A Community for Naturalists
iNaturalist.org Final Presentation, May 3rd, 2007

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Evolution of an Interface
Needs Assessment and Personas

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Evolution of an Interface
Initial Ideas

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Evolution of an Interface
Paper Prototypes

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Evolution of an Interface
First Interactive Prototype

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Evolution of an Interface
Second Interactive Prototype

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HE Violation 1
Instructions Not Prominently Displayed

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HE Violation 1
Instructions Not Prominently Displayed

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HE Violation 2
Inconsistent Labeling

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HE Violation 2
Inconsistent Labeling

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HE Violation 3
Confusing Layout of Callout Controls

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HE Violation 3
Confusing Layout of Callout Controls

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HE Violation 4
Confusing & Unnecessary Save Button

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HE Violation 4
Confusing & Unnecessary Save Button

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Other Changes From HE
• Warning dialog when deleting an observation
• Eliminated a bug that would create an undeletable map marker
• Changed “Edit” to “Done” in the add callout
• Made map-search label more explicit
• Grey tips in form fields
• Layout/Aesthetic Changes
• shrunk header, footer, margins
• widened observation list
• changed map footer’s color
• Improved font and labeling
consistency

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Pilot Study
1. Discoverability of Interaction
2. Adding Observations Efficiency
3. Editing Observations Efficiency

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Participants
• Three participants
• All the users were familiar with computers
• Most users were familiar with Google Maps

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Left-click

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Right-click

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Modal Interaction

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Discoverability
• Is the interface obvious?
• Are the instructions in an obvious location?
Time to Complete Number of Errors
4s 6
5
3s
4
2s 3
2
1s
1
0s 0
Left Click Right Click Modal Left Click Right Click Modal

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Adding Efficiency
• Does the interface prevent errors?
• Can users add data quickly?
Time to Complete Number of Errors
6
6 min
5
5 min
4
4 min
3
3 min
2
2 min
1
1 min
0 min 0
Left Click Right Click Modal Left Click Right Click Modal

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Editing Interface

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Editing Efficiency
• How do users find an observation in a list?
• How do users expect to move
observations?
• How long does it take to learn?

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Follow-up Interview
• Simple to use, clean, clear design
• Interaction methods were understandable
• Preferred Left and Right click over Modal
• Moving observations was simple
• Instructions were not obvious at first

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Lessons From the Pilot Study
Move the Instructions (again)
Click to Add, Drag to Move (remove)

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Lessons From the Pilot Study
Give Primary Buttons Emphasis

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Lessons From the Pilot Study
Preset Date Should Look Set
Seriously, who
did this...

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Lessons From the Pilot Study
Feedback for Text Field Selection
(like Flickr...)

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Where We’ve Been
3rd
Prototype
and . . .

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Where We’re Going
• (probably) a final
project
• species identification
• tap existing data
• interact with other
people!
• observation exploration
• social incentives to
participants and get
outside