The “Black’s Wheel”: a technique to develop hypermedia narratives .

The “Black’s Wheel”: a technique to develop hypermedia narratives. Prof. Dr. Maria Laura Martinez (ml.martinez@usp.br) Journalism and Publishing Department Prof. Dr. Sueli Mara Ferreira (smferrei@usp.br) Lybrary and Documentation Department University of Sao Paulo (USP) - Brazil Communications and Arts School User Centered Design Research Center (CEDUs)

Roger BLACK & Sean ELDER book: “Web sites that work” (1997) Describes the narrative structure used by Black’s team that places narrative elements in a wheel-like format. In 2005 we created the technique called “The Black’s Wheel”, introducing: (1) GRAPHIC DIAGRAM of the narrative wheel concept, and (2) GUIDELINES for building it, aiming at facilitating nonlinear content design with user focus. In 2009 we improve it again creating, the (3) “ELABORATION DOCUMENT” of each narrative element. The Black’s Wheel CEDUS - USP & LIBER – UFPE Profa. Dra. M Laura Martinez

The Black’s Wheel Diagram CEDUS - USP & LIBER – UFPE Profa. Dra. M Laura Martinez

GUIDELINES: (1) USER CONCERN (2) ELEMENTS IDENTIFICATION (3) INTERACTIVITY (4) MULTIMEDIALITY (5) PERSONALIZATION (6) NAVIGATION (7) LABELING (8) DOCUMENTATION ELABORATION DOCUMENT: (1) Name of the narrative element (2) Label (3) Summary of the content (4) Journalistic speech (5) Interactive contents (6) Quality of interaction (7) Multimedia contents (8) Incorporated functionalities (tools and services) The Black’s Wheel Guidelines and Documentation CEDUS - USP & LIBER – UFPE Profa. Dra. M Laura Martinez

Multiple case-study design (1) Research Questions to be investigated: Is the Black’s Wheel technique: understandable? / applicable? useful? / Can enhance project? complete? (2) Research methods selection Document analysis Participant observation (3) Case-study Protocol development (4) Case Analysis Case study Methodology CEDUS - USP & LIBER – UFPE Profa. Dra. M Laura Martinez

Case study Protocol Protocol’s Global variables Original Title. Language. Title in English. When it was developed. Where. Manager. Brief Description. User profile. The Black's Wheel Diagram. Wheel Unit Replication. Navigation Representation. Independency between Wheel Spokes. Non-content elements. Size. Protocol’s Local variables Original label Label in English. Hierarchy level. Summary Journalistic speech Interactive elements Quality of interaction Multimedia elements Functionalities CEDUS - USP & LIBER – UFPE Profa. Dra. M Laura Martinez

Main objective: Evaluating the Black’s Wheel technique www.uspvirtual.usp.br www.eca.usp.br Case study presentation Communications and Arts School Buildings University of São Paulo - Brazil CEDUS - USP & LIBER – UFPE Profa. Dra. M Laura Martinez

Case study Universe 30 works since 2005 CEDUS - USP & LIBER – UFPE Profa. Dra. M Laura Martinez

Case study Sample Universe17worksout of 30 (57% ) Selection criteria: • had used graphic diagram to describe the Black’s Wheel CEDUS - USP & LIBER – UFPE Profa. Dra. M Laura Martinez

Case study Sample Universe 2 out of 17. Case 1 “Human Beings Traffic” Case 2 “Guiana” CEDUS - USP & LIBER – UFPE Profa. Dra. M Laura Martinez • 2 was analyzed to evaluate the Black’s Wheel technique.

CEDUS - USP & LIBER – UFPE Profa. Dra. M Laura Martinez

Observations made in class: students commonly apply the technique without much difficulty. Documental analysis: Case 1 2005, 2nd. Semester. generally succeed applying the technique distinguish clearly between the Information Architecture and the Black’s Wheel. Nevertheless... Documental analysis: Some teams prefer to textually describe the elements in the wheel instead of drawing it (17 out of the 30 ) Case 2 analysis mix Information Architecture and Black’s Wheel concepts. Possible explanations... 1st research question: Is it understandable? CEDUS - USP & LIBER – UFPE Profa. Dra. M Laura Martinez

Observations made in class: the technique application usually causes fruitful quarrels around the non-linear storytelling. Documental analysis shows that The Black’s Wheel facilitatesunderstanding at a glance the whole nonlinear story and its constituent elements and may highlight the lack of contents that could enhance the story. GLOBAL and LOCAL protocol variables Black’s Wheel technique evaluation; Also be useful to assess the hypermedia narrative by identifying project weakness and strengths. 2rd research question: Is it useful? CEDUS - USP & LIBER – UFPE Profa. Dra. M Laura Martinez

No, it isn't complete although it can be applied to the hypermedia narrative design with relative success, as previously seen. Navigation representation into the Graphic diagram: has no clear model, needs more discussion. Case 1 uses a creative navigation representation which doesn’t match completely the Information architecture’s navigation. Journalistic speech models compatibility and co-existence into a hypermedia special report isn’t a consensus. Needs more thinking under multiple case perspectives. Elaboration Document recent introduction and application, could not be evaluated in this case study yet. Their application should be monitored. ... 3rd research question: Is it complete? CEDUS - USP & LIBER – UFPE Profa. Dra. M Laura Martinez

The Black’s Wheel, besides being at a research stage, has shown to be a graphical technique that facilitates the visualization and construction of the hypermedia structure and also an efficient strategy for Online Journalism classes. It’s an Open Technique can enhanced with other people’s contributions. Future works: Development of an online database that collect and document cases, will use Protocol variables to standardize information collection. The working URL base will be: http://www.cedus.usp.br/hypermedianarratives Conclusions CEDUS - USP & LIBER – UFPE Profa. Dra. M Laura Martinez

Thank you! M Laura Martinez ml.martinez@usp.br  2002 MLM LSI - EP USP

The “Black’s Wheel”: a technique to develop hypermedia narratives .