03 User studies for digital libraries development
Dr. Milena Dobreva, Pierluigi Feliciati
Audience: Practitioners working in the domain of digital libraries who are interested in the methods to find more about user needs. The number of participants is limited to 25.
Short description : The modern digital libraries have to address multiple diverging requirements and expectations of the users and at the same time to accommodate the rapidly changing technological novelties. User needs are always mentioned amongst the priorities in the multitude of policy documents which shape the scope and characteristics of digitisation and accessibility online. However, in reality, users seem not to be consulted in detail. The purpose of this workshop is to introduce a range of methods which can be applied to understand better user needs and expectations (surveys, questionnaires, interviews, deep log analysis, eye tracking, ethnographic studies) and to give a practical feel how they work in real practice through a series of recent studies. The workshop will also include a discussion on a real life case study which will help the participants to get a better understanding what studies could be particularly helpful according to the products and services they develop.
Workshop outcomes:
The workshop will contribute the participants to gain better understanding in several areas:
- Basic models on users in the digital library domain
- Key user study methods
- Recent best practices of case studies
It will also help participants to get initial knowledge on the design of a user study, and will facilitate transfer of experience between specialists engaged in specific types of studies.
