EPOCH Survey on usability evaluation for Cultural Heritage applications

This survey is carried on in the context of the EPOCH project (http://www.epoch-net.org/) - workpackage 4.2.

Our survey focuses on usability – a fundamental factor for the overall quality of an interactive application. The following questionnaire aims at to investigating the current usage of usability evaluation methods, identifying the most common approaches and practices currently adopted by cultural institutions in the development of digital applications. We also attempt to identify some critical requirements for CH evaluation methods, by understanding the needs and expectations of the various stakeholders involved in the evaluation activities of CH applications (e.g., application analysts, domain experts, project managers, information architects, interface designers, end users). In particular, we want to explore the characteristics that should be provided by an evaluation method in order to be accepted and effectively used in CH projects.

If you are involved in any evaluation activity within a CH project, please help us in this research!

The information you will provide – together with the data collected from other questionnaires - will work pave the ground for defining guidelines, heuristics and best practices concerning evaluation of cultural multimedia, and for the identification for the criteria that a usability methodology should satisfy in order to be accepted and effectively adopted in the cultural heritage world.

The data collected by our study will be treated strictly confidentially and anonymously. If you want to receive the final report about the survey findings, please specify your email at the end of the questionnaire. If you have any question concerning our study, please contact TEC-Lab Staff <tec-lab@lu.unisi.ch>

Thanks for your collaboration!

The EPOCH Team at HOC-Politecnico di Milano and TEC-Lab University of Lugano

day
month
year

Name of the company/institution

Size of the company/institution (number of people)

Your division/department profile (if applicable, please check one or more)

Your company website (if any)

http://

SECTION 1: CURRENT USABILITY PRACTICE

The purpose of this section is to explore the tools and techniques you use for evaluating cultural multimedia applications.

1. When do you use techniques or methods to evaluate the usability of your interactive applications?

Never
Sometimes
Always

If you answered “never” please go to Section 2.

2. In which phase(s) of a cultural multimedia application lifecycle do you usually perform usability evaluations?
(e.g. requirements management, design, implementation)

3. Which general approach do you primary used for performing usability evaluations of your applications?
(e.g. expert analysis, empirical evaluation)?

4. If the evaluation of your application is performed through observation of user sessions, where do you collect data?

In the "natural" context" of use of the system (e.g. in the museum, in the working environment, at home)
In an artificial environment (e.g. usability laboratory)

5. Do you use any specific technique or method for the usability evaluation?

Yes
No

If yes, please describe which one:

6. Who is the typical target of the usability evaluation (e.g. the project manager, the visual designer)?

7. Do you use any software tool or equipment to support the usability evaluation?

Yes
No

If yes, please describe which one:

SECTION 2: THE NEXT METHODOLOGY

The purpose of this section is to investigate your opinions about factors and motivations that may prevent or promote the adoption of a new usability evaluation method.

8. How relevant is usability? Please rate your answer.

	Very relevant	Relevant	Not relevant
Overall
Contents
Navigation
Lay-out
Services
Other (please specify below)

Comments and suggestions:

9. Which improvements and benefits do you expect from a new usability evaluation method? Please rate your answer.

	Minimal Improvement	High Improvement
Productivity of development
Quality of the application
Usability of the application
Communication skills within the development team
Reduction of errors
Reduction of changes
Other (please specify below)

Comments and suggestions:

10. If a usability evaluation method was proposed to you, which characteristic of such a method would you consider most relevant?
Please rate your answer.

	Absolutely necessary	Very relevant	Relevant	Not relevant
Lightweight (easiness to learn and to apply)
Standard
Guidelines and heuristics
Process model
Flexibility (possibility of using the method in multiple ways)
Customizability (possibility of creating your own version of the method)
Scalability (possibility of adopting a method partially and progressively, first adopting some features only and later extending the use)
Other (please specify below)

Comments and suggestions:

11. If tools for usability evaluation were proposed to you, which feature would you consider most relevant? Please rate your answer.

	Absolutely necessary	Very relevant	Relevant	Not relevant
Appropriate documentation
Training support
Consultancy support
Method-specific tools for collecting evaluation data
Method-specific tools for structuring and analyzing the evaluation results
Support tools for reporting the evaluation results
Other (please specify below)