SIMS IS214 Spring
1999
FINAL PROJECT
ASSIGNMENT
Your project is to design and
do preliminary implementation of a needs and usability assessment protocol;
and to write a report for management on your preliminary implementation
that describes and justifies a full-scale assessment project.
Choose an information system
or service, such as (but not limited to) a web site, for which you will
plan a detailed needs and usability assessment. You will field
test your plan and revise it based on your preliminary findings.
You may choose an existing system or service, or one under development.
The more real it is, the better the project.
You will design needs and
usability assessment for the site. Your plan should include, at
a minimum:
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A statement of the purpose of
the system/service/site to be evaluated.
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An identification of (1) the
targeted users (2) other users, if applicable.
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A discussion of the goals of
your assessment.
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A description of the methods
chosen, with rationale. You must use at least 3 of the methods discussed
in the course. The rationale must include why this method
is appropriate for this site and this audience.
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As detailed an implementation
design as possible, e.g. if you propose to do surveys, you must develop
a draft survey instrument, and plans for administering and analyzing it.
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A field test of your design.
E.g., if you propose to use surveys, pre-test the survey instrument and
revise it. Include in what you hand in both the preliminary and the
revised survey instruments and a report on the pre-test.
-
A revised design based on your
field test.
The final product is a report
that you would give to management describing and justifying the assessment
that you plan to undertake. Include in your justification the likely
benefits of the assessment for the organization, the service or site assessed,
and the target users. Also include in your report a discussion of
possible larger impacts and issues that might result in revised goals for
the site, or a revised implementation. The idea is to consider issues
at many different levels, not to be stuck in only looking at, say, the
interface.
Don't consider yourself limited
to what's described above. Part of your responsibility is to determine
what will be most useful in matching this site to its users' needs.
Assume that your management
is skeptical about the benefits of what they fear could be a time-consuming
and costly project. You must both answer their concerns and ensure
that the project is as lean and fast-paced as possible to get good results.