MINERVA EC for the quality of cultural web applications: the Handbook

1. MINERVA EC for the quality of cultural web applications: the Handbook on cultural web user interaction Maria Teresa Natale MINERVA eC Project Jerusalem, 11 November 2008

2. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 2007-2008: MINERVA EC WG on quality accessibility and usability The Working Group was coordinated by Germany Participants are from: Finland, Italy, Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, Belgium, Slovenja, and Israel. WP5

3. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 2007-2008: MINERVA EC WG on quality accessibility and usability In short Our European Working Group works on quality of cultural web applications. We continue the work done in MINERVA, and complements the results with new publications. We monitor relevant guidelines and promote best practices related to websites. The main target are the small institutions.

4. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 2007-208: MINERVA EC WG on quality accessibility and usability Our objectives are • to support small cultural heritage institutions in increasing the accessibility to their digital cultural heritage by sharing practises and techniques within the wider community and interested public; • to motivate cultural heritage institutions which are still reluctant to make their already existing digital content available within the European digital library; • to contribute to the mutual alignment of metadata sets and metadata use in the cultural heritage sector in order to improve quality, accessibility and usability;

5. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 2007-2008: MINERVA EC WG on quality accessibility and usability Our objectives are • to realise guidelines and measurement tools that assist in the maintenance and raising the quality of cultural heritage applications; • to contribute to the organisation of tutorials to make users aware of open source software tools that assist in improving the quality, accessibility and usability of digital cultural heritage offers.

6. Handbook on cultural web user interaction WG Roadmap 2002 Beginning of Minerva 2003 First Deliverable on quality 2003 Handbook for quality in cultural Web sites. Improving quality for citizens (and 10 quality principles)‏ 2004 Museo&Web planning kit 2005 Quality Principles for Cultural Websites: a Handbook 2006-08 Dissemination of MINERVA products on quality of cultural websites 2008 Handbook on cultural web user interaction (draft - Ljubljana, 1st edition - Leipzig)‏ Jerusalem, 11 November 2008

7. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 MINERVA – MINERVA Plus – MINERVA EC Web quality tools WP5 downloadable from www.minervaeurope.org

8. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 Handbook on cultural web user interaction - 2008 edited by MINERVA EC Working Group “Quality, Accessibility and Usability” Monika Hagedorn-Saupe (Working Group coordinator)‏ European Editorial Committee Monika Hagedorn Saupe (coordinator), Germany Hanna Arpiainen, Finland - Pierre-Yves Desaive, Belgium Nathanael Dupré Latour, Czech Republic Axel Ermert, Germany - Pierluigi Feliciati, Italy Gabriele Froeschl, Austria - Susan Hazan, Israel Karine Lasaracina, Belgium - Maria Teresa Natale , Italy Tzanetos Pomonis, Greece - Maria Sliwinska, Poland Hans Van der Linden, Belgium - Franc Zakrajsek, Slovenja Texts by Rossella Caffo, Pierluigi Feliciati, Chiara Faggiolani, Monika Hagedorn Saupe, Susan Hazan, Maria Teresa Natale, Carol Peters, Giovanni Solimine editing Pierluigi Feliciati, Maria Teresa Natale cover by Susan Hazan, Francesco Bocci

9. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 The users: who are they?

10. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 The users: who are they? (in 2003)‏ MINERVA 1st Handbook for quality: A user is a professional or not, specialist or not who casually or with specific aims, occasionally or systematically uses the Cultural Web Application. User identity is extremely variable depending on cultural profile, aspirations for cultural growth, professional aims and even momentary curiosity.

11. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 The users: who are they? (in 2003)‏ MINERVA 5th quality principle: “USER-CENTERED” A good quality cultural website must be user-centred, taking into account the needs of users, ensuring relevance and ease of use through responding to evaluation and feedback.

12. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 The users: who are they? (in 2008)‏ • After 4 years, other definitions for Internet users: • hybrid individual • transceiver(transmitter + receiver)‏ • prosumer (producer + consumer) = • information recipient and provider of its own contents Different terms characterize the various user’s activities and behaviours on the web: consumer / client / audience user / surfer / viewer player / clicker / downloader / streamer

13. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 Another type of user... Non human users/agents: robots, spiders, crawlers, harvesters… • This variety of definitions reflects an articulated offer of contents and applicationsin the new media environment, which at the same time is: • vehicle of information and communication • encyclopedic archive and tool of cultural training • entertainment and community interaction area • technological platform

14. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 Available also in PDF and XHTML http://www.minervaeurope.org/publications/handbookwebusers.htm

15. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 Handbook goals and target To answer to some questions still unsolved in the previous MINERVA web quality tools: • Whatdo users want? • Howdo users behave? • How can we understand their useof our web applications? • Do effective methods to ask usersabout their expectations (before) and their degree of satisfaction (after) exist? The target readersof the handbook are all the cultural subjects and projects concerned with tangible and intangible cultural heritage, planning to develop new web applications or to update and improve their existing applications, taking into serious account the users point of view.

16. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 Handbook on cultural web user interaction Key messages • Quality must be planned from the start • The user is critical – involve him at every stage • Relationships with other resources must be considered: online (interoperability) and future (long term preservation)‏ With proper planning, and building on the information, examples, standards and guidelines available, creating a high-quality website need not be much more difficult, expensive or slow than creating a lower-quality one

17. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 Table of contents 1. Users and cultural contents on the web: state of the art 2. Finding one’s way 3. Practical tools 4. The importance of using metadata Annexes

18. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 1. Users and cultural contents on the web: state of the art 1.1. Users and services in cultural web applications: websites and portals A synthetic and up-to-date panorama of users and cultural content providers on the web with 24 good practices commented! 1.2. Current trends in web services: Web 2.0-3.0 The role of cultural institutions in the current and future information society and the changing face of the institutions as they present, and represent the institution online

19. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 2. Finding one’s way: first question 2.1 Cultural entity types A cultural entity can be a person, an organisation, an institution or a group of different entities combined to deliver a cultural product, which may also deploy web technologies in achieving its aims.

20. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 2. Finding one’s way: second question 2.2 Web application types A schematic, up-to-date, presentation of the main types of web applications that cultural subjects can promote as tools for achieving their mission in whole or in part. Some types has been already more deeply analysed in chapter 1

21. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 2. Finding one’s way third question 2.3 Web applications life cycle The relation between the life phases of a web site and the issues connected with interaction with its users. Some phases are particularly critical both because they can be used to gather information about user expectations or because they can focus on meeting these expectations.

22. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 2. Finding one’s way fourth question • 2.4 Users and uses • A survey on what it means to talk about users and usage of the cultural web and some tools of reflection for designing applications that satisfy citizens’ expectations. • The web user: state of the art and tendencies • The web user: who is he? • The in-home user and the simulated user • Simulated uses • Systems adapting their behaviour to users

23. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 2. Finding one’s way fifth question • 2.5 Interactive and user side services • The ICT applications that can be adapted for the end user, providing interfaces and selections of contents and of personalized services. • Interactive communication services with the intermediation of the information provider • Interactive learning services • Virtual interactive tours • Commercial interactive services • Interactive forms • User-side services • MUVE’s

24. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 2. Finding one’s way sixth question • 2.6 Audience measurement in the Internet • A review of the techniques and metrics used for user evaluation on the Web • Census data measurements: web analytics • Sample or user centred measurements • meter • standardized interview • static textual questionnaire‏ • Audience metrics • Log file analysis • Protection of privacy

25. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 2. Finding one’s way seventh question 2. Users in the globalised world: multilingualism issues Language is one of the most significant barriers to website access and, because of this barrier, great parts of the European digital cultural heritage cannot be found on the Internet. Research on Multilingual Information Access thus focuses on the storage, access, retrieval and presentation of information in any of the world’s languages. With a case study: the MultiMatch project

26. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 3. Practical tools • 4.1 A self-evaluation questionnaire for planning a user-centred web applications • Addressed to those cultural subjects that are about to develop a new web application (or want to update one already on-line) and whose objective is to seriously evaluate user’s expectations, their satisfaction and the possibility of foreseeing advanced forms of interaction. • general information • application quality and users • helping the user find his way: profiling and customization • interactive services • audience measurement

27. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 3. Practical tools 4.2. Websites and portals feedback form Standardized interview model to be distributed to users of web sites and cultural portals. It can be used as a reference for the construction of a personalized questionnaire, that responds to the requirements of one’s own web application. The questionnaire model is divided into 7 sections: 1. data protection; 2. personal details; 3. visit; 4. reasons for the visit; 5. technical and graphic aspects; 6. identification of the web application; 7. quality of the content and search functionality.

28. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 5. The importance of using metadata • The importance of using tagging and metadata, to grant visibility and findability to our contents. • A quick guide to: • Benefits of using metadata • The Dublin Core metadata element set • Syndication techniques and languages • The next step: towards semantic integration

29. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 Annexes Some documents and studies produced by important institutions and other European projects are included at the end of the handbook. 1.Study on users and usages of Michael-fr website 2. Digital Library Users: Results of a Survey on Needs, Expectations and Skills

30. Jerusalem, 11 November 2008 the user is Thank you for your attention. Any question? Maria Teresa Natale natale@mclink.it Pierluigi Feliciati p.feliciati@gmail.com