1.
Understanding the users of the
Parliamentary Web Archive: a
user research project report
Peter Webster | Webster Research & Consulting
Chris Fryer | Parliamentary Archives
webarchive.parliament.uk

2.
The Parliamentary Archives
holds several million
historical records relating to
Parliament, dating from 1497.​

3.
The Parliamentary Web
Archive consents of official
Parliamentary websphere
content from 2009.

4.
1) Objectives of the study
❏ assess levels and patterns of use
❏ gauge levels of user understanding of the archive
❏ understand the value of each kind of content
❏ test UI for fit with user needs
identify most favoured future developments

5.
2) Research Method
❏ analysis of usage data
❏ survey questionnaire
❏ user observations
❏ group workshops

6.
3) Findings #1: users are
❏ hard to find and engage
❏ largely ignorant about what web archives are
❏ not always sure what they’re doing

7.
4) Findings #2: users prioritise
❏ discovery mechanisms that match their mental
map
❏ discovery based on entities: people, acts,
publications
❏ user curation

8.
5) Findings #3: users less interested in
❏ derived data
❏ data visualisation
❏ API access
❏ take-home data

9.
A big step forward with
understanding user needs...

10.
...Opportunity now to deliver
user-centred
webarchive.parliament.uk

11.
Let’s keep the
discussion going… just
not about #goatgate
@C_Fryer
@pj_webster