[Sigia-l] audience analysis

[Rowland, Claire]

hi peter,

my rule of thumb is to try and identify the type of categorisation that makes the most difference to how a user would interact with the site.  i always ask myself "which groupings will make the most difference to the work i'm going to do?", which is effectively the same thing.

as susan says, this is different for different types of site.  job role might be the most salient, and also tends to be static over time (although remember that users can fulfil more than one role!)

more abstract variables like motivations tends to be trickier, as real users can move through quite complex patterns of motivations even within a visit, as they formulate new goals and subgoals.  for example, they might visit a wine site to buy something that will impress someone, become involved in the information provided and develop another goal, such as becoming informed about different types of chateauneuf or whatever.  (if i think this is the case, i'll try to map out how users might move between these roles).

however salient your main groups, you'll always have other variables to consider too.  susan suggests creating a matrix listing experience level and frequency of usage, which are always important factors.  depending on the site, you might also want to include other variables.  if job role is your primary grouping, motivation might belong here.  interest in particular types of product or content might go here too (again, if it's not your primary grouping).  i usually include the users' technical baseline stuff here too as a reminder (though it ought to belong in a generic brief too).

where relevant, i usually create a matrix of common tasks/user roles/use cases and show which user groups are most likely to perform each of these, and how those might be performed differently by each user group.

if you've not already read hackos and redish's 'user and task analysis for interface design', that's a great reference.

and forgive a spot of egotism if i plug this: http://www.webreview.com/2000/05_26/strategists/05_26_00_1.shtml . it was written some time ago when i was greener around the gills and feedback is more than welcome.

hope this helps,
claire

Claire Rowland
HCI Specialist/Information Architect
Credit Suisse First Boston
One Cabot Square
London
E14 4QJ

Tel:  +44 (0)20 7888 4908
Fax: +44 (0)20 7890 2372

> -----Original Message-----
> From: PeterV [mailto:peter at poorbuthappy.com]
> Sent: Monday, April 29, 2002 2:41 PM
> To: sigia l asis.org
> Subject: [Sigia-l] audience analysis
> 
> 
> Hi gang,
> when doing audience analysis, what types of categories do you 
> tend to use 
> to divide your audience up? What are the rules for this? It 
> was always 
> clear to me how to divide my audience when doing a project, 
> but I'm trying 
> to find out what the generic *rules* are. Any good online 
> references / 
> books to check out?
> 
> Thanks as always!
> PeterV
> http://petervandijck.net
> http://poorbuthappy.com/ease 
> 
> 
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