Synthesis recommendations example 1
HDX Usertesting Insights
We tested on 8 individuals - 5 on very first early concepts, 2 on a further developed IA logic and 1 on the process of using the API. We have 2 further test scripts to conduct and we aim for 5 testers for each script. We have 17 more people to test on over the rest of the year. The final test script will be on heavy Ushahidi users and those that are very familiar with working with complex datasets. Ideally, they will also have prior knowledge of HDX.
General thoughts from User testers:
Users donât read text. They skim it at best.
Tagging = Labelling people and/or pictures, Keywords, Anchors for making data easier/better to search, Grouping items into an identifiable cohort, Putting things in buckets related to each other and categorised. In maybe more than one bucket with a goal in mind to retrieve, filtering, User driven tagging. Categories. A useful way of sorting data.
One user talked about targeted tags. The idea that you can tag to âraiseâ the profile of a certain post and/or data.
Uses tags in analytics to categorise different things in order to make âpredictionsâ about âtrendsâ
Where? = Blog posts, facebook, wordpress, Evernote, social media, facebook, coding, Tags used in a governance process, Twitter, Instagram, Sharepoint information management reports, finder of mac, NHS internal systems.
HXL = âA fancy name for tags?â
HXL = A way to tag goings on in the world. Events/Places/Time.
âWhat is hxl used in?â - This user assumed it is a language used in other systems.
User starts describing this as a âmultidimensional databaseâ
âWhatâs the difference between tags and attributes?â
Tags = tag names
Attributes = a data format
Suggests it might be something about rows and columns or the relation of fields to tags.
No idea what attributes means in this context. The term âattributeâ was generally confusing while âtagâ was not. The use of the â+â was slightly confusing for some users whereas the â#â made sense (especially to coders) the â+â made much more sense when the user saw the âtag previewâ device:
One user expected an underscore or a hyphen.
One user refers to the tag now as a âsupertagâ because itâs grown.
Says that the # and + are confusing and that + looks like a letter (t) so they found it hard to read down the list.
There are some descriptions but not all of them have them and therefore they are unsure on some of the list items.
One task I asked users to complete was after exporting, could they remember all the tags they had selected to be exported and what they meanât. Many users did not remember what all the tags mean if they arenât descriptive. This was especially difficult for the users that spoke English as a second/third/fourth language
A lot of confusion over the #admin tags too.
User has no idea what âvirulanceâ means
âAdmin term is confusing. Does loc mean location?â - This user didnât understand why location was abbreviated.
âWhat is idps? Or iso? Start and end? Does that mean someone dying? Birth and death?!â
Plenty of people thought that âHDXâ was a file format.
Has no idea what export to HDX will do. Sayâs it must be a file format but is worried about it âuploading somewhereâ Users that are not
âCan the programs/software I open the hxl tagged csv in handle the mapping/tags I added?â A fair few users though you needed âspecial softwareâ to open a file with hxl tags added.
Users automatically expected the tags they are using to be shared with other team members on the same system (Ushahidi) and the custom tags to als be shared.
When reading HDX/HXL documentation
85-90% of user tester want to read documentation provided on Ushahidi via blue âexitâ link but many of them fear âlosing their placeâ or âgetting lostâ. Most users expect the Ushahidi system to âteachâ them in some way. The majority of users said they would spend multiple hours going through the documentation before attempting the export/upload within Ushahidi.
There is a reluctance to âhave a goâ by uploading/exporting data.
HXL (After viewing documentation) = Sophisticated way of describing data
âNow I have to read all of this in order to understand!â
âWow - lots of information. It doesnât look simpleâ
âVery high-levelâ
User described feeling âdownâ and this info being âbeyond themâ and âdisempoweredâ
Has raised more questions than it has answered.
âThis is wordyâŚâ
âItâs too muchâ - after scrolling a bit
User talks about this not seeming like itâll be relevant to their specific tags for their data.
Wants a help section like âhow to tagâ
User calls the hdx sites âtech specâ rather than help for a user.
âThis is documentation rather than training materialsâ
User says it looks like xml and some kind of developer standard.
Wonders if âpostcardâ is a technical term
Sees term âJSONâ - confirms a software-y type of info
When Investigating Ushahidiâs HDX integration
Users want to see tagged CSV example files
Custom tags and attributes were tested in every user testing scenario. Users were asked âIf you couldnât find what âtagâ you were looking for to describe your data in the drop down list, what would you look for or what would you expect to be able to do?â
Most users found the #x_ or +custom confusing but mostly due to not knowing âwhat will happen to that tagâ after the dataset has been uploaded or exported. Will it save in the Ushahidi system? What if thereâs already a default tag/attribute that is most used for that? This backs up users wanting to read documentation and understand the âbest practiceâ on how to adhere to the standard.
âWhy custom? I donât need thisâ - one user expected all tags to be in the suggested list and couldnât understand why there was the ability to create a custom one.
Potential function for users in Ushahidi to suggest you custom tag or attribute to be added to the hxl standard.
We suspect a high volume of â#x_surveyâ tag or â+surveyâ attribute due to the fact that Ushahidi platform is seen as a surveying tool mostly. We may even see users creating custom tags â#x_surveyhealthâ or â#x_surveyjobsâ. We intend to user test this.
âIf I can only choose one tag, which is best to use? Iâm not sure...â Users want to know how flexible and dynamic the tagging system can be.
âAm I getting the right data?â users are concerned they are âgetting it rightâ
User wonders if once in HDX it looks like a CSV? Users that have not yet investigated datasets in HDX wonder what it looks like.
API config
When setting up the API this user assumed HDX = Brand name of API. User describes wanting to click the âguideâ link right away and being disappointed by the information given. User says they would google the answer, look for a forum or ask a developer friend.
âThis gives me two confusing answers and I donât know which to use!â
âItâs not helpful and the heading is misleading. This is geared towards experienced tech peopleâ
There is actually guiding text on Ushahidiâs side here but this user did this:
(On the HDX homepage) User describes that they would look through the âquick linksâ section for information on API keys
Then then move on to the âdataâ section.
âI really have no clue where to look. Iâm actually looking for a âdashboardâ or something like thatâ
User describes easily missing the profile account name on the HDX website. Describes that if theyâd gone through the process of logging in itâd be more clear.
User would go to âdashboardâ NOT âprofileâ but find the API key when clicking around.
HDX Dev insights
[Platform API] HDX slug creation should use a library and include the org name #2973
HDX Datasets should be created and validated when the user requests an export job #3108
Essentially when a user has finished tagging/attributing a dataset we take them to a page where there is some essential information required before the dataset can be uploaded to HDX.
HDX M&E insights
When talking with Hazel (M&E at Ushahidi) interest in ânotifyingâ the wider development space was expressed. Not only it being available and searchable but âbroadcastableâ
Using the same âidsâ or being able to merge the language/conventions already used within platform or have it seamlessly port over was of critical concern.
Having a process to which the wider development network could âvalidateâ the data to lend it credibility within the wider development network was important for grassroots orgs and those M&E professionals who work alongside grassroots orgs.
There was concern around current projects being heavy on the qualitative or âopen-endedâ responses which could be hard to tag. They are currently hard to draw insight from within the current Ushahidi platform but if hxl tagging can improve the way that these qualitative insights are used then that would be great. These often require prior context. We could get a data point that simply says âI hate my jobâ but this is in the context of receiving training, further education and certificates for a healthcare program that aims to provide better lifestyles for young girls.
This follows on to a concept such as âthemingâ for M&E workers so that they can tag and draw down the same data but across different themes. They expressed the interest in just downloading a âthemeâ and the tags/attributes associated with it and not necessarily the accompanying data. Also the ability to download just the number of data points (or posts in Ushahidi platform) alongside the tagged information was important.
Are current platform runs on âcategoriesâ and âcollectionsâ tags and attributes are a more sophisticated form of this. Our M&E staff use the categories often to inform the surveys that are sent out using the platform (to collect data) and then cyclically build more categories when the initial set is seen as insufficient. The ability to consistently rework the data and way that it is described/tagged is key to those drawing insights for reporting to âhigher powersâ