Lisa's Outline

Print outs so can have lds.net up as talk

CREDIBILITY (Do users trust the site-my analysis)

·      Easy to understand and welcoming to conversation (Plato)

·      Ethos, Pathos, Logos (Aristotle)

·      Website authentic and true to morals and helps others do that (Kierkegaard)

PURPOSE (Do users understand/connect to purpose)

·      Read mission statement

·      Includes a range of Mormons (Plato)

·      Potentialities actualized? (Aristotle)

·      Thesis and antithesis to synthesis (Hegel)

·      Users connected to greater vision (Marx)

·      Could be better at helping people with specific problems looking for solutions (Dewey)

·      Purpose of site supported by content and not organization (Heidegger)

BEAUTY (Do users find beautiful) (Plato, Nietzche, Hume and Kant)

Is it unified? (Plato)
Are all the parts of the site harmonious/flow well together and because of that have organic beauty?

Do users that are makers themselves enjoy-nietzsche (experts appreciate) and Hume (people of taste appreciate)

·      Visual Heuristic Design Principles (Secondary to testing)

·      Visual Hierarchy: What is the design telling you is most important?

o   Size of words

o   Size of sections top to bottom and closest to face then closer to screen 

o   Proximity of things. Two things closer will seem related

o   Words below pics or people will skip the words: “Trending”à never saw

o   If redesign he would say ask yourself a question: how prove to people that content is valuable? Faces of people instead of numbers.  People don’t trust numbers. 

Do users in general find beautiful- Kant

·      “Do the ordinary users find it beautiful” Test:

1.     Do trust this site why or why not?

2.     Use a few adjectives to describe the look and feel of this site.

3.     What do you think the purpose of this site is? (Users connected to greater vision-Marx)

Brief Critique of sts.vt.edu

This is not a social website, but some of what we discussed in our class still applies.  Some changes could make it more social and create a more enjoyable experience for visitors.

Highlights:

The website provides lots of useful information for those who want to get a sense of what STS is and to get in touch with faculty.  It provides information about live events (seminar series, course offerings) and links to apply to the program, contact information for professors and forms that students need.  In what it offers it allows all who visit to access the similar possibilities (Heidegger).

Critiques:

The website lacks organic unity. For example, when I click on the two pictures on the homepage they take me to pages with different layouts, even though both pages are information about the professors pictured.  One is very short, the other is lengthy. The layout of the website should be consistent. The layout doesn’t feel consistent as I click through the pages. The office manager’s email is listed at the bottom of the page, but it is not clear who crcrigge@vt.edu is without looking it up.  (Plato - Unity)

The website is very static. There isn't much to do on the website other than gather general information about the program.  Once I've done that, there isn't much to keep me coming back to the site.  It might be useful to publish or link to articles about current projects and papers that faculty or students are working on. This would give visitors are reason to come back to the site. (Plato - Ongoing)

It feels very much like a website is talking to me, and that is not very exciting.  It might be useful to have video messages or articles from faculty or students that talk about the program. Content should indicate that we can improve our lives by participation in the program. (Nietzsche - Ongoing)

None of the content on the website is easily shareable to social media. I know that I can copy and paste the URL but you might include some buttons for that. (Plato - Accessibility) Additionally, the icons to connect to the STS program’s social media pages seem hidden.

It also seems like some pages, particularly the Announcements page have not been updated for a while.  Users will be less likely to find content credible. Many of the professors do not have phone numbers.  Perhaps write “currently unlisted” or “no number.”  Also I assume TVA is a misspelled TBA. There are few images, many professors’ pages lack photos. There are no videos.

qualtrics.com Presentation

Positives

SIMPLE

• Easy to have further social interaction (Plato)
• Plato taught that good things should foster further social interaction - qualtrics.com does this well with sales and support being a click away.
• Everything fosters social interaction [or research] (Aristotle)
• Aristotle taught that good things will be unified in fostering social interaction, or, in this case, research. Every page on qualtrics.com makes mention of this.
• Developmentally accessible (Aristotle)
• Aristotle also taught how information should be shared in stages as learners progress through their interests. qualtrics.com makes this easy. Might be good to link relevant blog articles, case studies, etc. to the bottom of the product pages.
• Unified problem solving, problem solvers not information gatherers (Dewey)
• Dewey placed the burden on humans to not be information gatherers but problem solvers. Qualtrics makes a ton of information on its website that can be easily referred to so users can focus on solving problems, not memorizing information. Users are also able to download wizards on the Innovation Exchange to facilitate their project creation.

PERSUASIVE

• Logos (Aristotle)
• good examples of the value that is brought by investing in insights [show pages for case studies]
• Case studies show the drastic changes brought on by Qualtrics. Could show more of the negative side of inaction
• Aristotle taught that a presentation should have pathos, ethos, and logos. qualtrics.com does particularly well with logos. The case studies and crucial and show readers the results of using Qualtrics at companies large and small.
• Articulate review (Kant)
• High quality posts and information on the website [show quality blog posts]

Criticisms

SHARABLE

• Easily share relevant interactions with others (Plato)
• Is there a place for people to easily share their experiences on the site? No.
• Is it easily sharable on social media? No. Only blog posts have share links and they are only at the bottom.
• Engaging through example (Nietzsche)
• Allow for and encourage users to share stories (not just case studies) of how they overcame certain challenges and that motivate readers to do the same.
• Pathos (Aristotle)
• Should be more emotionally engaging, humanize the content. Storytelling is powerful. Allowing for the perspective of the individual user and his or her challenges will help connect with clients and prospects on a more emotional level. It may also be worthwhile to encourage people to share the consequences of inaction. While we are selling to businesses, those looking at the page are actually people!

ETHOS - Website design and messaging

• Ethos (Aristotle)
• Does a great job at building ethos with the client list [show customer page]
• In speaking with John, a focus is to convey more of the value of the solution through the website. He claims the site design and content should make it seem like more of a high-end operation. I do agree with this to the extent that Marx taught...
• Users need to see how task relates to a larger purpose (Marx)
• Have an emphasis on what Qualtrics’ end goal is, change the world of how insights are collected? Get back to making sophisticated research simple? Like Ryan was saying last week, place more emphasis and confidence in the fact that Qualtrics is the best in the world for collecting insights on markets, customers, and employees. 
• In addition to this, there is a push to get away from the idea of being a "survey company." This description limits Qualtrics in interactions with clients as their perception of our capabilities is a small part of what they actually are. 

RELEVANT - Build user profiles

• Hume taught that good things should be engaging because they are personalized and relevant. 
• When users visit the site, they should be logged in and view a personalized version of the site content based on the profile Q has created for them
• Kant taught the idea of ongoing review
• Allow users to continue to review the most relevant content (blog posts, case studies, products) based on their profiles
• Dewey pushed for ongoing revision
• Make available a forum where users are able to critique, test, review, revise ideas and content. They can discuss challenges they are dealing with. Might even be another channel to critique Qualtrics and for the firm to collect feedback.
• Heidegger taught that people do better when they care about what they are doing
• This is another reason why user profiles would be valuable in pulling relevant content to the top
• According to Plato, users should quickly know what theme is and what they should do
• Clear up messaging to place more emphasis on people going out and doing research

ENGAGING - Progression of users

• As you may recall, Kierkegaard taught that the best way to teach is to get down to someone's level and help bring them up. Not in a condescending way but in an empowering and encouraging way. He believed people were on different levels and the goal was to progress to the highest of the three (aesthetic, ethical, religious)
• What does the site do to help lift visitors and encourage them to reach the next level of research capabilities? Three ideas
• Site could monitor profiles and curate content based on what level users are (perhaps some type of gamification)
• The other extreme is to have a group of experts (employees) focused on this that can access users and teach them how to leverage Qualtrics
• Qualtrics can track users by their profile and pair them up with the right people (other users) in a forum
• Finally, Hegel taught that development follows this process: thesis, antithesis, synthesis
• Site could provide more opportunities for debate among researchers

Key themes for the recommendations are

• Facilitate sharing
• Make it so users can more easily share site content
• Place more emphasis on storytelling
• Focus messaging on a larger picture
• Changing the world of research (or, changing the world through research)
• Making sophisticated research simple
• Get out and use Qualtrics
• Build richer user profiles 
• Use this information to display more relevant content to each user
• Use it as a way of measuring their journey and development as a customer
• Provide timely encouragement to help them get to the next level
• Have qualtrics.com become a one-stop-shop
• By being able to access experts and other researchers, they can get more of the information they need for their projects and initiatives on the site