When Too Many is Just Enough: Citizen Engagement and Federal Government Websites

When Too Many Is Just Enough:
Citizen Engagement and Federal Government Websites

Jeffrey Ryan Pass | IA Summit 2013

@jeffpass
#ias2013
#UsabilityforGov

It starts with a guy introducing himself…

I am: Hi
 Jeff Pass
 A first-time IA Summit speaker
 A “User Experience Consultant”
 Tenaciously fighting the good fight
 Here to talk about Citizen Engagement
through large-scale online IA-focused
usability studies

Next he talks about this guy…
President Obama supports:
 Innovation
 Transparency
 Information
 Feedback
 We the People
 Portuguese Water Dogs

For all of these reasons (but one)…

Obama from “Change” to “Engage”

He commissioned a strategy & signed a memo…

On May 23, 2012 the White
House, CIO and CTO released:
 Presidential Memorandum:
Building a 21st Century Digital
Government
 Digital Government: Building a
21st Century Platform to Better
Serve the American People

These are better known as the Digital Government Strategy

The memo was a memo (and not very exciting)…

The Presidential Memorandum:
 Introduced the Strategy
 Put departments/agencies on notice
 Established a 12-month roadmap

The Strategy was something altogether different…

Introduced by Federal CIO
and CTO:
 “Federal Government must be
able to deliver information and
services to the American people
anytime, anywhere and on any
platform or device”
 Four over-arching principles
(wait for it…)
 12-month agency milestones Federal CIO, Steven VanRoekel
(keep waiting…) Federal CTO, Todd Park

Four Over-Arching Principles*
Principle Addressed Through
1 – “Information-Centric” Content Syndication
Data via APIs
Taxonomy/Metadata
2 – “Shared Platform” Agency Governance
Agency Inventory
Evaluate GSA vehicles
Shared CMS / Open Source
3 – “Customer-Centric” Modern UX
Site/content consolidation
SEO
Mobile
Measure satisfaction
4 – “Security and Privacy” FISMA compliance
Data security
Personal Information Privacy

* The first and third are most relevant to today’s chat

12-Month Agency Milestones*

3 Months 8/2012 6 Months 11/2012 12 Months 5/2013
 Identify 2 services for  Device Inventory  2 APIs Implemented
APIs  Customer Satisfaction  2 mobile services
 Identify 2 services for Implemented Implemented
Mobile  New systems adhere
 Agency Governance  Compliance
 Launch Digital verification with GSA
Strategy Page standards


 Evaluate new GSA
vehicles

* No real bearing on today’s chat but important to know

Digital Content of, for, and by Citizens…*

Information-Centric includes:
 Presenting content “in the way that is most useful for the
consumer of that information”

Customer-Centric includes:
 Allowing “customers to shape, share and consume
information, whenever and however they want it”
 “Using modern tools and technologies *to gather+
customer feedback to make improvements”

* Not really, but bear with me

Sounds Like a Job For…*

Me! Us:
 Information Architects
 Content Strategists
 Usability Specialists
 Other User Experience Professionals

* At least in some significant part

So Much We Can Do…
Many aspects of IA/UX/Content Strategist work can execute
on the Digital Government Strategy

Specifically, large-scale un-moderated usability tests
(focused on IA) can contribute to “citizen engagement”

So let’s rummage through the IA toolbox…

Rummaging Through the IA Toolbox…
We have the technology
(to perform large-scale usability testing and analysis)

 Open Card Sorts I have this ultimate
 (e.g. OptimalSort) set of tools… I can fix it!
 Closed Card Sorts
 (e.g. WebSort)
 Reverse Card Sorts (Tree Sorts)
 (e.g. Treejack)
 Un-Moderated Usability Tests
 (e.g. Usabilla)
 One-Click Tests (First-Click)
 (e.g. ChalkMark)
 Immediate Feedback Tests
 (e.g. FiveSecondTest)

Still Rummaging…
We have other tools too
(to compliment large-scale usability testing and analysis)
 Surveys (e.g. SurveyMonkey)
 Page-based Feedback Mechanisms (e.g. Voice of Consumer)
 Customer Satisfaction Tools (e.g. ForeSee)
 Click Analysis Tools (e.g. CrazyEgg)
 Heat Mapping Tools (e.g. ClickHeat)
 User Research Tools (e.g. Ethnio)
 Crowdsourcing Feedback Tools (e.g. UserVoice)

Case Study: Large-Scale Closed Card Sorts…

First the background:
 IA design of a public-facing website for a government
healthcare agency
 Began with over 100 content collections
 Goal to end with no more than five domains under a
single, unified IA and residing in a WCMS
 Iterative testing as well as multiple rounds of wireframe
usability testing


Next, card sorting basics:
 Technique for organizing and validating IA
 Dates back more than 100 years
 Can be performed in person, remotely, or online
 Several types:
 Open Card Sorts
 Closed Card Sorts
 Reverse Card Sorts


An online (closed) card sorting looks like this:


Now the conventional wisdom (card sorting in
general, but closed card sorting specifically):
 You need a minimum sampling for validity
 No value in samplings bigger than 25-35 participants
 Creates more analysis and reporting work

So, how many participants should you have? There are
many (well reasoned and documented) opinions…


Freed (2012): 15 - 20

Legend: Minimum Optimum


Gaffney (2000): 4 - 6



Nielsen (2004): 16



Paul (2008): 6 - 12



Robertson (2001): 4 - 8



Spencer & Warfel (2004): 7 - 10



Tullis & Wood (2004): 20 - 30



Tullis & Wood (2005): 30 - 40



Wood & Wood (2004): 25 - 30



So, how many participants did the case study have?

?

Multiple closed card sorts with 1,000+ participants!


And how did we engage the participants? Directly.

Social media was our recruiter
A blog post was our screener
OptimalSort and TreeJack were our vehicles

And the result?
Gained valuable insight for IA improvements, plus confirmed
that large-scale approach:

 Serves as a user outreach/feedback mechanism
 Allows for qualitative data collection alongside
quantitative data (via free-text comment fields)
 Raises awareness of the contribution of usability studies to
the presentation and use of online content
 Supports the Digital Government Strategy
 Really doesn’t result in unnecessary analysis and
reporting, but…

Challenges and Lessons Learned…

To avoid being crushed by the weight of data,
analysis, and reporting you must:
 Have a clear, well-established methodology
 Have a clearly defined goal and scope
 Use an online card sorting tool that can handle large-
scale participation

So what do you think?

Share your thoughts and experiences about large-
scale usability studies and direct user engagement

I’m listening…

Thanks for your time and participation!

Jeffrey Ryan Pass Bye
Lead User Experience Consultant
Aquilent (www.aquilent.com)

jeff.pass@aquilent.com
@jeffpass

Didn’t get enough (I honestly cannot imagine)? Then check out our (with
UserWorks colleague Weimin Hou) case study posters at #IAS2013!

Sources:
Freed, E. (2012). How-To Guide for Intranet Card Sorting. The Social Intranet Blog (09/11/2012). Retrieved 03/12/2013 from
http://www.thoughtfarmer.com/blog/2012/09/11/intranet-card-sorting/.

Gaffney, G. (2000). What is Card Sorting? Information & Design, 2000. Retrieved 03/12/2013 from http://www.ida.liu.se/~TDDD26/material/CardSort.pdf.

Nielsen, J. (2004). Card Sorting: How Many Users to Test. Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox: July 19, 2004. Retrieved 12/21/2012 from
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/card-sorting-how-many-users-to-test/.

OptimalWorkshop (2011). How Many Participants Do I Need for My Survey? (And How Many Should I Invite?). Optimal Workshop Support Knowledge Base
11/14/2011. Retrieved 03/12/2013 from
http://www.optimalworkshop.com/help/kb/remote-user-testing/how-many-participants-do-i-need-for-my-survey-and-how-many-should-i-invite.

Paul, C. L. (2008). A Modified Delphi Approach to a New Card Sorting Methodology. JUS Journal of Usability Studies, Volume 4, Issue 1, November 2008. Retrieved
03/12/2013 from http://www.academia.edu/150978/A_Modified_Delphi_Approach_to_a_New_Card_Sorting_Methodology.

Robertson, J. (2001). Information Design Using Card Sorting. Step Two Designs, 02/19/2001. Retrieved 03/12/2013 from
http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/cardsorting/index.html.

Sachs, J. (2002). Aristotle's Metaphysics. Green Lion Press, Santa Fe, NM.

Spencer, D., & Warfel, T. (2004). Card Sorting: A Definitive Guide. Boxes and Arrows 04/07/2004. Retrieved 03/12/2013 from
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/card_sorting_a_definitive_guide.

Tullis, T. S., & Wood, L. E. (2004). How Many Users Are Enough for a Card-Sorting Study? UPA 2004 Conference, Minneapolis, NM. Retrieved 12/21/2012 from
http://home.comcast.net/~tomtullis/publications/UPA2004CardSorting.pdf.

Tullis, T. S., & Wood, L. E. (2005). How Can You Do a Card-sorting Study with LOTS of Cards? UPA 2005 Conference, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Retrieved 12/21/2012
from http://www.eastonmass.net/tullis/presentations/Tullis&Wood-CardSorting.pdf.

Wood, J. R., & Wood, L. E. (2008). Card Sorting: Current Practices and Beyond. Journal of Usability Studies, Volume 4, Issue 1, November 2008. Retrieved 03/12/2013
from http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/jus/2008november/wood3.html.

UserZoom (2011). Online Card Sorting: What, How & Why? UserZoom 01/20/2011. Retrieved 03/12/2013 from http://www.userzoom.com/online-card-sorting-
what-how-why/.

Note: The Digital Government Strategy was announced on 05/23/2012 in the Presidential Memorandum: Building a 21st Century Digital Government
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/23/presidential-memorandum-building-21st-century-digital-government) and detailed in the actual strategy
document Digital Government: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/egov/digital-government/digital-government.html).

When Too Many is Just Enough: Citizen Engagement and Federal Government Websites

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