Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Journal Entry Week 2: The Information User


In this week two’s learning activities, we were required to watch a video and offer our thoughts about user experience. After watching the clip, I figured that it may be hard to grab the concept of an entity without getting the bigger picture. Therefore, when designs develop a database or an online information tool, they should assess everything before designing and implementing their design. According to Weedman (2008) design requires and deep knowledge of who is using the system and what their needs and abilities are. Designers must know their users, their needs and evaluate how to simplify how the user satisfies their need.

Part of this week’s activity was to observe an individual using an information system.  Katz-Haas (1998) has stated that user-centred design is "a philosophy that places the person (as opposed to the 'thing') at the center". With this said, I observed a friend of mine while they used Google to search locations on where to organize his upcoming birthday celebration. He typed in the keywords “book location for birthday party in Brisbane”. The first website he clicked revealed a large amount of venues in addition with their guest capacity and price ranges for bookings. Bell (2008), states that it is important to understand the needs and challenges of the user as a first step. Thinking of this statement, I observed my friend and realized that he wasn’t facing any challenges as of yet. He initially estimated the cost of how much it will be in order to book a location without pursuing the subject for any longer.

I didn’t offer the user much aid due to the fact that he was only conducting a quick search and only wanted a rough idea about planning his event. In my database, I will research the elements required for a good user experience. Due to the fact that I prefer the technicalities involved with user experience I may use Garrett’s model for elements as a guidance to formulate my evaluation.



Bell, S. (2008) Design thinking. Retrieved from CMD on 28th August http://stevenbell.info/pdfs/ALdesignarticle.pdf

Katz-Haas, R. (1998). Ten Guidelines for User-Centered Web Design Usability Interface, Vol 5, No. 1, July.

Weedman, J. (2008). Information retrieval: Designing, querying and evaluating information systems.  In Haycock, K. & Sheldon, B.E. (eds). The portable MLIS: insights from the experts. Westport, Con. Libraries Unlimited.



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