Cunningham is Associate Professor at the University of Waikato, New
Zealand. A member of the New Zealand Digital Library Research group, Sally
Jo is well known for running user studies in unusual locations, such as
record stores.

REGISTRATION

Registration is available through the JCDL Website at www.jcdl2009.org

CONTACT DETAILS

In case of further query, please contact George Buchanan at
g.r.buchanan at gmail.com
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