Update on project activities:
For the BAC Interview group, interviews have ramped up! We have been interviewing both Bay Area residents in Spanish and both residents and social workers in English. We’ve been compiling and organizing our data, but one thing that has been interesting is that the content creation subgroup is not working on our data in particular. It turns out that the incorporation of feedback into the design of a resource is a much longer process than the quarter allows for. Nonetheless, we will soon begin the process of drawing out the main findings for each interview and theorizing how those findings will translate into content development for unBox. For the BAC content subgroup, we have continued the process of verifying data on where users can access public free food resources. At this time we have been able to verify almost all of the websites we have been assigned, and continue to tweak the methods by which we are inputting data. After our first pass through the database, we have taken time to call some of the locations to clarify information and/or make sure that the information on the website is up to date. The SNAP interview team has reached a point where interviews have become limited due to barriers regarding new interviewees and their personal circumstances. One idea that we have come up with to navigate this issue is allowing for written, asynchronous responses to the compiled interview questions. This could present some new issues as any difficulties on the interviewees end could be difficult to solve without meeting synchronously where we are able to coordinate solutions verbally together. In this way, interviewers and notetakers being readily available through text/email/call could be useful in responding to questions that interviewees may have. What we observed and learned: For the BAC interview group, it became apparent how there is a lack of technical knowledge surrounding the navigation of websites and how this may serve as a barrier for individuals seeking information/resources on the BayAreaCommunity.org website– an important detail that was not necessarily taken into consideration beforehand. As mentioned during one of the interviews, the site seems to be geared primarily towards social workers rather than the clients in need. Make no mistake– social workers are just as effective (if not more effective!) at getting the website into the hands of those who truly need it. We’ve just recently realized that incorporating feedback from both people types could cause the site to be disorganized in that it would be serving people with distinctly different goals and needs. The BAC content subgroup has been continually reminded through our work that this BAC website will prove to be an invaluable resource to many Bay Area residents. As we visit these sites to verify the information in the database, it becomes clear just how difficult it may be for people to find relevant information about the resources in their area. Some of the websites are more tailored to the volunteers who may want to help deliver/serve these meals, but there is less information about how someone can actually visit a location and pick up their free meal. In this case, we must call the location and get the information that would be most helpful to someone using the BAC website. The sheer number of resources available to the public also makes a site like BAC much more pressing, because it can drastically reduce the time and overall energy it takes for someone to find the resources in their area. Critical analysis/Moving forward: For the BAC interview group, we have come to think about the relationship between feedback forms and user testing interviews differently than we had before. Sarah, at least, has come to realize that a well-crafted feedback form can serve the same purpose as a user testing interview but with the added benefits of (1) allowing the user to participate in giving feedback asynchronously and (2) the client can provide better feedback if critiquing a site in the same session that they first encounter it is overwhelming for them. We’d be interested in developing a feedback survey to accomplish these purposes, or at least making key tweaks to the forms unBox currently uses with its resources. In terms of when carrying out interviews, moving forward it is important to establish a more conversational setting rather than continuously asking questions in a successive manner. By doing so, the interview will feel less transactional and allow the interviewee to feel more comfortable and to open up more when answering questions. Additionally, when interviewees provide feedback it is important to ask why to gain more insight and a deeper understanding for their reasonings. Through clarification, we would be able to surface new preferences and barriers that we might not have seen before. Comments are closed.
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