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Design

Design
Commitment Ceremony
January 16th, 2007 | Permalink | Comment?

You heard it here first: “on January 28, 2007, we will launch the refreshed WJ site.” Feeling a little cocky earlier today, we posted our pre-launch squib to the home page.

Tomorrow morning is our traditional “go/no-go” meeting, at which the development team and some of us less-godlike-but-still-involved program folks will determine whether the stars are in alignment, the bugs are squashed, the stylesheets and databases and html code looking sharp, and the kazillion other details are solid enough (or at least sufficiently tacked down) to start the count-down to 1/28.

The odds of that actually happening have been fluctuating wildly all day (right now I’ve got the Bears by 3 and a 70% likelihood we’ll actually launch on the 28th). Tomorrow we decide for sure. Keep your fingers crossed!
Design
Site refresh: setting the date
January 8th, 2007 | Permalink | Comment?

We have set a date for launching the refreshed site–January 28 (OK, we’ll be more specific–that’s 2007). In the next couple of days we’ll be starting to share some screen shots of the new look.

The code will be mostly done this week; that gives us a couple of weeks to do formatting cleanup and work with our (many!) partners to get everything shipshape. There is a list of some tasks that we won’t get to by the 28th, and we’ll be resolving those over the following month or two.

As we’ve said before, our licensing arrangement doesn’t allow us to have a public beta–yet. But we hope to improve that down the road. And of course the dialog will not stop on the 28th: we plan more usability testing and will be actively soliciting more feedback from members and non-members alike.

We’re sure there are things we missed, and things we can improve, and things we will just agree to disagree about. There have been a lucky few who have had a sneak peek, and their responses have been pretty consistently enthustiastic. Seriously, we can’t wait to hear what the rest of you have to say!
Design
Design refresh: the ripeness is all
December 27th, 2006 | Permalink | Comment?

We are achingly close to having the refreshed WJ site ready to launch. All along, from surveys to card sorts to user polls (all of which can be reviewed here ), your input has been the key–and we don’t want to stop now. In the next week or so we’ll be showing the world a pretty-close-to-final look at what you’ll see on that fine day. We’ll then be ready to collect your further feedback about what we’ve done–and start prioritizing and queuing up additional changes for the next round of improvements.
With thousands of members and tons of content and 12 partner sites and many other constituents and stakeholders, there is still some work ahead to get the site rolled out. But we’re confident that you’ll see the new site before you can say “Super Bowl“.
One of the nicest outcomes of the design process has been a better ability to support all our partners in their efforts to make their areas of WebJunction more compelling and user-friendly. You will start to see the impact of these improvements all across the site in the coming weeks and months.
Design
WJ Design Refresh: tap tap tap
December 1st, 2006 | Permalink | 2 Comments

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve posted a progress report on the WebJunction design refresh, but we are indeed making progress, in the form of determining how our new look will map to our twelve community partner sites, teasing out the nuances of fonts, style sheets, new content management functionality, and the innumerable other details that make “implementation” every bit as scary as it sounds.

One of our partners raised the interesting question: will we have a beta? The answer is “unfortunately not”–given security and software licensing issues it’s not that easy to make the new site visible to the world alongside the old one. Love the concept: and I hope we can do that in some future new rollout. But it’s not going to happen this time around.
As we’ve been reporting here right along, we’ve consulted with the library community at many points along the way, and will continue to do that. Before too much longer we will send out a more broadly distributed “sneak preview” to gather your collective wisdom–but want to wait to do that until we’re sure we’ve got the pixels and fonts and colors and everything working the way we intend.
It’s kind of like waiting for Santa Claus or Harry Hanukkah: it just takes a little patience. Meanwhile we elves will keep tapping away with our little hammers…
Design
WJ Design Refresh: getting over the hump
November 7th, 2006 | Permalink | 3 Comments

Ah, graphic design. The point in the redesign process when opinions are rife and getting to consensus is challenging.

We have two very similar candidates for WJ’s refreshed look and feel, and we’re at the point in our discussions (i.e., totally stuck) where we need to get some targeted input from our community.
We’re not quite willing to lift the wraps on our plans yet, but we would like a random group of users to take a peek at the options and let us know their preferences. If you’d like to participate in this 5-minute “which do you like better” exercise in the next couple of days, please drop me an email at joe_anderson@oclc.org and I’ll show you what to do.
Design
Usability testing for WJ design changes
October 26th, 2006 | Permalink | Comment?

This is getting exciting! We are closing in on a final set of design and functionality changes to make the site easier to use, and are about ready to do some formal usability testing. Testing will be conducted by ForumOne, who has been working right along with us through this process.

So, if you’re in or near Alexandria, VA, and would be willing an hour at ForumOne’s offices in mid-November helping make WebJunction a better place to be, please drop us a line at content@webjunction.org. (ForumOne is just a couple of blocks from the Duncan Branch of the Alexandria Library.)

For the fans of the virtual: we have discussed with ForumOne the idea of doing virtual usability testing (similar to our virtual card sort), and such capabilities do exist. But there’s something about working with an in-person test subject that makes a significant difference to the value of the feedback.

It would be fun, though, to collect a broader set of input a bit further down the line. So stay tuned as we continue to try to follow a best-practice design process, through our launch of these changes and beyond.
Design, Marketing, Meet Ups, Online Collaboration, Social Computing, Tags and Taxonomies
flickr fun
October 25th, 2006 | Permalink | Comment?

One of the most engaging programs I attended today at IL2006 was Michael Porter’s presentation on Flickr and the libraries and librarians group there. Michael described how his involvement in the project evolved over time, how the group grew to include more than 900 members and close to six thousand photos, and how that growth had naturally caused the group to self-moderate with tagging guidelines or suggestions and a bit of back-end volunteer work. His description confirmed what we’ve been learning at WebJunction about the wisdom of groups and their tendency to self-moderate when they have ownership or particular community roles. (Let’s set aside for a moment the fact that I defy that statement myself – having posted a number of pictures to the group pool without, I am sure, adherence to suggested guidelines…)
But the most fascinating (and impressive) thing to me about Michael’s program was not flickr, nor his group, nor his group’s growth� – it was (drum roll please) the ultra-suave way he brought in voices from around the world (literally) to help him tell his story.

People in the libraries and librarians group in Flickr from both Spain and Australia did voiceovers for their portions of the program. They talked over their demonstrations – which were done in PPT, I think, but maybe there was some flash involved. It was so simple, but a nice big photograph of each speaker as they began, along with name and title, and Michael gave his audience the feeling of meeting someone online. Impressive! It has me thinking about how we (the WebJunction community) can bring our members into these types of conference or meeting settings without even physically being there. Next time we have a member reception at ALA or something, why not let WJ members who can’t or won’t be there tell their library’s story in a similar way? Any volunteers?
Though this one may be my favorite, it’s one of a thousand new ideas I have after being here. Lucky me – lucky us. Now it’s just a matter of sorting through them all!
Design
More fun with the WJ site refresh
October 17th, 2006 | Permalink | Comment?

The WJ site design refresh process continues apace; this week we are settling some of the big questions and turning them into visual form.

Of course the Biggest Question on any site is “what goes on the home page?” And here’s what we’re thinking…

I. Three primary user activities:

- Browse Library Resources (READ)
- Take Online Courses (LEARN)
- Participate in the WJ Community (SHARE)

II. Basic functionality:
-Search
-Login
-Signup for email notification

III. Access to user communities
- Rural LIbraries
- Spanish Language Outreach
- Newcomers to WJ
- WebJunction Partners

IV. Fresh content and news
BlogJunction feed (on the home page! wow!)
Featured Content
WebJunction Member spotlight (on the home page! wow!)

All this is getting alchemically fricasseed, as we speak, into a tidy, elegant, well-organized visual layout that will delicately balance ease of use, vivacity, and completeness. We are wrapping up our wireframes this week and turning them into graphical mockups next week. We can’t wait to show them to you!
Design
WebJunction site refresh plans: whaddaya think?
October 4th, 2006 | Permalink | 5 Comments
After consulting with WJ members and partners, we have been working with ForumOne, our esteemed design advisors, to determine the core elements of our planned WJ site refresh. We’d love to get your thoughts too! Please feel free to comment on this post or send them to content@webjunction.org. We are rapidly moving toward translating this into “wireframe” diagrams, so we would appreciate your feedback by Friday, October 6.
1. Enhance the usability of WebJunction.org
- Update site taxonomy (based on the card sort, of course!)
- Update graphical presentation
- Address audience issues (that is: we address a number of distinct but overlapping audiences: we need to create audience-specific entry pages and simplify the user experience for everyone)
- Improve discovery (how could we be an OCLC project and not “improve discovery” ?) What ForumOne specifically recommends is: (1) Adding a facility for �key resources� (2) Increased usage of �related resources� (3) Better prominence and access to search functionality.
2. Better align the site with WJ’s mission
- More effectively feature eLearning and community content on the home page.
- Highlight key partners (state library associations and others) on the home page.
- Improve traffic by enhanced synergy with the WJ newsletter.
3. Maintain and enhance the sense of community at WJ
- Homepage message: make it clearer who we are and what we do.
- Homepage interactivity: feature more dynamic and interactive content.
- Liveliness and attitude: emphasize the spirit of the community, including interactivity, creativity and whimsy.
Design
Power to the people–well, mostly
October 2nd, 2006 | Permalink | Comment?

Chrystie recently posted to It’s All Good summarizing the information architecture issues we’re dealing with at WJ as part of our design refresh, and in particular our virtual card sort.� But if you read the comments you’ll see a note from the Montana State Library’s� Bruce Newell: “I wonder what the results will be compared to those built from skilled designers and user-testing.”

Just in case others are wondering about that same issue, we do *not* plan to completely design our architecture around the votes of the masses.� We do have skilled designers working with us; we will be conducting user testing.� But it’s interesting to note that what the community came up with is pretty wise and wonderful–and here it is:

So yes, we’ll ask the design bigshots for their input, and yes, we will do user testing on the final design to make sure we have the structure (and many other facets) correct.� But since the library community is about the sharpest group out there, we’re sure what you’ll end up seeing will be very much like the above.
Design
WJ design refresh project: card sort madness
September 27th, 2006 | Permalink | Comment?

Last week we announced WebJunction’s design refresh project and invited you to participate in our virtual card sort. The response has been overwhelming so far–more than 200 have participated in the exercise! Whether you grouped WJ topics into 4, 5, 6 or more buckets, whether you prefer the label “Serving Patrons” or “Patron Services”, “Technology Stuff” or “Computers and everything you need to know!”, your input is very valuable and will help us make the best possible usability improvements.

ForumOne (our design partner) is currently interviewing a selection of WebJunction users to help us form a better picture of who you are and what you need–WJ staff has plenty of ideas on that score, but objectivity is a good goal, don’t you think?. We will continue to solicit input at key points along the way. Too many cooks can spoil the design broth (can I hear an “amen” from the webmasters in the crowd?) but we will be querying you for your thoughts as we make key decisions.

One of the questions that has come up: how precisely can WJ’s design reflect the needs of specific individual audiences? One of ForumOne’s clients is the American Academy of Pediatrics (www.aap.org); if you visit their site you’ll see sections “for parents”, “for AAP” members, and “for medical professionals.” We’ve done a lot of dreaming about segmenting WJ “for library staff”, “for directors”, “for technology specialists” etc.; but it may be that these segments don’t really map well to the diversity and dynamism of the library world. While there are a few key audiences (rural librarians, for example, or library trainers) that need easily available landing pages, most site visitors will be potentially interested in a wide range of topics and the primary mechanism for site organization will *probably* continue to be content-oriented buckets like “technology”, “management”, “patron services”, and “learning”.

ForumOne’s mantras are: “make the site easy to use” and “make the good stuff easy to find.” However we settle the many questions to be resolved in the coming weeks, those sound like good guidelines to us!
Design
WebJunction design refresh is under way!
September 19th, 2006 | Permalink | Comment?

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the clarity and usability of WebJunction’s site is one of our biggest issues. In our recent user survey, many of you (45%) specified “organization of the site” as the most frustrating part of your WebJunction experience. And too few of you (27%) described the WJ site as “very easy to use”. (By the way, stay tuned for more survey results–coming soon!)

A change has been a while in coming, but now we’re very happy to announce our WebJunction design refresh project to address the very issues that most concern you. To accomplish this refresh, we need your help! We’ve set up a virtual card sort–an online mechanism for giving us your input into how we should organize WJ resources. The URL is http://websort.net/go/WJ_topics, and it will take you 20 to 30 minutes to complete. We’d like to get your input by next Wednesday, September 27. (And for you library webmasters, this is the perfect chance to try out a cool new way to collect user input on *your* site!)

We’re working with ForumOne Communications, a highly respected Web design and interactivity firm focused on the non-profit world. We expect to have a refresh plan in November and will be carrying out the plan soon thereafter. We’ll continue to share our plans with you in the weeks ahead. Thoughts or suggestions? Send ‘em our way!
Design
Lipstick on a pig?
July 10th, 2006 | Permalink | Comment?

We’ve been talking about redesigning WJ since forever. We recently took a good step down the path to renewed beautiousness when we launched our revamped Learning Center, which includes a fancy new E-Learning Clearinghouse: a single point of entry to distance learning for library staff, gathered from far and wide.

One of the things I love about the new Learning Center (internally we call it the “LC”, but obviously that’s going to stir up some confusion in libraryland) is its orientation toward identifying user needs right up front, starting with the phrase “I want to”. What could be more enticing than that?

We are paying attention to how the new LC, er, Learning Center is being used so we can understand how to continue to make WJ (er, that’s “WebJunction”) a better place to be. Send us your thoughts about this new space: we’re most definitely listening.
Design, Online Learning
Soft launches…
June 16th, 2006 | Permalink | Comment?

We’re pleased (and excited) to announce a few updates to WebJunction’s Learning Center.

As of today, the E-Learning Clearinghouse is live.

What is the E-Learning Clearinghouse, you ask? It’s a database of online education programs and courses for library staff and information professionals offered by ALA-accredited graduate schools, undergraduate schools, community colleges, regional library networks, and WebJunction.

With the launch of the Clearinghouse, we’ve also updated and reorganized the Learning Center. Whether you’re new to the Learning Center or a regular visitor, check out the Getting Started document to learn about the changes.

As with most things on the web, making these changes “live” is only the first step. You’ll see continuous additions to the E-Learning Clearinghouse and the Learning Center over time. With that said, check out the changes and let us know what works, what doesn’t, and what else you’d like to see!
Design
What a pain
April 20th, 2006 | Permalink | Comment?

(reposted)

You can find good design ideas in the strangest places. Recently we came across the site beinggirl.com, which was voted the best online community site of 2005 by the Web Marketing Association. It’s a site for teenage girls to help them navigate through certain biological realities that go with being an adolescent female. OK, it’s created by Procter & Gamble with obvious, um, product support ideas in mind. But there’s a lot going on at the site that is very similar to the kind of community we seek to build at WJ–places to connect, share experiences and information, get advice from experts, and so forth. Along the way there’s a lot of true community-building going on, on issues that extend far beyond the site’s core concern. The site is easy to use and navigate, has a friendly atmosphere, and includes some excellent social software tools. We’re taking notes.

It may be that the kind of “pain” the beinggirl.com community focuses on is different than the pain libraries feel in providing technology and keeping their doors open. On the other hand, anyone who’s had to reformat a hard drive on a Saturday night or go in front of their “who needs libraries when there’s Google” city council might see a more than passing similarity…

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Design, Marketing, Meet Ups, Online Collaboration, Social Computing, Tags and Taxonomies

Design, Online Learning