Hi, I look at it from a holistic perspective. You need to get a sense of your web audience, and that is challenging for us to do because we don't see them, meet them or know them. We get a sense of what they want when they email us, or post to our sites. But that is about it. Internally, we have a bunch of staff telling us what they want, we hear them loud and clear, so the voice of our web audience can get lost in the shuffle.
I think we need to do as much as we can, improve our use of analytics, deploy surveys, watch our visitors while they browse. However, this is expensive and moreover, it takes time and commitment to do it right and see it through. For my redesign, I would like to incorporate a usability testing plan that I can get buy off on internally, one that we can realistically implement with our resources. That's the plan. I love this topic too! Christina -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of william jahsman Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 1:59 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] website evaluations This is a great topic. I'm in the Robert Weiner camp.Some of the web developers I've talked to recommend using analysis tools like Googlytics to measure where in your website people are going. Whatever course your due diligence takes you, it requires care, thought, and earbending! Bill Jahsman Park City Consulting Group IT Consultant The Leonardo 435-901-0200 mobile 801-531-9800 office ----- Original Message ---- From: Annamaria Poma-Swank <[email protected]> To: Museum Computer Network Listserv <mcn-l at mcn.edu> Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2008 12:56:40 AM Subject: Re: [MCN-L] website evaluations Dear Perian I would like to tlak to you about a new project... I will post some ideas on the MCN list serve, but I would like your input. Ciao, am On Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 8:06 PM, Perian Sully <psully at magnes.org> wrote: > Thanks Ari and Robert: > > We've just redesigned the site (same content, new look) and now we're > trying to identify content to add and shift it away from a brochure site > to a content-driven site. But, since our visitors are currently older > and don't use our existing website, we're trying to figure out exactly > what people might want to do on the site. *I* have ideas, based on how > other museums have done this, and various members of the staff want > certain content on the site (we've identified this already), but I don't > want to go full-steam ahead with generating that content at this moment > if there is low interest by the public. > > One of the staff generated a survey, but upon reading it, I feel that > some of you may have already done this, and done it well enough that I > can mooch off of you ;) > > Perian Sully > Collection Information and New Media Coordinator > Judah L. Magnes Museum > > > -----Original Message----- > From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of > Ari Davidow > Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 10:48 AM > To: Museum Computer Network Listserv >? Subject: Re: [MCN-L] website evaluations > > Perian, > > I don't have a specific survey to point to, but I think that it is early > to > be worrying about usability and the like, per se. Rather, you want to > find > out how your members (and any other stakeholders) use your existing > site, > what they aren't finding or wish was there, pages/tools on other museum > sites that they would like to see on yours, etc. > > You then have to have a conversation with all relevant stakeholders to > talk > about the purpose of the website--what is it that you want to be > using/should be using (in their opinion) the website for? (Among your > stakeholders, obviously don't exclude yourself, or other knowledgeable > folks > who know the Magnes and the web and have ideas that are out of the > current > box, but might be fun/useful or both.) > > Once you have that sense of what the website should accomplish, and how > it > fits in with your overall branding and development work, you then want > to > focus on the nitty gritty. > > ari > > On Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 12:54 PM, Robert Weiner <lists at rlweiner.com> > wrote: > > > Dear Perian, > > > > Here are some articles about how to conduct a usability survey: > > http://www.usabilitynet.org/tools/surveys.htm > > http://www.archimuse.com/mw2001/papers/schweibenz/schweibenz.html > > > > And here is a sample survey: > > > http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/ocpl/resources/OMBClearance/ODOERGrantsSurvey. > pdf > > > > Run a search for "web usability survey" (without the quotes) and > you'll > > find > > lots. I didn't see many that are specific to museums, but many of the > > issues are common - how easy is it to use the site, what image does it > > project, and can you find what you are looking for? > > > > That said, here's an article on why it's more important to watch users > than > > to ask them for their opinions: > > http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20010805.html > > > > Robert > > __________________________ > > > > Robert L. Weiner Consulting > > Strategic Technology Advisors to Nonprofit and Educational > Institutions > > San Francisco, CA > > > > robert at rlweiner.com > > 415/643-8955 > > > > www.rlweiner.com > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf > Of > > Perian Sully > > Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 9:09 AM > > To: Museum Computer Network Listserv > > Subject: [MCN-L] website evaluations > > > > Hi all: > > > > > > > > We're redesigning our website and wanted to get a survey out for our > > members, to help us determine the content and the structure of the new > > site. Does anyone have a needs assessment survey or something like who > > would be willing to share? > > > > > > > > Thanks! > > > > > > > > Perian Sully > > > > Collection Information and New Media Coordinator > > > > Judah L. Magnes Museum > > > > 2911 Russell St. > > > > Berkeley, CA 94705 > > > > Work: 510-549-6950 x 357 > > > > Fax: 510-849-3673 > > > > http://www.magnes.org > > > > http://www.musematic.org > > > > http://www.mediaandtechnology.org > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum > Computer > > Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > > > _______________________________________________ > > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum > Computer > > Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > > _______________________________________________ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum > Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > _______________________________________________ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer > Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
