1. User Evaluation: Preparations
The CYCLADES system integrates several top notch technologies and functionalities that might not be
intuitively clear to a first time user approaching the system. The complexity of the system requires guiding
the user into the system without overwhelming her with the complete set of functions and implicated
concepts that establish the strength of CYCLADES.
We prepared the ‘Quick start to CYCLADES’ to give a fast introduction into the system to the interested
user. This quick start explains the very first steps necessary to use the CYCLADES system, explains the
most important functions and shows some very elementary actions to the user. With this aid she gets an
idea of the concepts behind CYCLADES and how the user interface is structured. This quick start is
implemented as web pages that are linked in a nonlinear way. It lets the user choose, whether she wants to
follow the quick start step by step or if she wants to skip one part and choose another subject from a table
of content. The parts contained in the quick start cover:
• Communities and Folder Handling
• Searching Archives
• Collections
• Advanced Search Features
• Community Management
• Recommendations
A user who reads the quick start gets to know all main functions of the system within a time span of about
30 minutes. Thereafter the user can easily take her first autonomous steps in the system and explore the
further going functions that are available. The quick start is accessible from the main navigation bar in the
CYCLADES user interface, so the user can always easily consult it if she needs to.
We created a special community called ‘New Users’. The purpose of this community is to provide a place
to inexperienced users where they can experiment with the system. This community is introduced to the
users in the quick start as a place where they can play around without the fear of damaging some ‘real data’
or bothering other users. New users have access to this community immediately when they create an
account and enter the system for the first time.
For the gathering of information about the users’ opinion on the CYCLADES system it seemed most
adequate to establish a web based questionnaire where the users could express their appraisals. Those
appraisals together with log file data about the users’ actions are the fundamentals on which we constitute
the statements in this report.