[360] in Athena User Interface
Re: Minutes, 8/9 AUI Usability meeting
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Janet Littell)
Mon Aug 14 11:00:37 2000
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Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 11:00:32 -0400
To: "Christopher D. Beland" <beland@mit.edu>
From: Janet Littell <jlittell@MIT.EDU>
Cc: jlittell@mit.edu, kcahill@mit.edu, sbjones@mit.edu, aui@mit.edu
These notes are very helpful.
One question:
Re the decision to exclude the graphical file manager and renaming and
deleting files
from testing: Is there any other point-and-click way for testers to
manage files with
Gnome, or do they have to use the Athena command line? Will a file manager be
included, and if so, how does it fit into the development timeline?
Other comments:
- As I understand WebMoira, it is a list and access management system.
Interacting
with it seems like a more advanced user task. Should it be included in a
second phase
of testing?
- In the proposed schedule with dates, where beta testing appears, could
usability testing also be included? Ideally beta/system testing occurs before
usability testing, but they can go on in parallel if necessary.
Janet
>Athena User Interface Project
>First Usability Testing Meeting
>Wednesday, August 9, 2000
>
>Attending:
>
> Richard Tibbetts (tibbetts)
> Heather Anne Harrison (aurora)
> Andrew Boardman (amb)
> Brad Thompson (yak)
> Janet Littell (jlittell)
> Bill Cattey (wdc)
> Kathy Cahill (kcahill)
> Susan Jones (sbjones)
> Chris Beland (beland)
>
>
>Comments on goals and characterization of customers:
>
> - Aesthetics should be lower priority than usability criteria
> - The issue of alternative access methods was raised. While mainline
> Gnome development may provide us with additional support for
> accessibility (better keyboard bindings and support for special
> configurations) we should be OK as long as existing access methods
> (e.g. dialup service, command-line interface) continue to be
> supported
> - Use of cameras and playing music were mentioned as common (though
> not necessarily educationally-related) user tasks
>
> - Beland was tasked with constructing an alternate characterization
> of our customer base (rather than the crude expression of
> not-very-meaningful percentages)
>
> He now proposes:
>
> Our primary customers are MIT undergraduate, the vast majority of
> our users. However, we are aware that graduate students, faculty,
> and staff also use Athena, and that the needs of these groups may
> in some cases also be relevant to our core educational goals.
>
> Of foremost importance to the AUI project are the usability needs
> of incoming freshmen who have primarily (or exclusively) Windows
> and Macintosh experience, or little or no computer experience at
> all. We also seek to improve usability for veteran Athena and
> other Unix users. All users should benefit from increased
> functionality, better aesthetics, and continued support for
> existing functionality and customizabilty.
>
> Our primary focus is on the approximately 1000 public cluster
> Athena workstations; a secondary audience is an nearly equal number
> of machines in departmental clusters, laboratories, offices, and
> student residences.
>
> - It was reported that the staff who do use Athena commonly do so for
> e-mail and Zephyr
>
>
>Test Procedure
>
> - N42's integration lab was identified as our testing facility
> - Time limit was reduced to 30-45 minutes
> - The scope of testing was reduced so that it no longer includes:
> - Use or presentation of gmc, the graphical file manager
> - Use or presentation of gmenu, the menu editor
> - Renaming or deleting files (which might prompt use of gmc)
> - Open-ended customizations
> - Instead of entering an entire verse of prose, users will be
> requested only to fix a typos
> - The Zephyr sequence will be completely changed. Heather has
> volunteered to send personal messages to the subject during the
> test. Also, the questions related to Zephyr will be more sensitive
> to users' lack of social context. We will still be testing ability
> to send and receive brief personal and group messages.
> - The use of parenthetical "(group)" and "(topic)" labels,
> accompanying the traditional "class" and "instance" in gZephyr was
> judged important.
> - WebMoira will be tested, since it is the most modern and supposedly
> the most user-friendly mail interface. Though the system is being
> developed outside the AUI project, we will be able to provide
> useful and scientific feedback, which we anticipate will result in
> improvements, if any are needed. (We will probably need to acquire
> web certificates for the gtest user in advance to avoid problems
> with this test.)
> - The survey will be on a 5 point scale, not 7.
> - The survey will be shortened. Itemized questions about
> user-friendliness, speed, and responsiveness will be consolidated
> with open-ended questions. Short tests like the ones we will be
> performing are not a good measure of platform stability, so we will
> not ask about that.
> - The labels for the scale will be made clearer, including replacing
> N/A markings with more descriptive text.
>
>Menu System
>
> - The exact terminology and layout of the Gnome menu system was
> judged to be an important usability issue. Beland and Susan will
> consult with Brad (who was finishing the prototype menu
> configuration at the time of the meeting).
> - We agreed that there's no need to replicate the Dash menu in Gnome
> style for backward compatibility.
> - Some remarks were made about the utility of adjusting the default
> Netscape bookmarks, homepage and/or taskbar instead of encumbering
> the menus with a lot of URLs.
>
>
>Recruiting
>
> - I/S staff will be tapped for the first stages of testing, excluding
> developers and their development-related friends (Heather and Susan
> volunteered to recruit some people they know from around MIT who
> are enthusiastic about participating this sort of testing)
> - SIPB members would be useful as knowledgeable Unix-using test
> subjects
> - Nothing further was decided with regard to recruitment policy.
>
>
>Next Steps
>
> - AUI is working on stabilizing an alpha version of the prototype for
> testing.
> - Beland is revising the testing procedures, taking into the feedback
> given at the meeting. He will evaluate the completeness of the
> prototype with respect to the new procedure, and set up a time as
> soon as possible with Susan Jones to do a live run-through. He
> will e-mail everyone with the revised testing documents ASAP.
> - It was not decided whether it would be better to do actual testing
> ASAP or after new student orientation.
> - The new interface should be reviewed by appropriate staff for
> support load impact.
> - Future usability testing cycles will be necessary.
> - Heather will be planning an IAP event that will feature the new
> AUI.
>
>
>Bill performed an interactive interpretive dance which outlined the
>long-term future of the AUI project. Hopefully, I have managed to
>summarize it properly below.
>
> ---
>Summer 2000
> | Prototype development
> | Usability testing and report
> | Preliminary go-ahead decision NO -> Abort
> | Yes -> Continue...
> ---
> Fall 2000
> | Resource assessment for production system
> | Concurrently: non-public beta testing
> | Concurrently: continued development
> | Last call for stakeholder concerns
> ---
> IAP 2001
> | Non-public beta testing continues
> | Heavy development
> | Public preview and announcements
> ---
>Spring 2001
> | Public (opt-in) beta availability
> | Continued development
> | Evaluation of stability
> ---
>Summer 2001
> | Presuming stability, Gnome become new Athena default
> ---
>
>
>---
>
>Thanks all, for a very productive and enlightening meeting.
>
>Beland
>Maker of Minutes
