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HCI VISTAS, VOLUME-II, 2006-2007 | |||
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Article INS-17./Feb. 2007 |
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There is so much discussion about user personas, but very few examples are reported on Internet with some evidence of its actual usage. So here is a persona that I explored long back. It was useful!
Background:
The director of the museum appreciated our Virtual Museum Builder system (client-server application for digital archiving and dissemination of museum information) and mentioned their need to extend this system further for building museum conservation reports. The director felt that we can take up this new task as the museum curators have already internalized the digital archiving process.
My team got briefed about the nature of conservation activity in museums. They began to study the paper-forms used for filling up the conservation needs. They also started discussing where to add these forms in the existing system. But I was slightly concerned about extending the scope of SAME application software. My apprehension pushed me to explore the user persona of 'conservator'. Some telephonic discussions, visits to couple of other museums, interaction with museum conservators, some thinking and visualization...I wrote and rewrote... and the desired user persona was evolved as below.
I would name this persona as Mr. Museum Conservator. Please note that this persona is relevant only in Indian context.
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User Persona: Mr. Museum Conservator
Mr. Museum Conservator, 46 years old, has been working with the museum for past 20 years. He did some 1.5 months long course in museology from National Museum, New Delhi. Although he is a conservator he looks after many additional responsibilities like- managing the gallery, curatorial work, documentation, ensuring the neatness of collections, and occasionally guide the VIP visitors through museum. So he is a man wearing multiple hats. He confessed their problems due to manpower shortage. But he realizes the importance of preservation of ancient artifacts. He says it is their first priority.
Conservation is an intense technical work. It is very hectic, as Mr. Museum Conservator has to open the showcases, take out each artifact in a tray, observe it from all sides, use the magnifying glass if required, keep the object back in its place and fill up the paper format for noting the conservation requirements. His notation includes details like the dimensions and weight of object, its material, place of damage, the cause of damage, the type of chemical treatment recommended, cost estimate and urgency. Treatments differ on the basis of the material of the artifact e.g. ivory, wood, textile, glass, leather, copper, bronze, etc. He consults the experts from outside for the conservation of objects with uncommon materials.
He says that ideally they should be taking photographs of deteriorated portions of the artifact for documentation purpose. The documented history of conservation helps them do their job more effectively. Every new scratch added to the painting needs to be studied. They must know whether it was treated earlier and the technique applied, etc. He says, this job is very tiring, as one has to walk around the entire museum and stand in front of every showcase for hours. Hundreds of artifacts have to be checked in this manner. But that happens quite irregularly due to manpower shortage.
Mr. Conservator has spectacles. He has seen the computer being used for DTP purpose. | |||
Insights and new ideasIt is evident that Mr. Conservator has to walk around the museum for collecting the conservation requirements. It is impossible for him to return to computer lab for data entery (as implied in the initial suggestion by the customer). It is not even possible for him to bring every artifact to computer lab for preparing the conservation report. It was clear that we needed a handheld device, which could be carried along for data gathering. This was the ideal solution as the Pocket PC could be useful for on-the-spot photo documentation, data entry, and wireless network for up-loading this data on the Virtual Museum server. We could develop a seperate module for managing the conservation reports as part of Virtual Museum Builder system.
Simple persona, but it changed the entire development paradigm.
The art of stereotyping
I feel that creation of user persona is nothing but realistic stereotyping or a simplified outline of the user. The word 'realistic' is more important as realism can be achieved only through user study. (I am not referring to the fictional personas applicable in futuristic technologies). Humorists, cartoonists and filmmakers are gifted with the art of stereotyping. But they tend to exaggerate a lot. Therefore the personalities they render appear like caricatures. We must avoid caricatured user personas. While stereotyping, you generalize and oversimplify. And when you do that you pick or eliminate some details. That makes all the difference.
Just like the way a movie actor evaluatesthe 'graph' of a character in the script,the persona helps us capturethe 'graph' of user.
Evolving a persona is not the final goal. But everything depends on what you observe in it, what you infer from it and how you apply it to design. It may differ from case to case. It may also differ from designer to designer.
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