Monthly Archives: December 2003

Ignorance, paralysis or expense: The problem of software and business method patents for information architects and web designers

Academic Papers

[Note: this is a paper prepared for a graduate course in the IAKM program at Kent State University.]

What is the first step an information architect or web designer makes when designing a web site? Designers are often worried about principles such as giving users control, being consistent, providing feedback, or not relying on users’ memory (Dumas). Or, they are mentally checking off any one of a thousand “top ten mistakes” lists available in books and on the web. They may even start by discussing requirements with clients or conducting usability tests. But chances are, they aren’t at the US Patent Office web site. The last thing most information architects and web designers think about before creating a web site is doing a patent search. And this is becoming a big problem.

The introduction and explosion of software and business method patents relating to website design features presents a major problem to those who design sites, and designers and companies find themselves in three positions: ignorant of the issue, caught up in the “defensive” patent race themselves, or perhaps ultimately paralyzed and unable to continue work.

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Usability test of the Kent State IAKM home page

Academic Papers, Usability, Writing, , , , , ,

Note: this report shows the results of a usability test of the Information Architecture and Knowledge Management program web site at Kent State University in 2003. The site has since been redesigned.

1. Introduction

In usability study of the IAKM web site I found a number of serious problems. Current IAKM students were asked to complete a series of tasks using the site. Although participants were able to complete the tasks 91.67 percent of the time, they met all performance goals for each task only 36.11 percent of the time. The site is not fundamentally broken, but clearly there is room for improvement. Through statistical analysis, observations of the students, and remarks made by the students a number of issues were uncovered.

Many of the problems were global problems with site navigation and labeling, but there were also a number of prominent local problems. The severity of problems were rated via three categories:

  • Severe—prevents the user from completing a task or results in catastrophic loss of data or time.
  • Moderate—significantly hinders task completion but users can find a work-around.
  • Minor—irritating to the user but does not significantly hinder task completion. (Artim, 1).

Problems are also rated by scope. Any problem can be either global, meaning it applies to most pages or the site as a whole, or local, meaning it is particular to a page or specific section. Global problems are generally more pressing than local ones.

Findings are presented first in order of importance, followed by a description of the study methods.

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