Once we moved past discussing a few things it was time to start talking about the process that we will be using to create a new website. The discussion began with a brief discussion of my background from both an educational and professional standpoint. The process that we will be using to create a new website appears on the Outline web page. The outline was created based upon several things that include personal experience, my graduate work at Indiana University, and attending professional workshops.

Here is the outline for the discussion:

1. Introduction
   1. My Background – HCI, Information Architecture, Course Work, Professional Workshops
2. Why do you use the Internet?
   1. Summary:
      – Find Information
      – Accomplish a Task
   2. Did Not Say:
      – Read
      – Look at the Design
3. Mention Books
   1. Letting Go of the Words:writing Web content that works
   2. Prioritizing Web Usability
   3. The Design of Everyday Things
4. Keep it Simple
   1. Draw complicated diagram
   2. Draw simple diagram
5. Iterative Cycle
6. Design is a Process
   1. Gather Requirements – INFLUX helped to do this process
      1. First Thing
         – Understanding of who we are?
         – Who are they?
      2. Field Study- Interview
         – Shadow
         – Identify the ‘low-hanging fruit’ – the most important stuff
   2. Brainstorm Phase One
   3. Brainstorm Phase Two
   4. Design & Prototype
      1. Sketches
      2. Wire Frame Models
      3. Build Prototype
   5. Usability Testing
7. Other things we will be doing
   1. Card Sort
   2. Developing Information Architecture

After taking a moment to talk about my background we moved into the interactive part of the discussion in which people where asked “Why do you use the Internet?” This was a lively discussion in which everyone had the opportunity to mention a reason or two why they use the internet. Right after I asked this question it was followed up by a question that asked if we were talking about why are patrons use the internet or why we use the internet. The people in the room where reading to much into the question. They were simply asked “Why do you use the Internet?”. There was no reference made to patrons or anybody else.

Here are the reasons why the people who work at the SUNY Potsdam College Libraries use the Internet:

• go to a website
• find information
• email
• chat
• shopping
• communication
• check the weather
• play games
• watch movies/tv
• learn to do something
• understanding
• curiosity
• on-line banking – bill Paying
• relationships
• share stuff

As you read through this list you probably find yourself using the internet to do at least a couple of these things. There may be things that you do that are not here; However, when you take a moment to think about them you will realize that they are very similar in nature to the items listed above. Once we created this list everyone was happy and content with the reasons why we use the Internet.. When we use the internet we typically use it to either find information or accomplish a very specific task. Everyone agreed with this statement and was content at the moment, but that all changed within a matter of a few seconds when we started to talk about the things that were not on the list.

To be continued….

On January 28th (Friday) we had a Kick Off Meeting to officially start the process of redesigning the college libraries website. The reason for the meeting was to allow everyone who was interested to have the opportunity to learn about my design philosophy and how, I approach things. The very simple answer is that design is a very iterative process where you do something, show it to someone to get feedback, and than repeat the process.

At the start of the meeting Jenica passed out a handout that had a list of the basic tasks that we will be doing over the course of the rest of the year. She also passed out pencils to everyone that said “WE ARE NOT OUR PATRONS” (yes every letter is capitalized on the pencil).

At the end of the document the following information was listed:

Meetings:

January 28, 2011: Project Kickoff
February 1, 2011: INFLUX deliverables discussion (this meeting was canceled and it will be rescheduled)
February 11, 2011: Brainstorming Meeting
March 10, 2011: Discuss results of Card Sort

(All meetings subject to change as project timeline is adjusted)

Follow our progress and process:

http://www.patrickrunfit.com/potsdamlibweb/

Homework for February 11, 2011 Brainstorming Meeting:

Roles and Environments
Choose a persona from INFLUX, and think about how and where and why that person encounters our site. Describe that environment, and the tasks they need to do. For example, a persona in an environment:

Wallace Stanfield is holding office hours, and while he waits for students, he is trying to find an article cited by a colleague in a recent paper, and also finish his syllabus for a 300-level history seminar.

What are his tasks?

We will all bring our persona’s, environments, and tasks together to brainstorm all the tasks that people use our site to accomplish for Patrick’s use in building the site to meet those needs.

And remember: we are not our patrons.

The next time that we get together as a group we will be talking about the environment where people work, the tasks they need to complete, and common scenarios that exist for the target audience. This is the reason behind the homework example (more information will be coming in a future post). After Jenica briefly discussed the handout there was some discussion that took place about things that were not related to the meeting. Once we got back on task we only had about 30 to 35 minutes left to talk about the process we will be using to create a new website. With the limited amount of time that was available there where a few things that, I just glossed over instead of going into detail.

To be continued….

In listening to people talk about what they need to have access to has got me thinking about how librarians are truly different from the people that they help on a regular basis. The needs of librarians and the people that they serve are very different even if a librarian states they are the same they are different. For example, if a person wants to check out a book from the library they just need to go to the circulation and show their library card to check it out. On the other hand a librarian or staff member need to do how to use the library system in place to do so.

The information that a librarian or staff member would need to know would best reside within an Intranet. For some people this may very obvious, but for other not so much. One thing that I have observed the past few months is that we as librarians want to provide more information than is necessary for a person to complete a task. I am just as guilty as the next person when it comes to providing someone with information.

This leads to a variety of new web services that will become available to librarians and staff on the libraries Intranet. The new additions are going to be:

1. http://www.libraries.potsdam.edu/test – Will be used as a testing location for the library website. It will be a place to update content and make sure things look the way they are supposed to before moving the changes to the live web server.
2. http://www.libraries.potsdam.edu/intranet – a residing place for all internal information
3. http://www.libraries.potsdam.edu/intranet/bb – phpBB a bulletin board will be installed
4. http://www.libraries.potsdam.edu/intranet/blog – WordPress blog will be installed

The first item will be used for the libraries website. At the moment there is no place that exists where things can be added without the world seeing them. Currently when an update is made the libraries website is made to the live web server ( you can imagine all of the problems this can cause). By having a test server (or sandbox if you prefer) will allow for a better process to take place in updating content by putting in place an editor who will be responsible for keeping things consistent.

Everything that resides on the Intranet will only need to be accessed by staff and nobody else. The bulletin board has come from the need for people to have discussions about various topics. Currently email is being used for discussions; However, it is not the most effective way because sometimes you may be included in a discussion that does not really pertain to you. It will be a great way for people to provide an opinion or make a recommendation in one location. The blog will be a great way for staff to communicate with each other in a different way. If someone is at a conference this would be a great place for them to share their thoughts with other people or a place to post information about a new resource that the library has purchased. It will be interesting to see how the blog will be used.

Talking to CTS has been one of the most valuable things in understanding how things are currently configured and where things will be going in the near future. In taking a look at the variety of different URL’s and locations for a variety of web related services the library uses, it gets a little confusing to keep things straight. It would actually make you quite confused and dizzy if you are responsible for maintaining these items.

In the previous post it was mentioned that the web servers in place at the university are running Apache. There is at least one caveat to this statement as far as the libraries are concerned. The libraries here at SUNY Potsdam are using Illiad for Inter Library Loan which runs on a Microsoft IIS web server.

Here is a listing of the current domains for websites the libraries is using:

• Library Website – http://wwwx.potsdam.edu/library/
• Library Wiki – http://pluto.potsdam.edu/libwiki/index.php/Main_Page Potsdam
• Library News (Blog) – http://blogs.potsdam.edu/library/
• Illiad – http://illiad.potsdam.edu/illiad/logon.html
• Early Periodicals Database – http://www.db.potsdam.edu:591/library-HistoricPers/persearch.htm

As you read through the domain names there is no consistency with the naming that has been selected because things were added at different times and locations based upon the colleges infrastructure. When taking a look at the URL for the current website and library news blog they look like completely separate entities; However, they are related to each other. Another thing to make note of is that almost all of these websites reside on different servers for a variety of different reasons. As stated earlier Illiad requires the use of a Microsoft web server and the way things have been configured have been based upon the colleges needs.

In talking with CTS some of the websites in place need to be moved from older servers to new ones as equipment gets replaced. With things getting moved around this is the time to start renaming and moving things around in a way that is coherent for people.

The most important change that will occur is that all of these domains will be renamed. The URL for the libraries website will become: http://www.libraries.potsdam.edu/. Along with having a new URL there will also be several name variations that will be put into place that would redirect a person to the main URL. The other name variations for the libraries website will become:

• http://www.library.potsdam.edu/
• http://www.lib.potsdam.edu/
• http://www.l.potsdam.edu/

By having these other name variations in place will help to eliminate confusion that may exist from people trying to access the libraries website. For example, if someone was to use the URL http://www.lib.potsdam.edu/ they would be automatically taken to http://www.libraries.potsdam.edu/.

Along with having a new URL for the libraries website the News Blog, Illiad, and the Early Periodicals Database will also be renamed. They will become:

• http://www.libraries.potsdam.edu/blog – WordPress Blog
• http://www.libraries.potsdam.edu/illiad – Inter Library Loan
• http://www.libraries.potsdam.edu/early_periodicals – Early Periodicals Database

This is just one of the early steps that need to take place before you can start designing and building a new website. Without having a solid infrastructure and consistent naming in place you will fail before you even begin to start the journey of creating something new.

When undertaking a new project such as creating a new website it can be very overwhelming because of the amount of things that must be done to be successful. With so many things that need to occur you need to start somewhere and go from there. The starting point is always the hard part because of all of the different variables that are involved. The process started before my arrival to SUNY Potsdam when the libraries contacted INFLUX to help them trying to identify the people who use the College Libraries website.

It is always a good idea to contact and work with people outside your organization for parts of the process. Often times when working on a project we can get really involved and loose site of the larger scope because we get very focused. Later on in the process we will be looking to people outside the libraries to help with usability testing. After working on designing something new it is usually hard to step back and look at something with a fresh pair of eyes.

For me the beginning started by spending time learning about several different things from the culture of the library to the computer infrastructure that is in place. As many people can a test too, I was constantly asking people questions and observing the processes and behaviors that take place in the College Libraries. For example, I spent an hour or two at the circulation desk at the Crumb Library for a few days talking and observing what takes place on a daily basis. This was helpful because it is a great opportunity to learn about the questions that people where asking and how the current libraries website was unable to answer them. One way to thing about observing is conducting your own psychology experiment where you are trying to understand both the tasks and questions that people have.

Another area that was very important to learn about was the computer infrastructure that was currently in place and how web related services where organized. The simply answer is that the organization of items is a complete mess and is currently in the process of being reorganized. As far as the computer infrastructure is concerned everything is pretty good. Every library organization is different when it comes to web related services and SUNY Potsdam is no different. In my experience the size of the institution and number of people working within the library has a direct impact on the infrastructure that is in place.

Here at SUNY Potsdam the libraries do not have their own web server or people on staff that are able to run and maintain this type of equipment. The libraries website resides on a web server that is managed by the CTS (I am not sure what CTS actually stands for because, I have never come across the full name). Having an outside department manage a small academic libraries web site is pretty typically. During the fall semester my time was also spent talking to CTS about all the different web related services are managed and where everything resides. The web servers in place at the university are Apache running just about any programming language on them that you would want to use. Talking with the CTS department was very useful because it allowed me to understand exactly what we could do and not do.

For the most part from a back end perspective we can do just about anything we would like to do. We would only be limited by are current knowledge. Working with CTS has been a very positive experience and I expect that to continue as we move forward. The libraries have a very good relationship with CTS and this is because the two organizations communicate with each on a regular basis.

Overview

A couple of weeks ago INFLUX was in town to provide us with a short presentation to discuss the user interviews, mental model findings and a short brainstorming session. Prior to my arrival at SUNY Potsdam INFLUX was contacted to help the libraries to learn more about the people at the college. Over the past few months they conducted user interviews with 12 different people from the college community.

The interviews were conducted using Skype during the summer and fall of last year. The interviews were open conversations giving an outside organization to learn more about the different things that people do at the college that lead to the creation of a mental model. This information also helped them to create persona for seven different people.

Persona’s

Persona’s are necessary to learn about the people who will be using your website and why they would use it.

Music Graduate Student – 26 years old
“I’m all over campus. Sometimes I’m in a practice space, sometimes I’m looking for good wifi, and sometimes I’m too exhausted to go anywhere so I do research at home.”

Goals:

• Find a job in my filed
• Get as much content as I can on-line for all my classes
• Get better at narrowing down my research focus
• Get better at keeping up with the research happening in my field

Mental Model

INFLUX lead us through the mental model that was created based upon the interviews that where conducted. The mental model was created on three large pieces of paper that represented the following Student Work, Interacting, Faculty Work, and Nuts & Bolts. Each of these four areas was broken down into further categories.

Here is a top level list of the items that people are doing here at SUNY Potsdam:

1. Student Work
   1. Reading
   2. Doing Research
   3. Student Output
2. Interacting
   1. Interacting with Students
   2. Getting Help
   3. Interacting with Teachers
3. Faculty Work
   1. Faculty Work
4. Nuts & Bolts
   1. Working Mode
   2. Scheduling

After briefly discussing the mental model, we were asked how the library was able to support the various different items that were listed. Some examples include; Access to patron account, access to hours, and on-line resources. We were asked to write these items down on a post it note and to place it underneath each category that the item helped support. The next step was to write down items that the library is currently not doing to support the different tasks that people are doing. For example, computer availability map to support “Working Mode” and new services for faculty web page to help support “Faculty Work”.

One we were finished working through this process we had several post it notes sitting under each category except for “Interacting with Teachers” because these items where already being supported by the university.

Conclusion

The most important think to keep in mind is that the interviews asked very generic questions to help learn more about the people who make up the SUNY Potsdam community. There are several items that appear within the mental model that occur on a daily basis that do not involve a website or technology at all. For example, most of us will set an alarm, tie a bow around our finger, or write a short note to remind us to do something. The information provided by INFLUX will be very helpful in creating a new website.

More images of the mental model can be viewed by going to our Picasa Mental Model Web Album.

One of the first decisions that the project team — Dan Newton, Patrick Patterson, and me — had to make was about infrastructure. The College CMS is one of our options, as are a standalone CMS or a template-driven standalone site.

After a brainstorming session with the library staff, and then with Patrick and Dan, about our functional requirements for the website, and there were two things that came out as key necessities for our website infrastructure: The availability of a sandbox server so that we can experiment with new approaches and do usability testing, and the ability to make immediate changes for instruction and service purposes.

Neither of these are possible with our current campus CMS setup of a staging server that is pushed live twice per day. Given that, we are planning to move forward with creating a site outside the campus CMS. Given our expectations about the complexity of the site, and the variables still in play regarding the setup of the campus CMS, we also decided not to immediately implement a standalone CMS. It seems like more than we need right now.

However, I want to work as closely as possible with the campus Public Affairs web team to make sure that we’re following the visual style of the college site, so that we don’t stand out like a sore thumb in terms of identity and brand, and to take advantage as much as possible of the work our very creative PA team has done in creating a beautiful design. We have also agreed to build a site that is migration-ready — we’re already intending to streamline a great deal, but we want to build the site in a way that will allow us to transition it, in a few years or when necessary, to a new campus CMS or an internal CMS or whatever it is that our next step needs to be. Whatever the case, we want it to be flexible and ready to transition from day 1.