As part of the National Library’s redevelopment, they wanted to create more ways for the general public to connect with their many collections. Working with the Library, Click Suite developed a brief to present the content, using digital interactivity, to make it personally relevant to visitors, in order to first get their attention through triggering memories and then making connections with the content.

1. Lifelines
At the National Library of New Zealand

2. A massive multi-touch table
that lets you explore the
past and create a nostalgic
Lifeline of your own.

3. UX PERSPECTIVE
From Zef Fugaz (@zefamedia)
Experience Designer
Click Suite

4. http://player.vimeo.com/video/54051823

5. THE PITCH
The original pitch to the Library had a wide variety of digital interactives, but the one they picked was Lifelines.

6. We pitched a variety of ideas to explore the rich content of the National Library

9. One concept was a giant interactive wall where people could explore objects from the
National Library’s collections.

12. For a more personal experience we also suggested the concept of a touch-table.

13. We also explored ideas for the building’s façade (to attract people inside).

14. We also explored ideas for the building’s façade (to attract people inside).
Unfortunately budget cuts only left enough for an interior fit-out.

15. USER RESEARCH

16. When were you born?
A special place for you?
Your interests?
What’s your family name?
To test the concept we invited 20 people of various ages and genders these questions.

17. When they arrived for the test we presented them with their personal search results which were
physical print-outs from the Library’s collections.

18. We wanted to see how people would react to the content when it wasn’t presented on a computer screen.

19. We observed how people responded to the content.

20. And then asked them what they would like to do with it.

21. PERSONAS

22. This research helped us create a set of personas based on people’s behaviours, goals and needs.

23. We had the people who liked to just explore.

24. People who wanted to gather and build a collection.

25. And people who had specific goals and would work in collaboration with others.

26. Based on behaviours, personas might transition into other personas.

27. Lifelines has access to most objects on Digital NZ but is not intended as a search engine.
People can get a taste of what’s in the collections and use other resources in the Library to find out more or even
access the physical object.

28. We explored ideas on what collaboration might look like.

30. UX Principles
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
§ Feels culturally appropriate.
§ Is welcoming to academic and non-academic people.
§ Feels like a place to discover, learn and have fun with knowledge.
MAKE THE EXPERIENCE INCLUSIVE
§ Is accessible and usable by young and elderly, short and tall.
§ Caters to people with common sight impairments (e.g. short sighted).
§ Is considerate of people with common motor impairments (e.g. shaky hands).
ENABLE SHARING
§ A place where knowledge is shared and passed on.
§ Caters to pairing and sharing – so one person can walk another through the experience, or a group can cluster content together.
§ Create an experience where knowledge is shared and passed on, where people empower people.
§ Provide resources where people can connect with family and culture, including Māori who are not connected to their whakapapa.
COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE
§ Use the power of metadata and tagging to link the collection in ways which encourage exploration (serendipity).
§ Help make visitors aware of collections and resources relevant to their culture.
§ Showcases collections in a way that is not too technical or uses too much jargon.
§ Provides resources considered authentic (i.e. are direct from the source, not via a third party).
§ Provides resources where people can connect with family and culture.

31. DISCOVERY

32. To cater to both individuals, peers and groups of people we decided on a
single large touch-table, 3 metres in length.

33. B
B
A
Which would give 3 generously sized workspaces.

34. I’m
dragging it
Cool! up
B
B
A
Hey, I
want a Yeah, yeah
turn!!!

35. ne
This Is Your Lifeli
e
lines simply plac
To sign into Life
teract ive table.
this ID on the in
ON THE WEB site by:
onal Lifeline web
Access your pers e reader.
rd with a QR-Cod
§ Scanning this ca s/ID/123zxc
lib.govt.nz/lifeline
§ Or visit www.nat
We explored the idea of a way to log in and out of the table using a card.
This would automatically save your Lifeline.

36. START SCREEN QUESTIONS SCREENS (x3) OBJECT EXPLORER (CLUSTER LEVEL) OBJECT EXPLORER (OBJECT LEVEL)
Add object Toggle Add object
Explore Enlarge Zoom Share/Clone
Refine/Filter to Collection cluster/linear to Collection
Cluster Object Object Object
Drawer view Drawer
Refine/Filter
Question Start
Screens
Ambient Mode 3 User selects
Start Screen Questions a Question
Name, Place,
Date
Precanned User selects User selects User selects User flips Object User selects User adds
Cluster Object
Lifelines a Lifeline Answer an Object Object Metadata Tag object
QUESTIONS EXPLORER LIFELINES EXPLORER COLLECTION DRAWER
Drag-In Drag-Out Open Lifeline
Object Object Workspace
User selects User selects
a Question a Lifeline
LIFELINE WORKSPACE
Precanned
Lifelines Drag
Lifeline Sort/Drag objects
3 Workspace Objects into the
(in future)
Questions Lifeline
Other Users My Lifeline
Lifelines
Email Lifeline
Questions Lifelines
Explorer Explorer
SHARE
User selects User selects
option option
User’s Email User opens Set on the
Social Network
Account URL NLNZ Website
GLOBAL MENU
Lifelines User selects
ß Back Questions Share share URL
Explorer
option
System User User
KEY Display Option Action

37. via pre-canned Lifeline
QUESTION (PLACE SELECTOR) OBJECT EXPLORER (OBJECT LEVEL)
via question select object flip Split Enz (Musical group)
Photograph of the musical group Split Enz, taken
in 1975 by an Evening Post staff photographer.
Front row, from left: Tim Finn, Mike Chunn, Wally
Wilkinson, Phil Judd. Back row, from left: Emlyn
Crowther, Noel Crombie, Eddie Rayner.
Evening Post, Alexander Turnbull Library
RELATED
1975 Wellington Tim Finn Wally Wilkinson Mike Chunn Phil Judd
Emlyn Crowther Noel Crombie Eddie Rayner Musical groups Rock musicians
Split Enz (Musical group)

---
ID ---
--- ß ? LL
--- ID COLLECTION DRAWER ß ? LL ID COLLECTION DRAWER ß ? LL
Differs slightly for pre-canned,
START SCREEN name, date, user-created Lifeline Differs slightly for place
(map appears underneath
ID ID as the cluster)
you born?
When were
family name?
What’s your QUESTION (NAME SELECTOR) OBJECT EXPLORER (CLUSTER LEVEL) select object
O
ily
Fam ith
Jack
son Sir 'Reg
Tip an
The
Sm 1939 Pete
r en Christchurch
Hillary e Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed
do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna
aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation
ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis
via question answer
aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate v
Bay of
select tag
ng i Plenty Pe Advanced Name Selector
Waita Chris s
tchurc 1980 ton (design to be determined)
h e
Where’s your
What’s your
favourite
family name?
place?
ID ID ID ß ? LL ID
 COLLECTION DRAWER ß ? LL
LL
add object
QUESTION (DATE SELECTOR)
add object
sign-in/out
answer
via question Date Selector
(design to be determined)
add object
ID ß ? LL
COLLECTION DRAWER
SIGN-IN
Via
pre-canned
LIFELINES EXPLORER Lifeline
Split Enz (Musical group)
Kia ora!
Here’s what you
were doing during Chris
COLLECTION DRAWER
H Ro
tchurc
o m ck
your last visit on h ID ß ? LL
em ets
Friday 21
ad
Mataa
s
e
September 2012
y
To
ffra 's
tua
Su m e n
ge

Wo
ID
ID ß ? LL
YOUR
t
Abou LIFEL
Mad INE
Dogs West
t
Coas
ID ß ? LL
SIGN-OUT via question open drawer
QUESTIONS EXPLORER via users Lifeline
LIFELINE WORKSPACE LIFELINE PLAYBACK
Haere rā.
Thanks for visiting!
We’ve saved your
work so you can
carry on next time.
ID
Where are
you from?
Play Lifeline
When
s your we
What’ me? you bo re
na rn?
family
ID ß ? LL
ID ? LL
à
ß

38. (Real) Placenames
People Objects
(e.g. Ships)
(Fictional)
People
Creator
(e.g.
Photographer)
NAME
Qualified vs
Freetext Organisation
Variants
Nicknames
Spelling
Ethnic/Cultural
Context of Naming
Time Period Conventions
Marriage
We had to filter out some of the confusing search results from the users. For example,
you’d think that looking up a NAME would be simple…

39. (Real) Placenames
People Objects
(e.g. Ships)
(Fictional)
People
Creator
(e.g.
Photographer)
NAME
Qualified vs
Freetext Organisation
Variants
Nicknames
Spelling
Ethnic/Cultural
Context of Naming
Time Period Conventions
Marriage
…but to Digital NZ name can mean many different things. It can be a real person, a fictional person, a place, a
ship, a pet… And then there are variations and misspellings of names as well.

40. RECOMMENDED APPROACH
NAME =
We pose a question (actual wording to be determined), where the visitor is prompted to look-up a name
(likely their own name or that of a family member). This is presented as a list that can be sorted in
§ A search over collection items tagged with a qualified name for (real) people. different ways.
§ The option to extend the search to include placenames and creators. On the user selecting a name Lifelines returns a cluster of objects related to that name. The results can be
§ At lower levels we would relax the search to include fictional people, objects, refined using the timeline.
organisations and free-text results.
Exploring an object would offer up more objects related to or similar to the name, and would loosen the
search criteria to suggest places, objects, animals etc – as well as free-text search results.
WORKSHOP EXPLORATION
We plan to ask the user to select a name from a list, possibly a phone directory. Potential
What’s your family name?
issues are that although the expectation is that the user is looking up a person, names are
also associated with pets, organisations and things. There’s also the issue of names that
don’t fit the Western [firstname] [lastname] structure. People also change their name over Wilson
time by marriage, deed poll or may have adopted names (nicknames) - but these are usually
linked under one authoritative version of the name. Names might not have the expected
spelling due to the context of the time, errors etc. So there’s a few issues to work-around sort & select
and iron-out during design and prototyping.
RESULTS
(Real) Placenames
People Objects
(e.g. Ships)
(Fictional)
People
Creator + 1842
(e.g. to
Photographer) 1905
NAME show all alter
tap or people for timeline
Qualified vs zoom this name
Freetext Organisation
OBJECT
Variants
Nicknames
Spelling
Ethnic/Cultural
Context of Naming
Time Period Conventions
Marriage
We came up with a conceptual model of what looking up a NAME actually meant.

41. Smith, Ellen
Smith, Audrey
Smith, Maureen
Smith, Spencer G Smith name_authority = name
Smith, Savita Catherine Williamina Cusack Iwihapu_authority = hapu
Smith, William Robert Dermot Joshua Cusack
Smith, S E API identifies all matching last names (e.g. SMITH)
Smith, Ted For Digital Objects only
Smith, R
Smith, Albert William
Smith, Sam
Smith, Alfred William
Smith, Bill
API bundles same last name and provides a count of name frequency
If less than a screen of results then broaden the search to
What the user sees – a single tag for SMITH
include [freetext = name] across all the collections
The higher the frequency of the last name the larger the tag (tag-cloud)
Smith
user selects tag
API call to display all digital objects for:
name_authority = Smith
Iwihapu_authority = Smith
Ellen Smith
Audrey Smith Smith
Maureen Smith What the user sees – a cluster of all digital objects for SMITH
Spencer G Smith
Savita Catherine Williamina Cusack Smith
LOW PRIORITY
user selects to view list of individuals
William Robert Dermot Joshua Cusack Smith
with last name SMITH
S E Smith
Ted Smith
API call to display list
R Smith of people for SMITH
Albert William Smith
Sam Smith user selects a specific person
Alfred William Smith from the list
Bill Smith
user selects to view object
user selects a specific person
from the metadata (tags)
[Metadata]
And described how we would use the Digital NZ API so the search results came back with actual people.

42. INTERACTION DESIGN

43. 1 2
Date Selector
hurch When were 1980
Christc you born? s
ßID ? ß COLLECTION DRAWER ?
User selects date option User selects a date, usually their
birthday or that of a relative or ancestor
3 4
1970s 2010s
sweep
You started at 1971 You started at 1971
ß
 ?
 ?
à
ß
à
The user is taken to a cluster of available
objects for the chosen date, clustered by
century (if 1600s or 1700s, or by decade if
1800s, 1900s, or 2000s). They can then
sweep to move through the timeline until they
reach the present decade.
For the interaction design we created visual storyboards featuring keystone screens and a mannequin of a user
from a birds-eye view. This helped to explain the layout, content and gestures all in one view.

44. EXAMPLE: If user selected date = 1971
DECADE
1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
Young
Preschool Child Tween Teen Adult
Adult
LIFESTAGE
0-5yrs 6-10yrs 11-15yrs 16-20yrs 21-25yrs 26-30yrs 31-35yrs 36-40yrs
For the curator’s this means selecting a:
· Subject category, then... Fashion (Brokers)
· Finding at least one ‘hero’ object per category per decade. Toys Pop Music / Bands
Books Concerts / Theatre
SEEDED SUBJECTS /
For the 1600s and 1700s we might just need several hero objects per category per century. Games/Playground Sport & Recreation
Uni Gardening
OBJECTS
Babies School High School Famous People & Characters
Prams Family Transport/Car Transport / Technology / Electronics
Holidays / Beaches / Mountains
Television & Film
Architectural Styles / Buildings / Interiors
Kiwiana
Political Cartoons
Famous News & Events
EXAMPLE: If user selected date = 1926
DECADE
1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
Young Retirement
Preschool Child Tween Teen Adult Middle-Aged Golden Years
Adult Age
LIFESTAGE
0-5yrs 6-10yrs 11-15yrs 16-20yrs 21-25yrs 26-30yrs 31-35yrs 36-40yrs 41-45yrs 46-50yrs 51-55yrs 56-60yrs 61-65yrs 66-70yrs 70+yrs
Fashion (Brokers)
Toys Pop Music / Bands
Books Concerts / Theatre
SEEDED SUBJECTS /
Games/Playground Sport & Recreation
Uni Gardening
OBJECTS
Babies School High School Famous People & Characters
Prams Family Transport/Car Transport / Technology / Electronics
Holidays / Beaches / Mountains
Television & Film
Architectural Styles / Buildings / Interiors
Kiwiana
Political Cartoons
Famous News & Events
Some areas required a more in-depth explanation. With DATE for example, we ask people when they were born
and generate a timeline which seeds search results which are relevant to their childhood, teenage years and into
adulthood. For example, if you were born in the mid 70s then when you reach your teenage years in the late 80s
you’ll see pictures and videos of bands.

45. SEARCH MODEL
The purpose of this model is to help determine the options (links) displayed to the user, and what happens behind the
scenes when they select an option and trigger a search.
Goals for each search type are:
§ To only offer options where the user will get a result (no dead-ends).
§ To begin with authoritative content but allow free-text (generic search) as a fallback if that yields no results.
§ To utilise free-text for lower levels of exploration (e.g. Looking at a specific collection object offers related items).
Show user
User selects
selectable list (lookup) Combined Collection
a year
of years
Tapuhi A time-period cluster is the user-entered year until the present day.
So a person born in 1971 would see DOs ranging from 1971 to 2011.
They can then adjust the timeline to move forward from this point if they wish.
Show DOs
Generate a Returns DOs generated More than Show DOs
Date+Authority Yes cluster for
Seeded Cluster for time-period [n] DOs? for tag
time-period
Each time-period needs
to contain a number of
seeded DOs that will jog No
Suitable number to
people’s memories.
be determined
(start with 50)
E.g. A memorable event
such as the Beatles Broaden search to
User selects User selects
visiting NZ or Erebus include freetext
a DO a tag
(DO results)
At the same time it
needs random DOs
appearing, but these are (lookup)
restricted to certain
subject authorities -
examples below:
Show related
Show DO Detail
Subject+Authority= tags
Sport
Free Text
Tapuhi
Subject+Authority= Papers Past
Motor Vehicles Flickr
Royal Society
Subject+Authority= [Other]
Examples Only – Children’s Toys
actual subjects to be
DOs would also only appear at age-appropriate points. So the
determined by
children’s toys might appear at plus 0-10 years, children’s books at
curator Subject+Authority=
plus 5-15 years and motor vehicles at plus 10-20years.
Famous People
Subject+Authority=
Political cartoons
E.g. <meta name="DC.subject" content="Children’s books"/>
Subject+Authority=
Children’s Books
DO = Digital Object System System User User
KEY (i.e. image, video, audio)
System Action
Display Option Action Option

46. Tap flip icon or use flip/swipe
gesture anywhere on object to
reveal the reverse
When the user selects a piece of content they are interested in they can zoom, rotate
and flip the object over to find out more about it.
Split Enz (Musical group). Negatives of the Evening Post newspaper. Ref: 1/4-022755-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22862244

47. Split Enz (Musical group)
Photograph of the musical group Split Enz, taken in
1975 by an Evening Post staff photographer.
Front row, from left: Tim Finn, Mike Chunn, Wally
Wilkinson, Phil Judd.
Back row, from left: Emlyn Crowther, Noel Crombie, Eddie Rayner.
Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s).
Physical Description: 35mm film negative.
DISCOVER MORE
<
1975 Wellington Tim Finn Phil Judd EddieCrombie
Noel Rayner Mike Chunn
Musical groups Rock musicians
The rear contains the library data and related tags.