A Preliminary Usability Study of the Dryad Database of Biological Data

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  • February 28, 2019
Creator
  • Chapman, Cory
    • Affiliation: School of Information and Library Science
Abstract
  • This paper reports on a usability test (n=10) that evaluated the web interface of the Dryad repository of biological data. Participants, mostly biologists, were asked to find information about the database, find and download data, and upload data. These three workflows were tested with a card sorting procedure and a think-aloud protocol. The results suggest that biologists interact with online database systems much like non- biologists; color, placement, and size of buttons and text were important determiners of recognition and acknowledgement. However, while most web users prefer browsing to seek information on new websites, participants in this study preferred searching. Most participants did not arrive at the website at the homepage, and thus reported a lack of information about Dryad at their initial entry point. Recommendations for enhancing Dryad specifically and web database interfaces in general are included.
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  • In Copyright
Advisor
  • Greenberg, Jane
Degree
  • Master of Science in Information Science
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Extent
  • 36
Deposit record
  • 3d7b2ede-5157-4e46-b998-42d0fd04a7a8

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