[Sigia-l] RE: Tools for Remote Usability Testing (was Re: Where Can You Rent User Testing Labs)

[Robin Good]

John, Todd and all others.

Yes, here some more info.

I do agree with all of your comments. They are right on target.
But there aspects not mentioned to be considered.

90% of the tools I have selected do not require any download.
It is click and go.

Most web conferencing tools of tomorrow will require the transparent
download of only a very thin client (not the case indeed with WebEx or
Placeware). You are certainly not on dial-up, but that maybe the case for
many in this community. WebEx and Placeware do not have a thin client and
would require several minutes of download to join a meeting for a first time
user: exactly as if they had to download a software.

It is also likely that if you are to run any remote usability testing, you
will know in advance which PC will be attending your test sessions, and the
preparation and set-up could well be done in advance.

In my experience tools like PC Anywhere http://www.symantec.com/pcanywhere/,
GoToMyPC http://www.gotomypc.com, Glance http://www.glance.com, Seemyscreen
http://www.seemyscreen.com (though none of these offers voice or video) many
new ones available out there, are extremely effective in providing a full
view on what the user is actually doing during a usability test.

For those of you who were complaining about not having the ability to "see"
what the user does, that needs not to be a limitation anymore. Not only you
can see what the user does on the screen as if you were invisibly sitting
inside her monitor, but you can certainly opt to use one of those new highly
performing tools that provide extremely effective videoconferencing, even
though you need to have only one feed coming.

Firewall issues are a pain. Many alternative ways to access PCs behind
firewalls have recently been devised and most can connect reliably even
under these situations, as they utilize either the standard HTTP ports or
because they utilize a technique called "tunnelling" which also has proven
to be a valid alternative to these issues. There exist also a number of
online services and tools that allow anyone to circumvent Firewall and NAT
problems effectively. See one solution at:
http://www.naturalip.com

I also seem not to see any mentions of costs. How much were you guys paying
for those WebEx and Placeware sessions?
That would be valuable information for many of us here.


Robin Good


-----Original Message-----
From: Mitchell Gass [mailto:mitchell at participatorydesign.com]
Sent: giovedi 24 aprile 2003 18.50
To: John O'Donovan; Amy Kahn; Robin.Good at masternewmedia.org
Cc: sigia-l at asis.org; morry at webproducers.org
Subject: Tools for Remote Usability Testing (was Re: Where Can You Rent
User Testing Labs)


At 04:42 PM 4/24/2003 +0100, John O'Donovan wrote:
>...I'd be interested in opinions on tools such as the following three.
>These are tools developed around the needs of system administrators but
>have great potential in the area of remote testing:
>VNC...PCAnywhere...Flash Communications Server
>http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashcom/productinfo/product_overview/

John,

For most of the remote usability tests I conduct, the participants are
one-time participants, and they need to be able to connect to the screen
sharing service quickly and easily. Downloading and installing a software
application, even if it's free, is too much to ask them to do. Also, IT
departments in many organizations prevent or forbid the installation of new
software. An advantage of PlaceWare and WebEx is that connecting involves
little more than going to a website and clicking a link, which
automatically installs the necessary plug-in, and getting started takes
only a couple of minutes.

Another requirement for most of the remote tests I conduct is that the
screen sharing service must work through network firewalls, which almost
all businesses have. Ports for streaming video are very frequently blocked
by network firewalls, and the service needs a way around this. PlaceWare
and WebEx generally work through network firewalls, while other tools I've
tried, such as NetMeeting and GoToMyPC, don't.

I'm curious to know if the Robin Good report on Web Conferencing discusses
whether the tools meet these requirements. Luigi, can you help us here?

Mitchell Gass
uLab | PDA: Learning from Users | Designing with Users
Berkeley, CA 94707 USA
+1 510 525-6864 voice
+1 510 525-4246 fax
http://www.participatorydesign.com/