To: From: Re:

Christine Sopczak, Communications Studies 363 TA Emily Marasco, Undergraduate, COMS 363

Date: Feb. 18, 2010

Project Proposal Guidelines [This subject line should be more informative. JA]

Popular among long-hair enthusiasts online, The Long Hair Loom (hereinafter referred to as TLHL) is an amateur hobby website that could benefit from a usability analysis. TLHL is a forum-based website geared towards an audience that either has long hair already, or would like to grow longer, healthy hair. The site focuses on natural products and techniques, and examines some of the chemistry behind popular commercial products. The proposed usability study will focus on the discussion board pages that serve as THLH's main audience draw. This website will benefit from a usability study because the owner (known as Fox) has little experience with web design and there are many users, both regular and casual, that have been attracted to TLHL. Owner Fox is also busy running a hair accessories business, which leaves her little time and resources to investigate the usability of her site. Because the site features a high amount of individualized graphics, it is important to examine how the layout and graphical aspects affect a member's basic ability to utilize the site effectively. The results of this study will be presented in a PowerPoint presentation and a formal report. Both will outline the findings, the final evaluation and recommendations for the website. Background and Demographics: TLHL was started in 2003 as a display avenue for selling hair accessories. Now it is associated with Stick and Stones, a hairstick company run by the website owner. TLHL has expanded to include several different discussion boards, a chatroom, a monitored, safe chatroom for young girls, and a library of hair care articles. This site is considered a sister site in a ring of several larger hair care websites, including The Long Hair Community. The purpose of this website is to facilitate communication between users of similar interests. The website is meant to provide users with information, advice and personal experiences regarding natural hair care, hair growth and hair styling techniques. There is also a forum dedicated to off-topic threads, so that users may post and respond to more personal posts. These often include prayer requests or queries for job advice. Users of TLHL have varied backgrounds regarding their knowledge of hair and their own expertise defines their role on the site. New users benefit from the information posted, while more experienced users assume a teaching and sharing role. Users tend to be very well spoken and use full sentences, not utilizing any shortened speech that tends to be common among some web users. Members come from a range of different ages, but are primarily female. The majority of users are between 20 and 40, though anonymity features greatly throughout user profiles and many ages are unknown. While members may

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choose to share personal details about themselves, any personal pictures tend to be of a users back to show their hair growth and condition. Many users make a point of maintaining online anonymity, even covering the sides of their faces in pictures, which will need to be taken into consideration during any interview or survey procedures. Criteria for analysis and evaluation: For the purposes of this usability study, a few key design elements will be examined. These elements are[:delete colon here] page layout and design, organization and accessibility of information and navigation. All three of these elements tie into an overall examination of users ability to travel effectively through the website and gain the information that they are looking for. These elements are especially important for TLHL, as users come to the website in hopes of finding answers to specific questions, or to ask someone with more experience to comment on their concerns. This study will focus on the navigation as a key component of website usability. Because poor navigational interfaces create confusion, disjointing and isolation of web pages, I will be examining the links and methods of travel between TLHL pages. Lynch and Horton (2005) suggest the consideration of four key components orientation, route decisions, mental mapping and closure when determining an appropriate navigational system for a website. An important aspect of this is user context. Since users are only able to view only one page at a time, it is important that they are aware of their location in the overall site architecture. As Nathan and Yeow (2008) discovered in their study of student usability preferences, features such as a site map are attractive to users. Lynch and Horton (2005) also mention the importance of implementing separate browse and search functions, as half of users prefer one and the remaining half prefers the other. The results of the University of Calgary Library Website Usability Study Team, Hayden, Hyland, Lee, MacMillan, McKee, Sadler, Toews, Warren and Wheeler (2006), support this suggestion of catering to user preference, as their findings determined that users will continue to utilize their preferred method of navigation and search, even if presented with another alternative. By using two different groups of study participants, I hope to determine whether or not past familiarity with TLHL will affect a users response. As suggested by Graves and Graves (2007), I will be using a survey as the primary source of feedback data. I also hope to interview the website owner, but this is dependent on the owners availability and schedule. If I am able to schedule an interview, I will abide by the guidelines listed in the ethics documentation. Because I am very familiar with TLHL and its pages, I will be able to evaluate which questions will be most valuable to ask. Wikipedia (2010) lists several investigational methods that could be performed for usage feedback, including empirical measurements and iterative design. Survey results can be very beneficial for improving a web design. In their survey, Nathan and Yeow (2008) discovered that Malaysian students were attracted favourably to aesthetically pleasing websites, while Hayden et al. (2006) used a combined interview and survey process to discover that university faculty and students wanted less text on their library website. These studies demonstrate that an effective user feedback system is instrumental in implementing improvements in navigational and web interface systems. I will be examining how page layout affects users ability to navigate and locate the information that they are seeking. [The information on research methods in this paragraph should be moved to the next section.A]

Proposed Research Method: For the analysis of TLHL, the primary source of research will come from a web-based usability survey. Participants will be divided into two groups and asked to complete the same survey. The first group will be current users of the site who are already familiar with the site layout. The second group of participants will consist of new users who have never seen or utilized the site before. By using two types of participants, I will be able to examine whether or not previous familiarity with the site affects a participants answers. Current Users: Using a link to SurveyMonkey, a questionnaire will be posted on TLHL and users will be asked to complete the survey. New Users: Participants will be contacted by email and asked to visit TLHL before completing the survey found on SurveyMonkey. These participants will be recruited from friends and classmates. In order to comply with the University of Calgarys ethics in research policies, the following paragraph will be posted at the top of the survey in lieu of a consent form: This anonymous survey is being conducted as part of a student project in Coms 363, a course in Professional and Technical Communication at the University of Calgary . This survey is being administered via SurveyMonkey, an online survey tool that does not track respondents names or e-mail information. No names will be connected with any of the responses collected. By completing and submitting this survey, you are indicating your informed consent to participate in this research project. You may withdraw at any time while completing the survey simply by exiting the survey. Since results are not tracked, you cannot withdraw your participation once you hit submit. If you have any questions about this survey, please contact me (Lady Lovely Locks, TLHLComs363@live.ca) or my instructor, Jo-Anne Andre (403-220-7429; email andre@ucalgary.ca). Thank you. Because I wish to protect my own anonymity, I have chosen the username Lady Lovely Locks and will be using an email address created specifically for this project. All survey materials will be administered and stored using SurveyMonkey. A draft survey may be found in Appendix A. Task Schedule: Task Finalize, review and post survey Begin PowerPoint and report outline Close survey Analyze and summarize usability testing results Create first draft of PowerPoint Create first draft of final report Time Needed to Complete 1 week 1 week Survey open for 3 weeks total 3 days 1 week 1 week Date of Completion March 1 March 8 March 22 March 25 April 1 April 1

Edit first draft and create second 2 days April 3 draft of PowerPoint Edit first draft and create second 2 days April 5 draft of final report Final editing and submission of 3 days April 8 PowerPoint presentation Final editing and submission of 1 week April 15 final report and letter of transmittal [The last two items in the task schedule should be made grammatically parallel with the other items.] Conclusion: Administering and analyzing a web-based usability survey for the website, The Long Hair Loom, will allow valuable information to be collected regarding the sites navigational ease and the layout design. This study will help with functionality and information access for users of TLHL by providing recommendations for improvements to the website owner. By undertaking this project, I hope to improve the TLHL experience for all users, both new and old. References: Fox, D. A. (2010). The Long Hair Loom. Retrieved February 18, 2010, from http://www.longhairloom.com/ Graves, H., & Graves, R. (2007). [Chapter 3] Researching technical subjects. A strategic guideto technical communication. Peterborough ON: Broadview Press. Lynch, P., & Horton, S. (2005). [Chapter 4] Interface design. Web Style Guide. Retrieved February 4, 2010, from http://www.webstyleguide.com/wsg3/index.html Nathan, R. J., & Yeow, P. H. P. (2008). An empirical study of factors affecting the perceived usability of websites for student Internet users. Universal Access in the Information Society, 8(3), 165184. doi: 10.1007/s10209-008-0138-8 University of Calgary Library Website Usability Study Team. (2006). University Library Website Usability Study Report. Information Science. [Report]. Retrieved February 1, 2010 from http://hdl.handle.net/1880/43524 Usability. (2010). Wikipedia. Retrieved February 3, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usability

Appendix A: DRAFT SURVEY The following is a draft of the survey questions to be asked. These questions will be presented using an embedded SurveyMonkey link, so the true question formatting will not be as it appears here.

*1. Please start at TLHL's homepage: http://longhairloom.com/ The page layout here is similar throughout the whole website. What is the ONE most frustrating aspect of this page layout?

*2. Please select the "Discussion Boards" link. Now select the "Hair Care Board" link. Please scroll to the fourth newest thread and view ALL of the responses to this thread at once. I was able to view all responses on the first try I was able to view all response on the second try It took me three or more tries to view all responses I gave up and still can't seem to view all of the responses to a posted message Comments (optional):

*3. Are you able to locate the Search function easily? Yes No

*4. Please click the Search link and type henna. Select one of the resulting threads (not individual messages). Scroll through the thread and view the information. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being difficult to read, 5 being easily read), how would you rate the following information? Page Layout 1 (Difficult to read) 2 3 4 5 (Easy to read) Individual Posts Individual Posts 1 (Difficult to read) 2 3 4 5 (Easy to read) Information in Signatures Information in Signatures 1 (Difficult to read) 2 3 4 5 (Easy to read) *5. Overall, how do the graphics affect your ability to read the information presented? Graphics are too large Graphics are too numerous Too few graphics Graphics are just right

*6. Please return to the main Hair Care Board list of threads. Were you able to do this? Yes, on the first try Took me a couple of tries No, I went back to a different page in order to find it No, I'm still lost... *7. If you were unable to return to the main Hair Care Board, please select "Return to Index." Please locate the following pages and rate your difficulty in finding them. Styling Station board 0 (Never found it...) 1 (Difficult) 2 3 4 5 (Easy) Drawing Room board Drawing Room board 0 (Never found it...) 1 (Difficult) 2 3 4 5 (Easy) Hair Care Recipes page Hair Care Recipes page 0 (Never found it...) 1 (Difficult) 2 3 4 5 (Easy) Discussion Board Index Menu Discussion Board Index Menu 0 (Never found it...) 1 (Difficult) 2 3 4 5 (Easy) *8. Please find the site rules and paste the last sentence below.

*9. Please return to the homepage. Are you back where you started? Yes No

*10. Finally, please comment on your overall impression of TLHL's page navigational system.

Thank you for participating!