Conference and workshop, organized by NUPS Faculty of Public Administration, Department of Communication and Fluxon Ltd., as part of the international “World Usability Day” event series. Governments around the globe seek to use new technology to better serve their citizens and increase participation in the civic experience. Technology that supports civic engagement must give all citizens equal access and opportunity, and must be easy to use and easy to understand by all citizens, including those with disabilities of any kind. Presenters were not only Hungarian, and some British, but American, Danish and Italian guest speakers were also on the program. The conference topics included plain language, accessibility, and other usability considerations for citizen facing and internal systems, usability research methods, public administration best practices and case studies from the US, UK, Italy and Denmark.

1. NKE
WUD
2015
USABILITY
AND
RESEARCH
IN
PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION
Csilla
HERENDY

2.
TOPIC

3.
Clients/ci9zens
need
WELL
DESIGNED,
EASY
TO
USE,
ERGONOMIC
websites

4. BUT:
they
oDen
DON’T
LIKE
TO
USE
websites
of
public
administra9on
sector
because
-­‐
their
surface
is
complicated,
-­‐
hard
to
understand
and
some9mes
-­‐
neglect
actual
user
expecta9ons
and
needs.

6. It
is
a
GENERAL
PROBLEM
in
most
countries
that

7. users
(ci9zens)
have
DIFFICULTIES
using
public
administra9on
websites
and
orien9ng
on
it/them

8. What
kind
of
PROBLEM
do
they
have?

9. they
do
not
understand
the
public
administra9on
and
LEGAL
PHRASES
that
are
used
there

10. they
do
not
see
THE
STRUCTURE
(informa9on
architecture)
of
the
website,
the
logical
relaCons
between
topics.

11. The
sites
are
not
stylish
and
absolutely
NOT
COOL.

12. Design
is
old-­‐fashioned,
colors,
fonts.
AND
mayor's
welcome
on
main
page

13. Redesign,
2015
(!)
-­‐-­‐
Mayor's
welcome,
here

14. Mayor's
welcome,
there

15. Mayor's
welcome,
everywhere

16. Too
much
informaCon

17. It
looks
like
paper
world
and
an
administraCve
order

18. Flash
intros...
Mobile
access?

19.
AS
A
RESULT

20. Users
HAVE
DIFFICULTIES
naviga9ng
on
given
sites

21.
They
soon
LOSE
THEIR
PATIENCE

22.
ODen
choose
PERSONAL
ADMINISTRATION
instead
of
electronic

23.
which
DOES
NOT
HELP
the
spread
of
e-­‐government

24.
WHY
IS
THAT?
REASON
2/1.
[TYPICAL
HUNGARIAN
PRACTICE]

25.
DESIGN
STRATEGIES
Neglect
users’
point
of
view
Reflect
officers’
mental
models

26. DEVELOPMENT
Starts
with
beau9ful
design
in
Photoshop
/
jpeg
pics
The
content
must
be
adjusted
to
it
Or
the
design
will
be
subsequently
modified
again
and
again
Rarely
tested,
oDen
the
wrong
way

27. CAUSES
Lack
of
experienced
professionals
(in
house
IT
developers)
Lack
of
funds,
harmful
development
prac9ces
Lack
of
professionals

28.
WHY
IS
THAT?
REASON
2/2
[MENTAL
MODEL]

29. The
content,
wording,
structure
of
the
sites
REFLECTS
THE
MENTAL
MODELS
OF
OFFICERS

30. ….aaaaand,
there
is
MISMATCH
between
mental
models
of
the
ci9zens
and
the
website
owner
(employee
in
public
administra9on
/
programmers)

31. “Mental
model
is
the
representa9on
that
a
person
has
IN
HIS
MIND
about
the
object
is
interac9ng
with”
(Weinshenck,
2011)

32. How
could
we
MAKE
IT
BETTER?

33. It
is
useful
to
GAIN
INFORMATION
about
mental
models
of
the
user

34. HOW?

35. INVOLVE
the
users!

36. METHODS

37. Choose
the
one
which
is
best
for
the
actual
goals

38. Card
sorCng
test
(open/closed)
(Online)
focus
groups
Interviews
Task
analysis
Surveys
Ques9onnaires
Par9cipatory
design
Usability
tesCng

39. SOME
EXAMPLES

40. (1)
analysis
of
the
most
popular
content
(2)
Google
sta9s9cs:
which
are
the
most
popular
keywords?
(3)
Online
survey
research

41. Card
sor9ng
tests,
focus
groups,
user
test

42. Eye-­‐tracking
research
+
user
interview
(ujbuda.hu
60+,
subjects:
60+)
-­‐
Don’t
recognize
and
don’t
understand
the
“accessible
version”
icon
[real
Hungaricum!]
-­‐„Print“
icon
was
tought
to
be
a
speaker
-­‐
Don’t
know
and
don’t
understand
icons
of
social
media:
“F,
G,
limle
bird???”

43.
Thank
you
Dr.
Herendy
Csilla,
Ph.D.
Adjunct
Professor,
NUPS
csilla@herendy.hu