Movement

Monday morning included a meeting with my supervisor, the group manager, the director, and the two developers. We settled on the facets or types of data we will need for each item in the portal. We agreed to some formats and some of the controlled vocabulary. We have a pretty good idea of what the final product will be like.

The whiteboard.

The facets, the data that will be input with each item, includes a text title and description, plus year, campus, discipline, category (of technology or initiative), people (involved in the project), tags (any pertinent metadata that isn't covered in the other fields), and media (an image to represent the project and a URL to the project page).

At this point, much of the project turns over to the developers. They are researching database needs and a few other odds and ends. I will write up some documentation: description of the schema and the structure of the site. There will be two aspects: the input system and the public facing system.

I need to get documentation to them by the end of Friday before spring break begins. During the week that I am off, hopefully they will be able to get a start on the development side of things. The timing of spring break is actually working out well.

After spring break, I do have a few odds and ends I can work on while the project is in the development phase, but I'm coming to kind of a pause point. Once they have some of the development done, I should be able to begin some UX testing. We'll need to "seed" the new portal, so testing the input system first makes sense (because then we can start entering projects).

I'm not sure how much of the seeding I'll need to do. I can possibly come up with some recommendations for the project pages (the portal won't actually host the projects, just be a portal to access them; staff will have to create project pages on their personal sites).

Takeaway this time: There's an ebb and flow on projects. Working with a team, there are times when you're busy and the project is sitting in your hands, and others might be waiting on you. And then there are times when the project is in someone else's hands and you're waiting for your next steps. Luckily I have some loose ends I can tie up in the meantime (after spring break).

Persuasion

Monday I presented my project progress to a small group, including the manager and director. One of the things I have been working on, as you know if you've been reading this blog, is coming up with controlled vocabulary terms for filters.

Filters, especially drop-down menus, get a bad rap from some folks, but they are actually very useful in helping website visitors to find what they are looking for. Without filters or some way to narrow down selections, a large collection of items, which this site will be, can be overwhelming. Yes, it's good to allow free text search, especially if someone knows exactly what they are looking for. But not everyone does.

Controlled vocabulary and filters aid browsing and serendipity.

In the presentation, I ran into some pushback on the idea of having a controlled vocabulary and having filters, because "I hate drop-down menus." So what was supposed to be an hour-long meeting where I presented my progress and we set down next steps became an hour and a half meeting wherein several of us spent about 45 minutes persuading the director that a controlled vocabulary was both necessary and useful.

We did convince him. He did agree that we could implement a controlled vocabulary in a way that would not be onerous and would make things work better.

We also agreed on the categories for filters and/or keywords:

• Category - What is the thing? The controlled vocabulary for this is pretty solid and might need minor tweaking.
• Field - What academic field(s) does the project apply to? I have a start on this controlled vocabulary, but there are a lot of possible fields, plus I want to limit the list to about 20, if possible.
• Campus - Since the AVL spans all 8 IU campuses, a project might be initiated at a particular campus. Controlled vocabulary for this will be fairly simple: we just have to decide on the format (e.g., IUB or Bloomington).
• Year - I think this will be a simple 4-digit year.
• Name - This would be a tricky one for a controlled vocabulary (it could be done). The agreement we came to was that this field would be free-text for data entry, which may or may not be the best. Hopefully we can set a standard (first name first or last name first? initials or full names?).

My task for the rest of this week is to nail down the controlled vocabulary. I'm also supposed to work up some test cases to demonstrate how the controlled vocabulary will aid someone in finding an item.

The original schedule had me designing, which I had started, but they are less concerned with following that schedule than with getting this part worked out since this is where efforts at organization have failed in the past.

Take-away: Sometimes you have to step back and slow down to do things right. Rushing would get something done, but it might not be as long-lasting. Also, sometimes you have to stand up for what will be a better choice. 

Looking to the future

Monday morning I attended my first group meeting with the AVL. The meeting was about looking at achievements of the past and looking forward into the future. After 20 years, the group has accomplished a lot but there are always new initiatives and new goals; the cutting edge moves fast. What was advanced visualization 5, 10, or 20 years ago isn't anymore. Technology changes fast and a group like the AVL can't rest of its laurels.

Seeing a glimpse of priorities for the next 5 years was helpful for me because it gave me an idea of some of the top level categories, some of the priorities, I need to use in my design. The site I am designing isn't about the initiatives but about the projects, so the trick now is to separate initiatives from projects.

Looking into the future... or a head-mounted VR display.

It was interesting to see how different folks in the group responded to changes that are happening, who was pushing back, who was on board. In my working life I've been in several jobs where the company has undergone major upheaval, much more than these changes in focus and funding. Changes at one company I worked at were so poorly received by staff that we were all required to read "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson and attend weekly meetings to discuss it.

It's always enlightening to watch the responses to change.

There are folks who push back and resist, who are comfortable with the way things are. There are folks who accept, maybe asking questions, who realize that moving forward involves change. There are folks who embrace change and see it as exciting, a chance to mold the future.

One of the initiatives moving forward that was mentioned at the meeting was my IA project to create a web portal for many of the AVL's projects. Everyone seems to be on board with the project, recognizing that there is value in having an online portfolio of the work the group has done.

What this project is and what it isn't

Monday morning began with a meeting with my supervisor, the group manager, and the division director. We went over the work I had done so far, with me leading the discussion.

The meeting was helpful in clarifying a few questions I had encountered about what the project is and what the project isn't. The proto-personas I created were well-received, so I will continue fleshing them out as I gather more information.

We were also able to agree on the next steps, which mostly involves interviewing each of the group members and collecting some representative samples of the visual assets that the project is about. The interviews are brief, about 30 minutes each, and are helpful in gathering requirements. Part of the interview is requesting information on representative samples, as mentioned above, so I can start creating a list of descriptors. The descriptors will be useful for search terms in the eventual site.

I was able to do the first interview Monday afternoon. I have two more planned for Thursday and another planned for Friday, when I'll finally make a trip to IUPUI to see the other facilities. Interviews will take some time to complete because I have to work around everyone's schedules.

There are plenty of things I can do in the meantime. I've been reading up on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0). I have also been typing up my handwritten notes, which helps me think about what the notes mean. In typing them, I can add context and questions, and make connections.

Take away: Meetings aren't always bad. This was more of a work session than a meeting, with the goal of putting us all on the same page.