SIEWG draft recommendations open for feedback
Dear ArchivesSpace users,
On behalf of the Staff Interface Enhancement Working Group (SIEWG), we are pleased to share our draft recommendations for feedback and commentary. Consisting of 34 volunteers from a broad array of member institutions, SIEWG was tasked to survey JIRA tickets and create recommendations to improve the usability and accessibility of the ArchivesSpace Staff Interface, taking into consideration the diverse experience levels and needs of staff, students, and volunteers who interact with the program.
The commenting period has been extended until December 12th. We hope to submit our final recommendations to the ArchivesSpace program and publish them to Confluence in mid-December. To provide feedback, you can comment directly on the individual documents, add questions or comments to the Brainstorming and Feedback pages at the end of this message, start a discussion on the User Group listserv, or email me directly. After this date, during the implementation period in 2018, I am sure there can be additional opportunities for commentary and feedback, but this initial commentary period allows SIEWG to incorporate your suggestions into our final recommendations.
Due to idiosyncrasies with permissions for Google docs, here are the following links to our recommendations:
Google Drive folder (view only for all documents): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B12JUawTWpm-U0Y1UlV4NFZRU1k?usp=sharing
Introduction (This and all other pages are comment-enabled): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C1fx2qMfW9m6E4NGanGQcv8udSr04u4MbvzhP2DzhoE/edit?usp=sharing
Table of Contents: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cCyUsZ0wR1D3irffoJIAbdlXaU8egPuLG-ld6fERdPo/edit?usp=sharing
Visual Layout: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XzFm-bFqKm9nan8TX41BD_AkEIuMxKM4Iw16kFm4YPo/edit?usp=sharing
Highlights include proposing additional functionality of the PUI for logged in staff to view location and restriction information, the ability to tweak visual aspects of the PUI within the staff interface, and mocked up various versions of layout for Resources, Locations and Instances, and Notes. Some overarching themes addressed are maximizing the usage of the screen and reducing the need for scrolling and clicking both within the conventional computer monitor and via mobile phone. This section will also address visual accessibility issues with the current interface, and tweaks that can better facilitate the use of the staff interface.
Data Entry and Editing
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1poanmnYaVfU4kUoxyMa6r0GQwA74byvZdduc7smQuYQ/edit?usp=sharing
Highlights include a proposal for bulk editing as well as additional tweaks to improve efficiency along the topics of Data Entry, Top Containers, and Agent/Subject/Event Records sections.
Top Containers
https://docs.google.com/document/d/145JD-qUDhyAvp3IIQ11EBU7g0BU1bpzU0aTlN-RGwD0/edit?usp=sharing
Highlights include proposing an ability to bulk edit multiple locations, merge Top Containers, and streamlining the navigation in adding/editing Top Containers.
Background Jobs
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E2emj5LmBBY1FjB8VjWNzQJ5weDlrsEU-QmzH4il9m0/edit?usp=sharing
Highlights include a suggestion to rename the function for clarity, examine the availability and organization of functions within menus, streamlining navigation for creating jobs, proposed an option to establish retention rules for Jobs, and identified areas for enhancing its searchability and functionality.
Navigation addressed issues of moving throughout the application both in terms of accessing content and completing tasks, with the goal of making these more efficient and user friendly.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13x2mLWQ0FamrK6DDdszsIzX-Z3pdrVH0pM5P7Jk7jUc/edit?usp=sharing
Organization of Menus reevaluated the content and placement of the organization of menus to increase the usability of the program.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GhCE6JHMcXkjtOeAZ35IoMAEqG1EDhcLKoC1q07MrsA/edit?usp=sharing
Browsing, Customization, Functionality, and Terminology:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mFaNi8I2Uj2CPR7HEpbiwyEA6pLfhabmygqUIT_gT_E/edit?usp=sharing
Highlights include proposals to expand the ability to customize display of data fields, and improve browsing of search results results. Also included are terminology recommendations and feature requests that relate to new functionality or customization.
Shortcut Keys for ArchivesSpace commands: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14cAHpIi2eeFpYayZP4OvUguXqyPy5KNCNIGi7fU8aJU/edit?usp=sharing
To improve the accessibility and efficiency of ArchivesSpace, this document details keyboard commands to accomplish tasks within the user interface.
User Accounts:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14auNDZBdV443pja9iwUuOiKc9mpuKF8nW_6ItJsOYHg/edit?usp=sharing
Highlights include the ability to search, browse, and and edit user accounts and permission groups as well as enable resource-specific permissions for users.
Permissions: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12XqVhOeKA9q5AyKA-yE-8dLuGsQtn8iEBddk6cLXC0U/edit?usp=sharing
A detailed breakdown of improving the granularity of user permissions.
Got feedback and additional ideas? Please add it to “Brainstorming and feedback” (edit enabled)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZQwFowMnUx8AIiewqbqO08CO9TSGIe22AnYCUza9LEo/edit?usp=sharing
Brainstorming Digital Objects has been given its own page, potentially to develop simple recommendations or to pass along to a future Digital Objects working group. Please contribute your ideas!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OKbhLAIkpYkQxy0afhk9klJf-DqjSfeLvLw-x09jBTE/edit?usp=sharing
To gather additional input, we’ve also created a brief optional survey:
https://goo.gl/forms/w5TjA2MuMFlqD9533
All of the questions are optional and the survey will be anonymous. Answers will be shared with SIEWG members to better inform our final recommendations. Survey questions touch on options for visual layout, data entry/editing, and other topics. Your input is greatly appreciated!
If you have any trouble accessing the documents or would like to share your feedback in other ways, please feel free to contact me (ltang5@lib.msu.edu) on behalf of the group. Thanks!
Lydia
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Dr. Lydia Tang
Chair, SIEWG