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When a team member conducts the interview, have the individual describe their job and what they do each day.
For example if they are students, have them talk about how they selected their classes, enrolled, how they go
about completing assignments, study, etc. Ask what resources they use. Record their responses (a tape
recorder is helpful). After the interview, the team will generate a work model (depiction of the task analysis)
by organizing these responses into a structured list or diagram. Often the person will skip from topic to topic
during the interview and restructuring their responses allows the interviewer to make sure they understood the
person correctly and to determine if the information is complete. Show the completed work model to the
person interviewed for review and revisions. The team next combines the separate work models into one. The
process is repeated for each identified group and separate work models are created.
The completed work models for the different groups provide valuable data on the tasks each person performs
and their information needs, but are not very helpful in seeing commonalities between groups. To do this, the
team will need to do a role delineation or restructuring of the data. Each of us assume many different roles
during the course of a day i.e. learner, teacher, parent, spouse, cook, planner, decision maker etc. Identifying
these roles allows the team to compare the information needs of different groups assuming the same role.
While various groups may use information to perform different tasks, they often need the same information as
they assume the same role. For example, a secretary may need to call a professor to request information on a
proposed addition to the catalog. A professor may need to call a colleague to ask they substitute for them while
the professor attends a conference. A student may need to contact a secretary to request a study list change.
While each task is different, each person is assuming the same role of communicator and each needs the same
information: the telephone number of an individual.
To generate a role delineation the team gathers the work models for a particular group and sees if they can
assign general categories describing the type of task being performed. While the task analysis breaks the
activities down into small steps, the role delineation reassembles the steps in groups of similar actions. As we
looked at the graduate student work models, we were able to break down the tasks into making decisions,
planning, finding out about correct procedures, doing assignments and communicating with others. These
categories were then used to identify the roles of decision maker, planner, procedures expert, product producer,
and communicator. The information contained on our site would need to enable the student to fulfill these
various roles.
The power of the role delineations is that one can look at them and see where the roles and the information
needs overlap. The more the overlap, the greater the need for that piece of information. This higher need
allows the designers to set priorities for sequence of page development. A single page can be designed which
will satisfy the needs of all assuming the same role. For example when we saw the role of communicator
emerge in each group we interviewed, we knew there was a strong need for information to facilitate the tasks a
person acting in this role performed. There was already a telephone directory provided to students, but often
those interviewed expressed that they needed to call the operator to get a number because the directory was not
at hand when it was needed. Additionally, the students did not have access to the directory listing email
addresses for faculty--this information could only be obtained from the department secretaries or the professor.
Potential students and alumni from off-campus were only able to obtain telephone numbers, not addresses.
There was no single directory readily available for the different groups to provide the needed information.
This commonality allowed us to determine that there was a great need to provide a way of contacting people.
Each role was similarly examined and the content needs and priorities established.
Determine content. Decide which needs may best be met given the unique qualities of the Web. Just because
one may put something on the Web, doesn't mean it should be there. Each medium has its strengths and
limitations. Sometimes face-to-face conversation is the best means of communications. Other times printed
materials, videos, or CD’s may be the superior delivery method. In order to determine which materials should
be delivered via the World Wide, we needed to identify how it was effectively being used in education and what
its capabilities were. When we looked at various academic sites we saw six functions emerging: identifying
oneself, providing information or instruction, creating a research environment, furnishing a medium for
publishing, encouraging discussion, and establishing a platform for consultation and collaboration. While the
Web was being used for other functions (humor, commercial, etc.) we wanted to restrict our usage to providing
materials of worth for the community of learners and educators. Next we identified the Web’s capabilities for
data display to determine how these features could best be utilized in our design. The Web provides hypertext
links, multimedia, and interactivity. Therefore the material we were to provide needed to fulfill the needs of