Brugerstudier i naturlige omgivelser

Elke Greifeneder tiltrådte den 1. oktober 2012 som adjunkt på IVA. Hun kommer fra Tyskland og har i fire år undervist på Berlin School of Library and Information Science. Hun har netop modtaget den årlige akademiske pris fra The Association for the Advancement of Information Science, en af de mest ansete foreninger i både Østrig, Tyskland og Schweiz, for sin ph.d.-afhandling om brugerstudier i naturlige omgivelser: Does it matter where we test? Online user studies in digital libraries in natural environments. Det er første gang, prisen uddeles to gange til den samme person. Elke modtog også prisen for sit speciale inden for samme emne.

What are your main research areas?
My main research area is user studies coming from a Human Computer Interaction perspective. I always focus on the human aspect rather than the computer aspect. I evaluate users, study users, user behavior and information behavior. Anytime when users are involved.

What is most important to you in your research?
I think there are two things. First, I like to do valid research. I don't want to ask three people and then say I did a big research project. I want to do something that is valid. And on a more personal note, I don't like to waste the trust that the participants have in me. I do not run usability tests or satisfaction measurement just to prove that the users are satisfied with something. When I run a user study, I want to have an honest, open answer.

Which projects are you working on at the moment?
Right now I'm working on a project about users' needs in virtual research environments. It is within the LARM project where we look at added values - for example if participants get something additional and if it makes sense for them to use LARM, which is a virtual research environment, instead of simply going to the library and listening to the audio files there. We want to know if it makes sense to build these huge environments.
   The current plan is that we are going to run online interviews from here at RSLIS where people can log into a system from home, and then we will have an online chat. That way, people can show us at home if something doesn't make sense to them instead of coming to a laboratory. It is a different environment, and we will be one of the first to do it like that so let's hope that the technology will work! We are running the user tests in the natural environment of the participants, which is new as well. Virtual research environments are very expensive to build. If you look at Europeana, there have been billions invested. And one doesn't want to run user tests at the end and discover that the users actually don't like it. Many researchers miss or don't have the time to do the user studies before. So they test it at the end and then they need to have a positive result because of all the money invested.

Do you have any other projects in the pipeline?
I went to the iConference in Texas, and met with people from the States. We hope to apply for a project on distraction. It will likely be about users' natural environment and how users interact with information when they are not in a laboratory but in a natural situation. It is also something that came up in my dissertation. Because of the ubiquitous mobile technology around, distraction is a big issue right now.

Which journals and library magazines do you like to read?
I subscribe to several newsletters. I usually get articles from the Journal of Documentation. I like a smaller journal that is called CyberPsychology & Behavior. I don't subscribe to it, but I usually scan the articles and if I see something that is really interesting, I simply write to the authors for the article. And of course different web blogs like UXmatters - user experience matters - where you get new input.

What do you like to read in your spare time?
I'm a huge fan of Jane Austen and all that is related to her, like Georgette Heyer or a bit more modern Julia Quinn.


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