Mashing Texts Process

Though the JiTR prototype is in active development, the primary product of the project is conceptual, as we explore new hypotheses for addressing the problems with exploration of resources.

In this project, we have adapted the Personas and Scenarios model in order to develop with a heavy user focus. The Personas and Scenarios model is a design strategy in which realistic composite users are created ("personas") and the design of the product centres around their needs and uses ("scenarios"). This model essentially asks: "If the end purpose is functionality for users, why not begin the process by thinking about users?".

Personas are imagined possible users that "act as stand-ins for real users" (Calabria). Certainly, an imagined user cannot match the complexities of a real personality. The strength in this approach, however, is that the design team is actively striving to consider users with depth at a development period much earlier than when user tests can be conducted. Even at times where early user studies are possible, using personas allows a team to smoothe over the unique and unrepresentative quirks that individual users may have.

Once three to six personas are created, they are prioritized into primary and secondary users. The users that are seen to be the most important to the team become the primary users, and their needs in turn assist in prioritizing design choices. In other words, later design choices can be considered through the lens of whether they would benefit the primary users.

The Personas and Scenarios model does not need to be used exclusively, and can be combined with other design techniques. In the Mashing Texts process, there was an interplay between scenarios and wireframes. Three different design philosophies were wireframed, based on the needs of the primary personas, and organized in the order of their scenarios. This allowed side-by-side discussion, following through the scenarios step-by-step and considering which of the three wireframes served each particular task best.

Mashing Texts Personas

These are the scenarios that were used to guide Mashing Texts design.

Primary Persona - Kate

Independent Researcher

Kate is using JiTR to track Fair Trade news in Costa Rica, as part of a book that she is collaborating on. She’s not well-versed in computers, but competent in figuring them out. Most notable about Kate’s experience is the ability to organize large data sets easily, and call them back up even easier. She loves taggs and collection sharing.

Scenario 1 - "The Collection Scenario"

Kate creates a shared collection and runs some processes to automatically populate it. When she receives new items, she cleans them up and keeps them organized through tagging.

Kate is following media reports on coffee growers as part of a book that she is co-authoring.

In this scenario, she:

Creates a shared repository with her collaborating colleagues
Sets up a web spider to poll her common sources, automatically
Is emailed when there are new items
Labels items according to category
Cleans the imported items
Adds her older research by uploading it as files
Shares a public repository link with her other colleagues. People at the public link have the lowest access, and their notes are retained by the system until they can be reviewed.
Prints a summary report with metadata and her notes

Scenario 2 - "The Just-in-Time Scenario"

Kate is following a media sub-issue that has just developed, about a tax conflict that coffee farmers are in with the government.

In this scenario, Kate:

Uses labels to track the sub-issue without starting a new repository
Adds notes analyzing each article. Later, she also more detailed notes for the broader label.
Runs “Count Words” on chronologically organized list (of just the one label). Forms a hypothesis based on the sparklines provided by the tool.
Receives notification when revisions are made on notes by her colleagues

Scenario 3 - "The Wrap-Up Scenario"

Kate's book is nearly complete, but she needs James' foreword. She send James an invite to add his text to the collection, the organizes it and exports by chapter.

Before Kate can send a transcript to the publisher, she needs the foreword that James is writing.

In this scenario, Kate:

Sends a limited collaborator invite to James
Organizes the finalized chapters in custom order (rather that alphabetically, chronologically, etc.)
Exports the chapters in LaTex^? format.

Primary Persona - Cheryl

Persona

Cheryl is a contributing editor for the Orlando Project. Her daily routine involves interaction with a number of entries and needs to accomplish encoding quickly and effectively.

She is quite familiar with the reference sources drawn upon to obtain biographical information, with online and print primary sources used to write critical materials, and also with the conventions employed by the project for encoding this material.

Cheryl has in the past experienced roadblocks in the production process arising from lost emails, overwritten versions of documents and time wasted trying to track down reference sources lost or misreferenced during the writing process.

Scenario 1 - "The Editorial Scenario"

Cheryl logs in to do a variety of small editorial tasks, checking and correcting documents, updating statuses, and communicating to her contributors.

In this scenario, Cheryl:

Logs in, and is updated on her projects through the notes panel and generated reports
Opens a document in edit mode, automatically locking it. Status indicators show the completed stages of the project.
Responds to notes, marking them as read
Edits a date. She inadvertently inserts an extra digit, and the system warns her about it.
Corrects the faulty date value and saves the new version
Changes the authoring status to "finished"
Attaches a note to it for Ian. He will see this in his Dashboard.
Previews the display of the document using a project stylesheet

Scenario 2

In this scenario, Cheryl:

Creates a new document on Pauline Johnson for Ian, using a bibliography template
Adds a editorial ticket for PJ in the Authority Lists panel
Finds another document to point to the PJ document by consulting the shared research bibliography
Sends a message to Ian

Scenario 3 - "The Workflow Management Scenario"

Cheryl creates a new workflow for a new document type, starting from templates. She then starts using the workflow with a new document, that she assignments to another person.

In this scenario,Cheryl:

Defines a new workflow to manage the creation of a new type of document.
Chooses the basic entry schematic from the DEEP workflow editor templates.
Chooses a document template, automatically triggering an email notification.
Sets up messages for the person to whom the entry is assigned, the assignee's immediate supervisor and the system administrator when a new XXX document is created
Sets the workflow endpoint as the the bibliographic entry workflow.
Validates the logic of the workflow.
Saves the document type, automatically making it available for all relevant users.

Secondary Persona - Ian

Ian has just become a contributor with the Orlando Project. He's still unfamiliar with the system, but eager to learn.

Scenario 1 - "The First Time Visit"

Ian signs up for JiTR and logs in for the first time. He watches an instructional video to understand the system, and then reads some additional documentation.

In this scenario, Ian:

Visits JiTR for the first time
Learns about possible uses, accompanied by real personas that embody those uses
Watches a video explanation of what JiTR is
Signs up for an account
Checks out a “tutorial” repository that already exists in his new account

Scenario 2 - "The Creation Scenario"

Ian receives instructions from Cheryl on a new entry. He begins to collect materials for it and add them to JiTR.

In this scenario, Ian:

Logs into DEEP and Sees a new message from Cheryl about Rita Joe, which he tags saves to his research log.
Sees that he has a new entry assigned to him and opens it.
Follows a link noted by Cheryl and adds it to the collection.(collection? tag?)
Tidies (automatically) the collected webpage.
Browses the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online and collects materials relevant to his topic.
He inputs the metadata manually, attached to a correct bibliographical citation. He marks this as requiring double checking.
Saves his entry, validating it against the XML stylesheet. The status of the Rita Joe entry is changed to "in process" and a notification is automatically generated and dispatched to the supervisory editor.
Responds to Cheryl's note.

Secondary Persona - Sidney

English Grad Student

Sidney uses JiTR to research temperance in the writing of Victorian women. He’s grown up around computers, and is comfortable around them.

Most notable about Sidney’s experience is the push-pull power of the API, allowing him to pull in information from Orlando and send it into Mandala and TAPoR, all within the interface.

Scenario 1 - "The Bibliography Scenario"

Sidney browses Orlando through JiTR, adding book records as items to his collection. He then creates a dynamic "bibliography" item that includes all the other items.

Sidney is creating a bibliography of works to consult related to his research. He's interested in Orlando because has the information on upbringing and social circumstances that he hopes to connect.

In this scenario, Sidney:

Explores Orlando through their JiTR interface
Adds books to collection as items
Imports book metadata as name/value tags (i.e. "year:1850")
Combines all the book items into a dynamic item

Scenario 2 - "The Analytical Scenario"

Sidney tries to explore different way of understanding his data by connecting his collection to TAPoR and later to the Mandala browser.

Sidney has read the books in his bibliography and wants to consider the bigger picture.