1. Scratchpad Requirements Gathering Exercise Sarah Phillips

2. Background ICT Team performed an option analysis on the architectural design of eMonocot Consensus decision reached and ratified by Project Board in May 2011 New content will be gathered and edited in Scratchpads Content will be aggregated from these Scratchpads alongside existing source systems (Palmweb, CATE-Araceae, GrassBase) in a read-only Portal

3. Eliminates any duplication of effort since the only read-write interface is in the Scratchpads Leaves maximum time for the Oxford/Kew team to focus on the Portal Leaves the Kew Content Team and other contributors having to use a tailored Scratchpad that may not support all their needs

4. Question Are Scratchpads fit for purpose for eMonocot? 9 Testers each given an eMonocot Scratchpad Each User was asked to upload and edit content Tasks were based on the Scratchpad training guide Data and Images were provided

6. How easy they found Each Task (Very Hard/Hard/OK/Easy/Very Easy) What improvements were necessary with the process If they wanted to do something but could not What additional functionality a Scratchpad should have Any other content they would want to add Any other improvements they would like to see Overall how hard they found the experience Feedback

7. Results On average users rated their overall experience of using the scratchpad as OK Although the average of individual tasks was Easy Identified approx. 130 requirements There were a number of common themes that the feedback identified

8. Improve Usability and Help Difficult to navigate around the site, not intuitive Number of steps (clicks) that a user needs to perform a task seems to be greater than necessary Needs improved and more comprehensive Instructions Need more visual representations e.g. screen shots Technical language and Scratchpad terms used in the Help difficult for beginners

9. Classification tree difficult to navigate – small indents Hard to edit the classification in the taxonomic editor Limited search options to find the content that you want A lot of effort is needed by a user to curate and make attractive taxon pages Editing content in the matrix editor difficult because of the small window for the editor Autotagging the bibliography on import Difficult Tasks

10. Improve Display of Content Unsatisfactory display of Synonymy - can not quickly see all the synonyms of a particular name Clearer display of Type specimens and their images Content should automatically fit neatly in the Widgets Display text as a string as opposed to separate fields and their headings Country maps – More interactive allow zooming in

11. What Scratchpads can not do Automatically move names in the classification tree when you associate them to a different accepted name Ability to move more than one name at a time in the classification tree Save users search results – can bookmark search Alter the names or order of the tabs in the Taxon description - will break EOL export Restrict users to be able to edit or contribute data to selected taxa only

12. Conclusion No Showstoppers found so far Room for improvement in terms of usability and display of Content Improvements should be seen in Scratchpad 2 More feedback and requirements will be gathered when content team and communities start adding content