Findings from the first stage of ReScript user testing

We have recently completed our first tranche of usability testing for ReScript, which produced very interesting findings. Peter Webster put nine volunteers, selected for different career stages and a good spread of period specialism, through their paces with the prototype ReScript interface. It is of vital importance to elicit honest feedback during usability testing, so Peter made a point of telling the volunteers that he did not have anything invested in this particular design. If users are worried about hurting someone’s feelings, they are less likely to provide the sort of frank responses to a design that prove invaluable. Users were enthusiastic about the possibilities for editing that ReScript provides, but it soon became clear that there were some fundamental challenges that were making the interface difficult for them.

Rather than merely tweaking the existing design, Project Manager Bruce Tate took note of the findings from the first tests and went back to the drawing board. He is currently finessing the second version of the ReScript interface, taking on board all that was learned from Peter Webster’s user tests. And the results so far are very impressive. As Bruce rightly observed in a recent posting on the British History Online blog, it is important to conduct user testing at an early enough stage to enable designers to contemplate major changes. Usability/learnability needs to inform all stages of a project right from the beginning, rather than being thought of as something to be tacked on near the end of a project.

Welcome to ReScript

Welcome to this new blog, which will be recording the progress of our JISC-funded project to enhance the usability/learnability of ReScript, our new online editing platform. You won't have seen ReScript yet as it's still in development, but the JISC funding will allow us to consult widely with researchers as we design the interface and, we hope, will result in a resource which is intuitive and fully meets historians' needs.

ReScript is being tested using three very different texts in order to ensure that it is sufficiently flexible to cope with the range of editorial activity undertaken by historians. Two of those identified (Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion and the St. Botolph Aldgate Parish Clerk’s Memorandum Books) already have editorial teams in place. The third, Foster’s Alumni Oxonienses, does not, but is an ideal candidate for a crowd-sourced edition, allowing a comparison between formal and informal editorial structures online.

We hope that you will not only follow our progress here, but also feed your opinions in to the project, whether by filling out an online survey or by taking part in a focus group. We'll post details of ways in which you can participate in the coming weeks. Watch this space!