Measuring the reader_Martha Sedgwick

Los Angeles | London | New DelhiSingapore | Washington DC

Measuring the Reader

Martha Sedgwick Senior Manager Online Products, SAGE@coffeepot

SAGE Online Products Los Angeles | London | New DelhiSingapore | Washington DC

Engaging with our Users

● User Personas● Usability Testing● Market Research – Interviews,

Surveys etc.● Usage data / web analytics


Developing the SAGE Knowledge book page


The challenge● Develop a site to host over 2,500 books and

reference works● Titles are social science titles● Books are supplementary and modular texts,

typically aimed at postgraduate and academic researcher

● Encyclopedias are typically aimed at undergraduate students

● Titles will be sold in bundled packages to libraries


User Personas

Define key user types for potential products What do users want? Helps clarify if/why a product is required Identify actions users will undertake on our

sites Helps us develop useful feature sets to

support users


SAGE Knowledge User PersonasAnna (Undergraduate)“I’m a directed ebook seeker: I’m told where to go, I find it and I leave”

Jenny (Masters student – distance learner)“I’m a ebook grabber: I will take everything and anything concerning my subject that I can get a hold of”

David (PhD student)“I’m a specialised ebook reader: I need to read everything available with a specific research area”

Graham (Advanced researcher)“I am an begrudging ebook user. I am looking for the print version really, but enjoy the tool”

Agatha (Faculty teaching)“I’m a ebook aggregator: I need to compile lists of everything available for my students”

Jo (Librarian)“I’m an ebook gatekeeper. I need to know about ebook destinations, access restrictions and new content”


Surveys


Interviews

“I use PDF downloads of ebooks constantly. We have copiers at AU that send PDFs to my email so I’m contantly scanning sections and chapters of books and then I search

through the PDFs. I read the PDFs online, I rarely print them.”

Kit, History, PhD, American University, 2011

‘A couple of times I’ve asked the library to buy a book and they’ve bought the eBook version… I read them at home… I can imagine a scenario where I might use my iPhone if I needed to… but my worry is that you would lose the book”Paul (PhD student, History) 2011

“I always read on paper. I’ve got a Mac and so when I find a paper I’m interested in I save the PDF within a project folder and then I’ll print it off and read it later.”Daniel, Lecturer, De Paul University, USA, 2008

“Ebooks are a bit like an added feature of print books. You can use them to search and find things, but then you ultimately want the print book to read.”

James, PhD student, University of York, 2011


Friday 10.04am -

Living roomEbook: Family relationships

in middle childhood

Monday 9.45am -

Dining tableBook: How

children develop

Saturday 3.08pm -

Dining tableBook: How

children develop

Saturday 3.10pm -

Dining tableBook:

Cognitive psychology

Saturday 5.54pm -

Living roomBook: An

introduction to brain and

behavior

Sunday 9.50pm –

TrainBook:

Cognitive Psychology

Sun 9.40_Train

stationBook:

Cognitive psychology

Thursday 5.33 -

Living roomBook: The

memory keeper's daughter

Tuesday 2.30pm -

LibraryBook:

Cognitive Psychology

Tuesday 5.30 -

Library cafeBook: The

memory keeper's daughter

Tuesday 6.30 -

Living roomBook: How

children develop

Wednesday 1.24pm

Living roomBook:An

introdcution to brain

and behavior


Jenny (Masters student – distance learner)“I’m a ebook grabber: I will take everything and anything concerning my subject that I can get a hold of”Age: 24Location: University of BelgradeOccupation: Masters Discipline: Special Education (behaviour disorders)Research/study characteristics:My course is a taught course set up for distance learning students and with very few contact hours. As a result I am heavily reliant on the e-resources that my library provide and I use my initiative to discover what else is available to me. With no immediate access to an academic library, the course attempts to make most of the content available online or through a reader-pack. Alongside the study of these key texts, l am beginning to work on a research project, which is also limited by what I can discover online.Goal:I need to be able to get hold of as much content as possible. Online access to key texts is particularly important to me and as is the scope of topics that are covered within my discipline. I need to be able to browse around the available content related to my subject so that I can get ideas for my research project.Engagement with ebooks:I have moderate knowledge of academic searching online and I can easily orientate myself around website. I rarely save content or searches. Because I share my computer, I cannot dedicate too much time to reading online. I need to be able to quickly print the content to read later. I will often search within texts to find out the relevant section that I should print. But sometimes I want to print the entire text.

Ebook use: HIGH

High use throughout the year


Usability Testing

• Do users notice/understand/use key features?

• Do users know how to navigate to desired content?

• Where do users look when landing on our sites? etc.

• Test throughout product development, early testing can be carried out on mock up wireframes


Insert sage knowledge content page


The challenge● Develop a statistical tool to display state-level

data, allowing users to compare data over time and to compare data across states

● Develop a tool to be used primarily by US political science undergraduate students


Product Development – State Stats





The challenge● Improve the usability of the methods map in

SAGE Research Methods Online● Increase effectiveness of the methods map as

a browse tool to discover content● Enhance the user experience of the methods

map for the purpose of the discovery of new methods

● The product will be used by a spectrum of users from advanced undergrad, postgrad, academic researchers and faculty


Usability Testing Case Study: Methods Map

First iteration of Methods Map


Usability Testing Case Study: Methods MapSecond iteration of Methods Map


Google Analytics - % Conversion from Methods Map to Content, November 2010


Usability Testing Feedback: SRM Methods Map

1. Suppress the “Choose from the ‘Show Content’…” line at the bottom of the Methods Map when on the default Research Methods view (where no content will ever appear).

2. Change color or size of breadcrumb on Methods Map to have it stand out.

3. Enlarge arrows or separate them slightly from terms to reduce clicking errors that get users to the wrong term (or make them go backwards).

4. Perhaps redesign the Methods Map content page – testers find it too busy


Results from Usability Testing● User testing showed users didn’t know where to access content

from the Methods Map


Results from Usability Testing● Adding the ‘View Content’ arrow increased the amount of content

accessed through the Methods Map by 31%


Google Analytics - % Conversion from Methods Map to Content, January 2012 & November 2010


Thank you!

Any Questions?