Web-based natural history moving image archives : a usability analysis of website design and content

Abstract

This research project seeks to address the problem of how to develop an evaluation instrument to assess usability of natural history moving image web-based archives, and how to evaluate a selection of sites using this instrument to identify whether there are commonly accepted approaches to usability in this genre. Turner's HEP Test for Grading Web Site Usability (2002) was selected as the research instrument and modified following a Feature Analysis of a test web site in order to adapt the test for assessing natural history moving image archives and digital libraries. The modified HEP Test was applied to eight web-based natural history moving image archives which were selected by a purposive sampling method. Results were tabulated and evaluated, comparisons made between archives for each section of their HEP Test scores and areas of commonality, common strengths and failings and potential usability improvements noted. Of particular interest was the discovery that not all moving image archives include moving images on their web sites. Some archives provide text records only for the moving images in their collection. Finally the modified HEP Test itself was assessed to identify areas of ambiguity and ways in which the test could be improved for future usability assessments within the web-based natural history moving image archive genre. One possible modification for future HEP Test versions is to introduce a weighting system to the scoring method in order to better reflect the relative importance of various criteria.