[Archivesspace_Users_Group] ArchivesSpace Public Interface Enhancement project update

Mon Sep 21 10:27:56 EDT 2015

Mark,

I like these wireframes a lot and esp. the fact that the digital objects are separated from the resources and resource components.  Overall, these wireframes show that the project is headed in the right direction and I think in particular that the 'record title' ones look great!

That said, I think that it will be very important to keep the context of the hits apparent to the user in the search results and browse screens without excessively cluttering the interface.  I have three specific suggestions for the group's consideration, and I can provide more information if you all think that would be helpful:

  *    In the search results screen, I am not sure what (in Aspace data model terms) the 'collections' and 'archival objects' represent.  I think these might be 'resources' and 'resource components' respectively. To keep matters straight, it might be best if they use the terms 'resource' and 'resource component' as placeholder labels—with the actual wording shown to user drawn from the level attribute or user configurable at a repository level.  I say this because as a practical matter, the display of these will have to be driven by the underlying data model, regardless of how things end up getting labelled.
  *   IN the search results screen—assuming that the hierarchical data model will to some extent drive display—I think the links that links to resource components should grouped under the resource within which they are found, with some visual indication that they are subordinate to a the top parent/resources.  Displaying the child records at the same font without nesting them w/in their resource context will lead a more cluttered and decontextualized display than is necessary. The user will end up with apples and oranges mixed in the same list, when there are ways to group and save space by listing them under the parent.
  *   In the 'digital object' browse area, the design makes a presumption that each digital object represents a single file.  This is not always the case.  While it would be EXTREMELY useful to have some kind of thumbnail view like they suggest, for the individual digital object records, showing either a thumbnail image or icon of the document type being linked to, the interface will also need to account for two additional cases: (a) Where the DO record points to an external URL and (b) where the digital object represents an aggregation of files, optionally with subordinate digital objects.

There are other minor things which can be attended to later, but for now I think these are the key navigational decisions around context that occur to me based on our past and present experience.

Chris Prom

“Too long; didn’t read” version:

·         There’s a working group<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archivesspace.atlassian.net_wiki_display_ADC_Public-26-2343-3BInterface-26-2343-3BEnhancement-26-2343-3BProject&d=AwMFAg&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=jGJMaTc-8I-z6_tkoj_Qyi4UF1KtYBfcz4s2Ly33jmw&m=PxQTuSW3ilgWNsyxHU8Kbb1adG4vJ4Q_Di1XUXDTE5Y&s=1754FPq9qnvwTmIot_zrnkJmTAv07ubORMQUOFHhB08&e=> that’s started to enhance the public interface of ArchivesSpace.

·         You can watch recordings<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__vimeo.com_channels_943201_&d=AwMFAg&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=jGJMaTc-8I-z6_tkoj_Qyi4UF1KtYBfcz4s2Ly33jmw&m=PxQTuSW3ilgWNsyxHU8Kbb1adG4vJ4Q_Di1XUXDTE5Y&s=SN0F19unp1vSKgefsCovoobA98uChz5R44OsNK0dTO0&e=> of each of the working group’s meetings online, shortly after their conclusion (kudos to The Cherry Hill Company, the design firm that’s working with us on the project, for recording, managing, and publishing these videos!).

·         The very first wireframes<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archivesspace.atlassian.net_wiki_display_ADC_Wireframes&d=AwMFAg&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=jGJMaTc-8I-z6_tkoj_Qyi4UF1KtYBfcz4s2Ly33jmw&m=PxQTuSW3ilgWNsyxHU8Kbb1adG4vJ4Q_Di1XUXDTE5Y&s=m44cHU4z7W-P4ik-6ESDEfgz_sIgKFmJ_s9OYbyhwvg&e=> for the project are now online.

·         More to follow, but feedback is welcome at any time!
For more exciting details, the full version:
All,
I’m writing to provide an update about the work that’s been conducted so far as part of the ArchivesSpace Public Interface Enhancement project, https://archivesspace.atlassian.net/wiki/display/ADC/Public+Interface+Enhancement+Project<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archivesspace.atlassian.net_wiki_display_ADC_Public-26-2343-3BInterface-26-2343-3BEnhancement-26-2343-3BProject&d=AwMFAg&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=jGJMaTc-8I-z6_tkoj_Qyi4UF1KtYBfcz4s2Ly33jmw&m=PxQTuSW3ilgWNsyxHU8Kbb1adG4vJ4Q_Di1XUXDTE5Y&s=1754FPq9qnvwTmIot_zrnkJmTAv07ubORMQUOFHhB08&e=>, which kicked off earlier this year and really got down to business over the last couple of months. If you haven’t seen ArchivesSpace’s public interface before, you can check out a sandbox of the current version at http://public.archivesspace.org/<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__public.archivesspace.org_&d=AwMFAg&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=jGJMaTc-8I-z6_tkoj_Qyi4UF1KtYBfcz4s2Ly33jmw&m=PxQTuSW3ilgWNsyxHU8Kbb1adG4vJ4Q_Di1XUXDTE5Y&s=409Ymym3i3INXeumBO9EgQ3xEwzIFyPZoUYakeRiBXM&e=> -- that’s our starting point, but a lot of changes are ahead.
Back in May, a call went out for volunteers to serve on the working group. We now have over ten volunteers participating from a variety of different institutions, and the group is meeting online every other Thursday.
So what has the working group done so far?  Here are some highlights:

·         We’ve selected a design firm, The Cherry Hill Company, https://chillco.com/<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__chillco.com_&d=AwMFAg&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=jGJMaTc-8I-z6_tkoj_Qyi4UF1KtYBfcz4s2Ly33jmw&m=PxQTuSW3ilgWNsyxHU8Kbb1adG4vJ4Q_Di1XUXDTE5Y&s=Gt6WCGbiAF0fNn55LSoF00dHYBW-A0XoSQoeQ9IA5yM&e=>, to work on the project.  Cherry Hill came on board in July.  Rain Michaels, Tommy Keswick, and Jungleen Bae have done a fantastic job so far in learning about archival description all the while keeping their eyes out for how they can help to improve the public interface for our varied audiences.

·         Speaking of those audiences, the working group has created 21 different user personas to help guide user testing, development, and Cherry Hill’s overall approach to the project.

·         We’ve tested the current public interface of ArchivesSpace with researchers at Harvard, Rice, and Yale, using scripts that were informed by the user personas.  The results of our initial tests will serve as an important baseline when additional user testing is conducted against refined versions of the public interface.

·         We’ve created a test corpus of archival description that we plan to use when testing out changes to the user interface and to the search features of the public interface.  Right now that site is restricted to the working group, but we might be able to open it up at times for feedback from the larger ArchivesSpace community.  I don’t expect the test corpus to grow too much, since we only want the database to hold a sample of archival description practices, but right now it contains 8 repository records, 14 finding aids, 1 accession record, 306 digital object records, 112 subjects, 102 agents/names, and 3 classifications. What this means is that we can test out changes to the public interface with real-world description.

·         We’ve had 7 one-hour conference calls with Cherry Hill so far, and each of those meetings has been recorded and is available to watch on Vimeo at this link:  https://vimeo.com/channels/943201<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__vimeo.com_channels_943201&d=AwMFAg&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=jGJMaTc-8I-z6_tkoj_Qyi4UF1KtYBfcz4s2Ly33jmw&m=PxQTuSW3ilgWNsyxHU8Kbb1adG4vJ4Q_Di1XUXDTE5Y&s=wZrhfTGx3G9w0M6yXr2XiuVSgaLqPLjDwzlE4clnvUY&e=>

·         And on our last call, we discussed wireframes!  Here’s a link to the first batch: https://archivesspace.atlassian.net/wiki/display/ADC/Wireframes<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archivesspace.atlassian.net_wiki_display_ADC_Wireframes&d=AwMFAg&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=jGJMaTc-8I-z6_tkoj_Qyi4UF1KtYBfcz4s2Ly33jmw&m=PxQTuSW3ilgWNsyxHU8Kbb1adG4vJ4Q_Di1XUXDTE5Y&s=m44cHU4z7W-P4ik-6ESDEfgz_sIgKFmJ_s9OYbyhwvg&e=>
Comments, thoughts, suggestions?  We’d love to hear them!  Please feel free to send responses on list, or you can also contact any one of the working group members off list, as well.
There will be more communications to come from this group, but I wanted to get a quick update out to the ArchivesSpace community now that we’ve got our first set of wireframes to discuss.
Have a great week, everybody!
Mark Custer
On behalf of the ArchivesSpace Public Interface Project.

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