Scratchpad Requirements Gathering Exercise

Sarah Phillips

BackgroundICT Team performed an option analysis on the architectural design of eMonocot

Consensus decision reached and ratified by Project Board in May 2011

New content will be gathered and edited in Scratchpads

Content will be aggregated from these Scratchpads alongside existing source systems (Palmweb, CATE-Araceae, GrassBase) in a read-only Portal

Eliminates any duplication of effort since the only read-write interface is in the Scratchpads

Leaves maximum time for the Oxford/Kew team to focus on the Portal

Leaves the Kew Content Team and other contributors having to use a tailored Scratchpad that may not support all their needs

Question

Are Scratchpads fit for purpose for eMonocot?

9 Testers each given an eMonocot Scratchpad

Each User was asked to upload and edit content

Tasks were based on the Scratchpad training guide Data and Images were provided

Tasks

• Create a home page• Add new users• Navigate the

classification• Edit the

classification• Curate Taxon page• Import a

bibliography

• Add specimens and locations

• Add Images• Add taxonomic

descriptions• Add a country map• Search the data

How easy they found Each Task (Very Hard/Hard/OK/Easy/Very Easy)

What improvements were necessary with the process

If they wanted to do something but could not

What additional functionality a Scratchpad should have

Any other content they would want to add

Any other improvements they would like to see

Overall how hard they found the experience

Feedback

Results

On average users rated their overall experience of using the scratchpad as OK Although the average of individual tasks was Easy

Identified approx. 130 requirements

There were a number of common themes that the feedback identified

Improve Usability and Help

Difficult to navigate around the site, not intuitive

Number of steps (clicks) that a user needs to perform a task seems to be greater than necessary

Needs improved and more comprehensive Instructions

Need more visual representations e.g. screen shots

Technical language and Scratchpad terms used in the Help difficult for beginners

Classification tree difficult to navigate – small indents

Hard to edit the classification in the taxonomic editor

Limited search options to find the content that you want

A lot of effort is needed by a user to curate and make attractive taxon pages

Editing content in the matrix editor difficult because of the small window for the editor

Autotagging the bibliography on import

Difficult Tasks

Improve Display of Content

Unsatisfactory display of Synonymy - can not quickly see all the synonyms of a particular name

Clearer display of Type specimens and their images

Content should automatically fit neatly in the Widgets

Display text as a string as opposed to separate fields and their headings

Country maps – More interactive allow zooming in

What Scratchpads can not doAutomatically move names in the classification tree when you associate them to a different accepted name

Ability to move more than one name at a time in the classification tree

Save users search results – can bookmark search Alter the names or order of the tabs in the Taxon description - will break EOL export

Restrict users to be able to edit or contribute data to selected taxa only

ConclusionNo Showstoppers found so far

Room for improvement in terms of usability and display of Content

Improvements should be seen in Scratchpad 2

More feedback and requirements will be gathered when content team and communities start adding content