Evaluation

From Nov 14/15 meeting

• Input of information
  • are content-holders scared of loss of copyright?
  • maybe need a "basic minimum specification" to show them how they can get content into the system (plus guidance)
  • Can they do some of the mapping from their schema to the eCHASE one?
  • what do we do with multi-word fields? ie keyword lists?
  • What input format does system expect?
• Searching/Finding
  • period, locale, political, cultural, sport - categories
  • preselected examples
  • free text searches?
  • do people keep labels like "this was used for book X" as that's very useful
  • put examples searches or random hits on front page?
• Outputs
  • Can we cope with 400 pictures in a lightbox?
• General comments
  • not clear there are 4 or N archives
  • keep pop-up count down
  • timeline would be nice
  • make an intermediate people, places, etc (simpler interface)

Prototype Feedback

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DeAgostini

Lamberto Ferraccioli on Prototype 1.2:

• Searching
  • No easy way to only search for black and white images.

  This is probably achievable using the 'similar black and white' CBIR algorithm, but it's probably not where Lamberto expected to find it.
  rl 10:49, 12 Jan 2006 (GMT)

  • No way to specify 'landscape' as an image ratio or shape.

  This would be good to support, but would mean modifying the item metadata or getting the search to analyse each image to determine its dimensions.'
  rl 10:49, 12 Jan 2006 (GMT)

  • Search for 'black and white landscape' returned 200 results, many more to do with people than landscapes. A Google Images search found exactly the right results.
  • Search button should be at both top and bottom of search page.

  Will be fixed for later version.
  rl 10:49, 12 Jan 2006 (GMT)

  • Should be able to return to search query to modify it.

  Will be fixed for later version.
  rl 10:49, 12 Jan 2006 (GMT)

  • Images/videos checkboxes do not seem to work.

  This has been fixed for 1.3.
  rl 10:49, 12 Jan 2006 (GMT)

  • Advanced search functionality is hard to use compared with other search engines.

  Will be fixed for later version.
  rl 10:49, 12 Jan 2006 (GMT)

• Viewing Results
  • 'Add to lightbox' functionality should be on results page, not just detailed view.

  I think we should support this.
  rl 10:49, 12 Jan 2006 (GMT)

  • 'Legacy Reference Id' is not very useful; 'Creation Place' is ambiguous in how it is used.

  May as well leave legacy refs in there for now, and creation place ambiguity is unfortunatly part of the data.
  rl 10:49, 12 Jan 2006 (GMT)

  • Thumbnails should be kept a uniform shape and size, but images of different aspect ratio scaled to fit whilst maintaing aspect ratio (not "stretched").

  How easy is it to do this?
  rl 10:49, 12 Jan 2006 (GMT)

  • Problems with mapping data: 'Baca' in Slovenia was displayed as 'Baca' in Mexico.
  • Pop-ups for attribute list and thesauri browser are useful.
  • Use of pop-up window for detailed view allows details of multiple items to be compared on screen at once.

• Lightbox
  • Used light box to store less than 10 items.

  This is far less than the numbers suggested previously by other partners...
  rl 10:49, 12 Jan 2006 (GMT)

  • No indication given of an image being in light box already.

  I think we should do our best to fix this.
  rl 10:49, 12 Jan 2006 (GMT)

  • Images are always added to root of lightbox - would be nice to be able to set an "active" folder to add to.
  • Cannot copy or move folders or images within lightbox.
  • "the use of a Java applet should be avoided in a consumer web portal":
    • Proxy configuration could block Java applets
    • Browser with virtual machine not updated could have problems
    • users have to "learn" something new while using a web site
    • certification messages that appear when the applet is loaded could be misunderstood by non-expert users

  Ouch! Lamberto really didn't like having to use java!
  rl 10:49, 12 Jan 2006 (GMT)

  • Export package should include an XML or XSLT index page to allow user to navigate through downloaded pages.
  • Should give indication of size of export package before download starts.
  • Folder annotations are not included when exporting.
  • Doubts about how well supported MPEG-7 format is by commercial tools.
  • Should be realised in same window - no need for a pop-up.
  • Would like to see HTML/Javacript version of lightbox as given in DeAgostini mock-up for the portal.

  I don't think I ever saw this mock-up, why was it not used?
  rl 10:49, 12 Jan 2006 (GMT)

• General
  • The eCHASE portal should be skinable, to allow other partners to customise the look and feel of the portal, which would make it more attractive to them to use.
  • Multi-lingual presentation should use user-specific settings and display results in that language where possible.
  • Not clear what mSpace browser will do.

• Top 5 most important features
  1. Google Box
  2. Thumbnails and captions on results page
  3. Detailed view
  4. Ability to add items to lightbox
  5. Organising and annotating items in lightbox

• Top 5 least important features
  1. Ability to log in as different users
  2. Viewing details of items from lightbox
  3. Searching by creator (e.g. photographer)
  4. Searching by place
  5. Searching by Date