Offering a Helping Hand

For some people asking for help can be hard and can sometimes feel humiliating. I am one of these people who struggle with asking for help, so I was that much more impressed when LA Times staff members came to our class and asked for help in conducting User Experience Research (UER).

A Different Kind of Research

UER consists of knowledge gained first hand from primary sources. The reason why this kind of research is so beneficial to online news sites is because it allows the news organizations to gain access to information about how the consumers they are trying to attract operate. The more knowledgeable these companies are about their online visitors, the more these companies can do to try and make sure their visitors continue to visit their site.

Exercises can be Fun

The exercises the LA Times staff members used to generate data for their UER involved many different concepts. There were surveys the class filled out that shed some light on the kind of websites we go to when we want the news, and the process we go through in looking at the material once at the website we desire. There was also an exercise where we observed a classmate surfing the Web, which again helps to show how we as visitors to a website go through the process of deciding which articles are interesting enough to spend time reading.

Sorting Life by Categories

The one exercise that stood out to me most was the card-sorting exercise. In this activity the class had to sort cards with different topics on them into distinct categories, similar to how a news website usually sorts a variety of topics into several categories. This exercise made me realize just how difficult a task it is to sort all aspects of life that a newspaper covers into a minimum number of categories. The challenges of the task included trying to figure out which topics were most similar to other topics, and trying to find some similarities between what appeared to be random topics. 

UER as a Way of Increasing Revenue

By gathering UER, information becomes available about what editorial content interests various types of people, and how different sets of people prefer that editorial content to be displayed. It is then up to the people gathering this information to decide how to use it, depending on whether they want to try and attract more scanners, grinders, etc. However, if this information is used right, it can greatly effect the revenue and editorial content of a web site. Thus, I believe there should be as much emphasis placed on UER as both revenue and editorial content in determining the makeup of a news site, since UER is the voice of the customer/consumer, and the customer is always right!

The Dirtiest Job in America

There is currently a show on TV titled "The Dirtiest Jobs in America", where host Mike Rowe takes viewers inside some of the dirtiest, toughest, and trickiest jobs in America. Unless I have missed an episode, Mr. Rowe seems to have left out what I now consider to be the toughest job there is: website designer/content manager.

We all go to websites. If you're looking at this blog, you're on one right now. We think about websites all the time. But how often do we truly think about them? How often do we think about the thought process that went into every design detail? Unless it's your job to do this, the answer is most likely never.

How they work their magic

A lot of what a web designer ultimately decides to do is based on UER-User Experience Research. UER essentially analyzes a viewers online habits and uses that data to determine what the best layout of a website would be. Yes, it does sound nearly impossible. Yet somehow the website designers are able to do it, and they certainly do it well.

UER Exercises

User Experience Researchers don't just sit around and watch people go online and then figure out how to design a website. Instead, they utilize various surveys and activities to get an even better idea of what viewers are looking for. Here are some of the exercise we participated in when the LA Times UER group came to talk to our class. 

Card Exercise

In this exercise the group was divided up into smaller groups and given a packet of cards that had different  things one would find in a newspaper written on them. (such as news, obituaries, weather, science, etc.). The smaller groups were then asked to organize the cards so that they were with similar cards. It was so difficult! Trying to decide if a topic should be included in the "news" section or the "special interest" area was very difficult. The researchers will then use this information to decide how to better sort and categorize content on their web page, and after my struggles with it, all I can say is good luck to them!

Watching our Friends

For this exercise we observed our partner go about their daily Internet routine. We were asked to write down what websites they went to, what links they clicked on, what stories they read, and so on. This exercise again told me that I would be horrible at UER, as I was more focused on what the websites were saying than what my partners activities showed about her Internet use. For those that are good at UER however, they will no doubt look at the information we compiled and glean a lot out of it, such as whether or not the person is more of a scanner or actually sits down and looks at the whole page.

All in all, I learned one main thing from the UER exercises: it is a very difficult job to do. To take peoples Internet habits and form theories and an actual website off of them is difficult yet awe-inspiring. Now that I know how much time and effort goes into organizing content on a website, I truly do notice when a website does it well. And let me tell you, good content organization truly does make all the difference. 

Putting yourself in their shoes

What is it?

A Web design team can only speculate in their offices about what readers like. But User Experience Research (UER) allows them to go and find out from primary sources what is enjoyable about a site and what does not work. UER is important for online news sites because there are many different options for newsreaders. News organizations must find out what these readers like in order to get business.

How does it work?

• The card-sorting exercise was fun, and made me question how I group different elements of news. I had never really thought about how everything fits together. It was a lot harder to organize than I thought it would be. But in the end I felt a kind of accomplishment at putting everything in groups that I thought made sense.
  
• The surveys were detailed but sometimes confusing. Although they had good questions like ranking the importance of news, I thought that some of the questions asked similar things.
• The observation of classmates' surfing was really fun. I felt somewhat like a human Poynter tracker. But I don't feel like a 5-minute period offers the chance to show enough information about a reader's daily routine.
  

These exercise were all good ways for researchers find differences between what Web designers may think make sense and how readers actually feel.

What does it all mean?

I am a grinder. This kind of reader is someone who is very loyal to their news organizations and has specific criteria for where they get their news. I definitely agree with my placement in that category because I don't check a lot of news sources. I mainly read the Los Angeles Times because I'm just used to it.

The card sorting exercise was hard because some of the news subjects seemed to stand alone. There are many topics that are unique and do not fit with others smoothly. But our group discussed the reasons why the subjects might fit in one category or another, and ultimately came to a well-negotiated result. I think a group can best figure out what works because they usually have different opinions, which is what the general public is made up of: different opinions.

Is this information useful?

UER is a type of research that needs to be factored in. It has a direct impact on a news Web site's revenue because readers need to come use the site in order for it to make money. The information from the UER may clash with an editor's ideas on the site's organization, but it also reflects the readers' feelings. The news organization is catering news to readers, and therefore should consider giving them something they actually want.

A little opinion goes a long way

User Experience Research helps companies know how their consumers think to target them more efficiently. It is especially important for online news sites because they want to know how to retain an audience while increasing their revenue to make up for the losses in the print and broadcast world. 

The Los Angeles Times UER had several parts:

• A discussion intro
• Lots of surveys
• Card sorting
• Observation of surfing habits

Surveys and Sorting

There were many surveys to fill out for the UER. They were pretty long and even tedious, but we saw why they were important, namely in categorizing who we were as a reader, which I will address later. 

The card sorting was tougher than I expected. I know we talked about it once in a previous class, but actually doing the exercise showed how complicated it could be. Does TV fit under Arts & Culture? What about bars and clubs? Is that Arts & Culture? Or should there be a separate category. 

Still, we were able to find a category for each item. My partner and I had a pretty easy time because it was just the two of us, which helped a lot. We pictured a Web site and thought how we would want to find something if we were on the site. We sorted everything based on first impressions, and then went through them more carefully, making it easier to find categories for each card in the end. 

Who am I?

I ended up being a scanner, which is someone who doesn't read every story but loves to look through the headlines. At first I didn't really agree with being placed in this category, because I thought I read more deeply, but I actually think this is correct. 

I love to read the Drudge Report. I love to go through the headlines of The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times throughout the day. I want to know what's going on, but I won't go into every story in the papers. 

In the end

The findings of these exercises could help redesign the front pages. Scanners like me would be more likely to visit the Los Angeles Times home page if there were more headlines and links to scan. In addition, the surveys could show the Web site what stories they find more compelling and interesting, and the site could feature those articles. 

All of this shows the importance of UER. Although it shouldn't be the most important aspect that trumps all others, it must always be taken into consideration. Good content should drive the Los Angeles Times. If there is good content that is shown well, people will come. And that will bring revenue. And that's supposed to save the industry, right?

Behind The Scenes

How would you define User Experience Research?

User Experience Research is a study on the user/viewer's interaction with various components of a website. Whether through habits or interests, the behavior of the user on a particular website allows web designers to determine what is effective or attractive to their viewers. It is essential to discover what will garner more attention to the site; the more traffic, the more potential there is for ad revenue.

The research conducted and feedback gathered can help anywhere from the appearance of the website to the layout of certain information. It is also important for online media to analyze user behavior and experience because it reveals a lot about their personality and lifestyle; aspects that they can use to cater their information to.

What happened?

Last Tuesday, the User Research Experience team at the L.A. Times came into the Journalism 446 classroom and conducted a session that determined what type of news junkie we are. Through several surveys, questionnaires, and question-and-answers, the team was able to see where different students stood in terms of being a certain type of news gatherer.

The information gathered also helped them understand what the demographics of college students are looking into. From the session, they can deduce what students my age are following (interest, attraction to a picture or headline, relevance to life, etc).

The research helped discover:

-what interests the user
-particular attractions (picture, headline, video, etc)
-the frequency in which one goes on the site
-the length of time one stays on a page
-the times in the day in which one uses the internet
-the behavior in which users go about finding news (through a particular subject matter, loyalty to a site, or overall interest in news)

What type of news junkie are you?

From the behaviors, students were categorized into being a news hound, a scanner, or a grinder. Only Hannah and I were placed in the "scanners" category because, from our survey, they saw that our habits were more to get a general knowledge of news rather than leaning toward a particular subject (sports, cooking) or trying to understand local news at certain peak hours of the day. We peruse everywhere and pick and choose what we click on simply out of interest.

I thought my label was extremely accurate. I tend to not care for one specific subject, and I have no loyalty to one publication, which permits me to roam several websites, reading just about anything.

What does your "label" reflect?

After being divided into groups, the L.A Times U.E.R team gave each group a stack of flashcards with various topics such as "Politics," "Technology," and "Hollywood A-Z." They requested that we categorize the cards into matching groups. This process allows them to see what our thought process is like. If we grouped "Entertainment" with "Blogging," it suggests to them that we see a correlation between the two and that we might expect to see blogs in the entertainment section. Since there were only two members in the group, deciding which topics belonged to what group was not difficult.

Through all the information gathered, web designers and product developers can determine what to put on a site, where to put it on a site, and how to catch and maintain a user's attention on the site. In return, traffic will grow, also increasing the number of sponsors or advertisements.

Overall, I thought the experience was really useful. I had no idea how much thought and effort goes into constructing/formatting a website. It was also interesting to learn the balance a news organization must maintain like making sure the fundamentals of journalism (ethics, integrity, timeliness, etc) remains a priority, but letting business (the source of employees' income, livelihood of company, etc) be a main component as well.

Photos - Courtesy of Creative Commons

UER at USC

User Experience Research allows companies to better cater to their audience by studying the consumer's experience with the product. What do they like? And why?

In our case on Tuesday, the product was the Los Angeles Times Web site. I personally visit latimes.com daily despite the cluttered home page, but apparently others are not as forgiving. The site is not nearly as popular as Yahoo News, CNN, or even The New York Times, according to an Alexa ranking of top news sites. In short, it needs improvement, and user experience research can help in determining where to start.

Research Exercises

• Surveys-Most of them had a lot of questions, which made it so that we did not have a lot of time to spend thinking about each one. In this way, the answers reflected our initial reactions rather than allowing us to over-think the situation. The surveys will give the Los Angeles Times research team a sense of what type of news we prefer and where we usually go to get it.

• Categorizing news-Sorting the cards into appropriate categories was easier said than done. Some categories, like "video" and "photographs," seemed to belong everywhere whereas "religion" and "obituaries" did not really fit anywhere. Although my group came to an agreement, we made several compromises, which just shows that not everyone is going to be happy with the way latimes.com decides to organize its news. Of course, the goal of the research is to figure out how to make as much people happy as possible. The organization must be logical and comprehensive.

• Internet habits-It was weird to try to "act normal" for the Internet exercise when you had someone taking notes about your every move. Also, I don't normally just get online for the sole purpose of reading news for five minutes. I usually use the Internet to look something up and then periodically check on the news throughout my session online, so I did not feel like it was an accurate representation of my Internet habits.

Final Thoughts

For someone who uses latimes.com often, I liked the idea that my feedback might help to improve the Web site. User Experience Research is definitely valuable because know one knows what an audience wants better than the news consumers themselves. Of course, it is unrealistic to base all changes solely on user research. The exercises give researchers a glimpse into the online behaviors of potential site users, but the simulations and surveys are still nothing more than imitations of the real thing. It is also important to consider external factors that affect an individuals online news habits.

User Experience Research

User Experience Research

My definition: research information gathered through exercises/activities that figure out how people use something

In other words, if you're finding out how people look at the LA Times online, you should research how actual users react to the website, their experiences, and what they think is important on the site.

Why is this important?
UER can give you valuable information into how users want the website to be like. If there are certain section they don't even visit or they hate how many ads there are, that's something an online news organization should know.

Researchers can also use the information gathered to optimize the time spent on the home page, or each page for that matter, by figuring out the path users take. For example, certain people may scan the page for interesting headlines, then click on the "Front Page" tab, and move on to another section. This is valuable information, especially if many more follow the same pattern. This can reveal people aren't visiting certain sections.

Ultimately, it's important to find out what users think about a website. After all, they are the people visiting it. Without them, there wouldn't be any traffic. UER can provide insight into how and what your users think about.

Thought on the Focus Group

I actually forgot we were going to be participating in a focus group during class. But once I remembered, I was really excited thinking about how my thoughts could directly impact the redesign of the LA Times website. The only focus groups I had participated in before were for class. They never had as big of an impact as this one did.

I was grouped with those more concerned with content. This describes me accurately as I often read the stories if the content intrigues me. I was put with other content people, and I thought this would make grouping the cards together somewhat easy. However, I was wrong.

Three of us would agree with where to put things. I don't know if that was because we think more similarly or we aren't really argumentative. Having a vocal group member who didn't agree with the others' decisions made the exercise harder. When observing the other groups, it seemed like we had more complications those around us. Despite this, we were fortunately able to finish the task.

User Experience Research

I thought the User Experience Research session we had in class was very interesting. This research will help the Los Angeles Times in its endeavor to discover the best way to organize its website to please its news consumers. UER is important to online news sites because it is the only way to determine with certainty the type of organization and content that will attract the most business.



I thought the surveys were somewhat vague, and I wasn't sure how they would reveal anything significant about my Internet habits to the researchers. However, when I was placed in a grinder audience segment with three other girls for the card sorting exercise, I figured it must have given them some insight because we didn't have too much trouble agreeing on how to sort the cards.

This card sorting exercise was the most interesting to me because it helped me learn about myself at the same time that I learned about UER. My group had difficulty putting Religion and Obituaries into a category, and at one point we considered joining them, or perhaps joining "Religion" with "Sports" and "Home Teams," but eventually we decided to make them both orphans. Another difficulty was our Entertainment category. We did not know whether to join local entertainment sections with general entertainment ones. Eventually we decided to make them separate categories to facilitate a user's ability to find things to do in his or her city.

Observing my partner's internet habits was not extremely revealing because I have watched people surf the Web before. Also, I think people did not actually practice their normal Internet habits because they knew they were being watched.

I did not really agree with the audience segment I was placed in; however, I think that may be because I change my Internet habits on a regular basis. Sometimes I will go for days without checking the news online, other times I will check it incessantly. Sometimes I'll go to some sites regularly, other times I won't go to those sites at all. It just depends.

I think UER is valuable because without it, the people who organize online news sites would not necessarily be gearing their efforts toward pleasing the reader. However, it has the weaknesses I noted above. Overall it was a good learning experience.

What I Did, What I Will Do

"Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily," said Thomas Szasz once upon a time.

I've always thought that statement was an accurate one. Learning languages is an obvious example - I learned to speak both Spanish and English like it was nothing when I was a little girl. But I've been studying French for years and I still haven't become fluent. That's why when I'm in class, I try to maintain the open mentality of a child. Otherwise, I never learn anything.



So. What did I learn from Story Project #1? I learned that bold subheads are highly effective for keeping a person's attention throughout a story. I learned that italics really do emphasize a point. And I also learned that links are very useful.

I tried my best to utilize all of these tactics in my last story, but I believe the story itself didn't lend itself very well to bolds or italics or links because it wasn't an opinion piece. It was a very objective description of what happened with chimps who had been used in invasive research, and I felt that emphasizing certain things in a visible way would be awkward.

For my next story project, I plan to cover a story that lends itself better to these things. I will also use a slideshow format instead of a gallery format for my photographs because I felt that they made other classmates' story projects more interesting.

That is all.

Making Blogs Interactive

My first story project seemed decent when I finished it. Then I saw everyone else's stories and realized I definitely wanted to change some things. The main thing I want to do to my next project is to make it more interactive.

You can look, and you can also touch

I'm not trying to be creepy by looking up Lysee's project and pasting it on here...
but I really liked how she had that slideshow of pictures in the upper right-hand corner. (This picture doesn't show the movement of the photos but I just wanted to point out its great location.)


It was also useful that the slideshow allowed you to pause or go back and forth between photos. These options give the reader control and also make the story interactive.

Tell me when to go

Another thing a project needs is links. They let readers know when should go check out more information about a topic. Having the link right there in the story allows them to quickly click it and be taken to a new destination, instead of having to open up a new window, go search in Google, and then get to that new place.

Everything's Better On the Big Screen

My first project featured video in the sidebar. I want to embed it right in the story next time instead of making readers watch what is basically a thumbnail size version of my video. People have already explained how to do it for this post assignment so I am going to try it right now. Lets see if I can do it.

I think I just did it! This is exciting. Well hopefully I am on my way to making a great project.