Application of, and research into, participative design strategies in the development of the Media Archive of the Arts.
This research project, led by Stefano Vannotti, is examining the interplay between technological, structural and social factors in the establishment of institutional repositories. He aims to find out what contribution the interaction design can make to optimum user acceptance. Especially in the initial phase of the development of the Media Archive, Stefano Vannotti's methods helped the creators to know and understand the users’ requirements better. Regular workshops were held to identify user needs, work collaboratively on developing and testing prototype design solutions, and evaluate relevant existing software releases. The results of these studies fed directly into the agile development process. In this way, usability became an important criterion in implementing certain software functions.
In the second phase of the development project, the question of the user experience focused more on the aspect of explaining how the Media Archive works, in the form of various Help resources. Here again a number of different versions were created and tested out with users. Now with Version 1.0 of the Media Archive, a Help Wiki is available that explains the principles of the system and the main functions. Other sections guide users through typical work processes or explain technical aspects. Even advanced users can find specific information in the form of FAQ or in the “Special actions” section. The Help Wiki will be regularly updated in future.
It is thanks to the partnership with the research project on “Participative Design Strategies” that not only the usability of the software but the user experience as a whole were made high priorities during the development process.