adaptive systems ucla/pacific bell initiative for 21st century literacies

Besser--CDL 9/18/01 1

Adaptive SystemsUCLA/Pacific Bell Initiative for 21st Century Literacies

Howard Besser

UCLA School of Education & Information

http://www.newliteracies.gseis.ucla.edu/

http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/~howard


UCLA/Pacific Bell Initiative for 21st Century Literacies-

_ The Problem and Issues_ Project Dates & Staff_ The User_ Summit_ Policy_ Design Issues & Adaptive Systems


21st Century Literacies

_ Information Literacy_ Visual Literacy_ Media Literacy_ Cultural Literacy_ ...


The Problem and Issues

_ If we solve Access Problem (technology, bandwidth, training), other impediments to an informed citizenry still remain

_ Need critical evaluation of resources (reliability, authoritativeness, thoroughness, recency)

_ Need skills to pare down from information overload_ Need critical thinking skills_ Need to deal with different users having different

backgrounds and capabilities


Project Dates & Staff

_ Summer 2000-Dec 2001_ $1 million_ Co-Directed by Aimée Dorr and Howard Besser_ October 21, 2000 Summit (planning involved 20

people from Pacbell & UCLA)_ Rest of project primarily UCLA_ Coordinator Sheila Afnan-Manns

([email protected])


The User

_ Evaluative bibliography of literature and projects

_ Analysis of what we know thusfar from several different perspectives (curriculum design, library services, critical theory, information retrieval, user-centered design, …)

_ Examining model curriculum


Summit (1/2)

Oct 21, 2000

_ Bring widespread attention to the underlying issues

_ 360 professionals from education, librarianship, public policy, and industry– 15% Higher Ed faculty, administrators, librarians

– 28% K-12 teachers, principals, superintendents

– 14% public and K-12 librarians

– 33% future practitioners, policy makers, librarians, educators

– 8% business community

– 3% government (governor’s office, state dept of Educ, …)


Summit (2/2)

Oct 21, 2000

_ Snappy video to highlight the problems (25 unsolicited requests to show video in 1st month after Summit)

_ Over 2 dozen exhibits and poster sessions explaining related projects throughout the country

_ Guest speakers (Alan Kay, Marcia Bates, Pat Breivik, Kathleen Tyner, Anna Deavere Smith, Tal Finney)


Policy

_ information literacy standards_ issues related to the "Digital Divide”_ privacy and ownership concerns_ ...


Design Issues

_ Examine factors that inhibit efficient and effective use of an information system

_ Examine how best to design systems to match the literacy levels, technological capabilities, and other characteristics of the user

_ Principles, Practices, and Guidelines for Good Design for Facilitating Access (screen design, searching & navigation, metadata & description, info structures & organization, usability testing, …)

_ Build Adaptive Systems-


Bad Type


Fonts/Colors/Backgrounds


Colors & Fonts


Background Color #D9D900


Width Problems


Cluttered Choices


Clutter


Icons


Background & Menu Bars


Meta Tags


Make User Change Browser


Contact Information


Our Resources Website


Good Design Principles

_ Promote good design practices throughout the Design community

_ Get the Design community to sign on to a set of Principles for Good Design-

_ Create Guides & Best Practices Documents-


Possible Good Design Principles

_ Don’t disenfranchise users who have slow processors, older browsers, low bandwidth, visual impairment, etc.

_ Clearly note the recency of any information resource

_ Make sure that a user can easily determine what organization/agency created or contributed to an information resource


Important Dimensions toGood Design Principles

_ screen design_ searching & navigation_ metadata & description_ info structures & organization_ usability testing_ …


Our Resources related toGood Design Principles

_ Screen Design - The visual design of the screen can impact usability. Color, font, the use of images, and layout of screen elements are essential design components.

_ Searching and Navigation - Ease of navigation and search/browsing options are critical components of usability.

_ Metadata and Description - Good metadata and site description will help users find the appropriate website.

_ Information Structures and Organization - How information is organized and categorized shapes access. For systems with an underlying searchable database, the structure of the database itself will determine the outcome of searches.

_ Usability Testing - Includes resources on how to evaluate sites and on testing

for usability.


Build Adaptive Systems_ Build Systems that adapt the same back-end

information to different user profiles (different knowledge bases, different technical capabilities, different cognitive structures)

_ User profiles may include advanced researcher in a particular subject area, general undergraduate student, high school student, …

_ Different profiles will need different user interfaces, navigation, searching vocabulary, file formats and sizes, ...


User ProfilesCombination of dimensions and purpose

PurposeCasual userK12 student, lifelong learnerInformation/hobbyScholar/preservationBusiness(Colorado Dig Proj)

Cultural touristCasual userScholar

(CIMI)

Design•User InterfaceNavigationBrowseSearchEfficient bandwidth use

Content•Mark-upVarious metadataProtection features

Design functional examples

•Differing screen arrangementsDiffering functional optionsVocabulary mappingDiminishing image size


Adaptive Systemswhat they’ll do

_ Can serve different audiences (general public, purposeful inquirer [cultural tourist], domain specialist)

_ Each profile audience will– see a level of discourse addressed to them

– experience a user interface appropriate to their profile

– use vocabulary they are familiar with

_ Yet all will be using the same back-end set of information


Adaptive Systemshow they’ll work

_ Passing search terms through a thesaurus to map specialist vocabulary to/from vernacular

_ Adapting vocabulary from curatorial language into common discourse; development of markup extensions to EAD/CIMI/CIDOC to allow description for different audiences

_ In general, specialized users will experience more text-based interfaces, while general users will experience more graphic/visual interfaces


Adaptive Systemsdevelopment plan

_ Research and experimentation_ Profile 5-10 different user communities_ Mechanize 2-3 different information

delivery systems_ Demonstrate the utility of this approach

(proof of concept) for further research and design


Suggestions for joint CDL/UCLA project

_ Use OAC/California Cultures Collection_ Profile and construct a series of different

front-ends for different audiences– Front-ends-– Target Audiences-

_ Evaluate


Profile and construct a series of different front-ends for different audiences:

Front-ends to include_ Screen design for searching and for display_ Browsing, probably with some high-level

categorization/grouping_ Searching_ Vocabulary mapped through thesauri


Profile and construct a series of different front-ends for different audiences

Target audiences might include

_ 4th grade students_ 12th grade students_ 4th grade teachers_ 12th grade teachers_ University faculty_ Some people outside the history/social

studies sector


What does this all mean forInfo Professionals?

_ Good set of Design Guidelines_ Feasibility of Adaptive Systems that deliver

the same back-end info tailored to different sets of user needs


Adaptive SystemsUCLA/Pacific Bell Initiative for 21st Century Literacies

Howard Besser

UCLA School of Education & Information

http://www.newliteracies.gseis.ucla.edu/

http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/~howard/