[wdmmg-discuss] some end-user thoughts on WDMMG

[K Corrick]

Thanks so much for this excellent feed back Mark.
I've added it to other suggestions that have been made here:
http://wdmmg.okfnpad.org/website which anyone else is most welcome to add
to, and which will be reviewed for the work on Phase 2.

Best wishes,
Kathryn




On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 4:44 PM, Mark MacGillivray <mark at odaesa.com> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> I am Mark MacGillivray, and I am currently doing some work with Rufus at
> the OKF. He has asked if I could have a look at Where Does My Money Go from
> the perspective of an end user new to it, and to provide some comments.
>
> Listed below are my initial reactions, and some theories for solutions.
> Some of these coincide with the project details already laid out, so I will
> go on to describe how I view the user stories and personas as fitting with
> what I experienced.
>
> I know that there has been a lot of hard work put in to this already, and
> it really does look great and is a very good use of data. So please do not
> take my comments as being dismissive of the hard work already done - I
> appreciate I am a newcomer to this and it would be easy for me to suggest
> changes to what is there now that do not take full account of the
> complexities of the ongoing project. However, I think it is always worth
> considering these initial reactions and discussing their impact on the
> project - even if it is just to confirm that everything is in fact going
> well!
>
>
> ===========================
>
> Initial:
>
> Looks good.
> Looks useful.
> Looks easy to use.
> Like the colours and the style.
>
> ===========================
>
> Problems:
>
> 1. I am the end user. Am I a journalist, or am I joe public?
>
> 2. where does my money go? is this a blog, or is this going to tell me
> where my money is? What is the first thing I want to do on this site?
>
> 3. do i care about the underlying data store, or about getting involved? Do
> i care about the politics of open data?
>
> 4. which of these pretty pictures do I actually want to be looking at?
>
> =========================================================
>
> Solutions:
>
> A journalist may indeed want to link back to the visualisations, include
> them in articles etc. joe public does not. sure, some of the public will do
> so, but they are probably doing so in some sort of "amateur journalism"
> fashion, e.g. on their blog. so this is still 2 different use cases.
>
> the blog, getting involved, data store, API etc is definitely all very
> useful and needs to be there, but only applies to the journalist use case.
> for joe public, the front page may need to be more obviously one particular
> useful visualisation, which can then act as the door into all the other
> useful tools.
>
> I imagine the start of the site as being the beginning of a path, down
> which a user will learn of where his money is going, discover that he can
> see the changes that certain policies could have, get further details on
> those policies, learn about where all this data comes from, realize that it
> is super useful, become enlightened, and join the cause for open data. Of
> course, this is idealised, but you get the point. The journalist user will
> already have some of the understanding and skills to jump right in further
> along the path, and will probably come with their own pre-conceptions about
> open data and so on. They can then become a useful participant in the
> debate, either for or against.
>
> So, what is the flagship visualisation? and how do we make it really
> obviously the thing to do when someone hits the front page? From a project
> management perspective - has this thing been developed yet; there may be
> something that sounds like it, but is not quite there yet - what do we need
> to do to get it there? How soon can we get it there? Once we have it, we
> should have effectively completed a use case, and should have something to
> push out to people. This makes an ideal deliverable for the project. (I know
> some of this will have been covered already by your reaching the phase 1
> point.)
>
> If phase 1 has resulted in a product being available that solves a use
> case, what is the plan to move forward with that? For example, should we be
> looking for contacts who may want to make use of this? If not, what is to be
> completed before publicity increases?
>
> =======================================================
>
> Comparison with project plans:
>
> ( from http://wiki.okfn.org/p/Where_Does_My_Money_Go/ )
>
> So, the use cases I imagined are quite clearly defined in the project
> plans, and to a more granular level, which is great. These personas/stories
> appear to be leading the development well, and the positive outcomes are
> there to see in the work that has been completed so far. However, my initial
> reaction to the site suggests that the layout does not target the
> personas/stories described - the functionality is all there, but it is ALL
> THERE.
>
> At one point in the project wiki, the dashboard is described as the key
> feature; this seems sensible. But on the front page right now, the "how will
> the budget impact the deficit?" gives me more instant data and gratification
> than the "launch dashboard" button. If the dashboard is key, and is the main
> visible outcome of phase 1, then it would be great if the front page was
> dedicated to it. then I know "why am I here? - to use this dashboard". Then,
> from getting to know the dashboard I become more interested in the other
> visualisations.
>
> Various types of user may then want to get involved, comment on blog etc,
> but having the posts on the front page feels a bit distracting. Also, if the
> main focus is on a bit of kit that is already working and available, it will
> feel more like there is a finished product there ready for use.
>
> =======================================================
>
>
> I hope that these comments help the project develop further,
>
>
> Mark MacGillivray
>
> mark at odaesa.com
>
>
>
>
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>
>
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