Summer 2006 to Present |
(In Production)
Overview
A joint collaboration between the University of Michigan’s School of Information and the Archives of Michigan, the Untitled Prison Project website will provide online access to research and educational resources on the subject of state prisons, reform, and related social topics.
The website will feature the State Prison of Southern Michigan (SPSM) and the archives of the Rev. Albert Ewertt, Chaplain of SPSM (1933-1935). The materials are provided by the Archives of Michigan and include inmate stories, letters, artwork, and photographs.
Status
During Summer 2007, much of the content to be featured on the website was digitized and along with my partner, Kate Bergeron, it has been cataloged for use on the website. As I continue to work on processing the digital images, Kate works on creating inmate, facility, and offense records. In the coming months we will also work towards integrating teaching aids and other learning guides for researchers and students.
The website is built on the Expression Engine content management platform. The following screenshots show our working documents for data models and relationships, work flows for creating image and inmate records, and a proposed site map.
Screenshots
Overview
As part of a semester-long project, a group of students evaluated the Ross School of Business’ Kresge Business Administration Library website. We evaluated the website in terms of the navigation and infrastructure with the goal of providing recommendations that would ultimately ease the burden on students in locating resources necessary for their coursework, employment search, and other common tasks.
Project Goals
- Identify and understand the needs of users of the website.
- Perform an organizational analysis to assure our recommendations are implementable and beneficial.
- Assess aspects of system performance including information search and retrieval.
- Identify strengths and weaknesses of the website and propose changes to improve the user experience.
Outcomes
Numerous key findings were identified and presented as recommendations to the library website staff. Of these recommendations, the high level themes included: better integration, simpler and more defined navigation and organization, and improved search functionality.
The full report is available for review as a PDF (1.4MB).
Tools and Methods
- Generalized Transition Network (GTN)
- Contextual Interviews
- Personas and Scenarios
- Comparative Analysis
- Surveys
- Heuristic Evaluation
- Visual Analysis
- Usability Testing
Overview
The University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources & Environment (SNRE), located on the Ann Arbor campus, seeks to contribute to protecting the environment through education, research, and outreach. In Fall 2006, they sought to research the criteria, implementation, and design of an emergency continuity plan. Working with staff of SNRE, a group of students, the ProActors, worked on identifying the critical factors essential to disaster planning. Through project planning, affinity diagramming, contextual inquiry, and a number of other methodologies we honed in on a several key findings and recommendations.
By respecting the organization and culture of SNRE, we recommended a number of solutions we felt would be easily integrated and adopted by SNRE staff and faculty. We made use of existing personnel and resources in order to minimize the cost and disruption to the organization while still providing a sound and cohesive continuity plan. Additionally, we offered a tier response contingency for varying degrees of severity. These tiers utilized the existing fire marshals, a new call tree, website and email notifications, and onsite communications.
Tools and Methods
- Project Planning
- Contextual Inquiry
- Consolidated Sequence Model
- Physical Model
- Affinity Diagram and Walkthrough
Screenshots
2007 and 2008 |
(In Production)
Overview
Ann Repp is a craftsman and artist based in Chicago, Illinois. She designs unique and whimsical hats in addition to her bookbinding work. Ann has commissioned me to complete a website featuring her millinery work along with a separate interface for her bookbinding business. The design for the website was produced by another individual and will be somewhat updated to reflect Ann’s new work and business direction. The website is expected to launch later this year.
