User interface sketching to improve low and high literacy user information seeking on government and social service websites

Authors:
Neesha Kodagoda;B. L. William Wong;Nawaz Khan
Affiliations:
Middlesex University, London, UK;Middlesex University, London, UK;Middlesex University, London, UK
Venue:
European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics: Designing beyond the Product --- Understanding Activity and User Experience in Ubiquitous Environments
Year:
2009

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Abstract

One of the challenges in designing online information systems for Government and Social Service systems is to understand their target ordinance and the level of literacy. The users' literacy is a fundamental factor in interface development, allowing designers to take advantage target users' information seeking behaviour. The paper will discuss how three ideas transformed the existing "Adviceguide" website. The ideas were based on previous research into information seeking behaviour characteristics. We used Jakob Nielsen's ten usability heuristics and Sweller's Cognitive Load Theory to focus on interaction of information and cognitive structures to guide instructional design. We further used different display techniques to solve and address focus plus context problems. The ideas were sketched following the above theories. Sketching, a rapid drawing technique to capture, represent and formulate outcomes visually was used to conceptualise the ideas. We will discuss the differences in the three user interface design sketches. Finally we will discuss how the new user interface designs might assist the low literacy users in their quest for information seeking in Government and Social Service websites.