Life Events - EU Bookshop - Europa
Life Events - EU Bookshop - Europa Life Events - EU Bookshop - Europa
••• 8 User needs and behaviour For this study, a set of user experiments were conducted in a laboratory setting. Th e user experiments took place in the UK at OxLab in Oxford during summer 2010. One hundred and thirty persons participated in the experiment, which they were given an hour to complete. Each person was provided with four scenarios. All the individuals were asked to think themselves into the fi ctitious situation. Th e scenarios described four diff erent life events: all took place in a cross-border context. Th e language used was English, and the sites that the users were asked to search were also in the English language. Th e experiment’s purpose was to identify the ways in which people approach a life event and how they navigate and use the available online sources to fi nd appropriate solutions. Th e four examples of life events used in the experiment involved: experiencing the theft of identity papers abroad, preparing to study abroad, preparing a longterm stay abroad, or dealing with a pandemic threat when travelling. Th is exercise provided a number of interesting results. Th e users used two types of search strategy to fi nd information: When confronted with one of these four life events, the individuals involved in the experiment tended to segregate the separate actions, tasks, and information they needed related to the life event and approached the issue at hand in a ’disaggregated’ way. When they searched for the information, they followed two diff erent strategies. When using a single strategy, the users looked solely at government portals (portal-only) or they relied entirely on a search engine (search-only). When they used a mixed strategy, it meant that they started with a government portal and ended up by searching using a search engine or vice versa.
�� Single strategies (i.e., portal-only and search-only) were the most eff ective; the mixed strategies are concerned the ‘search-then-portal’ took considerably longer; and the least eff ective strategy was portal-then-search. Indeed, a signifi cant proportion of those users who started with government portals perceived the portal as not eff ective in providing the information they needed and had to change towards the use of an open search method. �� Users who were pointed towards government portals (the treatment group) took signifi cantly longer to fi nd the right information. �� Lastly, users found their questions answered signifi cantly faster by searching on private sector sites and Wikipedia rather than on government sites. Th ese fi ndings may indicate two trends: fi rst, the information provided on the tested government portals is diffi cult to fi nd and, second, navigation through established paths on government portals is not necessarily optimal when users in a trial setting are trying to fi nd the very targeted information that is needed in relation to a specifi c life event. Hence, information provision is not optimised so that users can fi nd it quickly by following diff erent navigation paths. Two lessons can be drawn here from the private sector, and both provide learnings for government services: First, online stores off er a “mystery shopping” approach. Th e stores are based � � around key “sticky points”. Th ese points provide separate elements or services that suggest, recommend and link users to the right information or service based on the users’ search criteria. Th is approach facilitates a disaggregated search approach and thereby produces relevant results and links to related topics. Such an approach involves using a range of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 strategies: Web 9 •••
- Page 1 and 2: User expectations of a life events
- Page 3 and 4: Authors Deloitte Consulting Patrick
- Page 5 and 6: Foreword Th e Digital Agenda for Eu
- Page 7: Three core concepts Life events are
- Page 11 and 12: Th e four scenarios are: 1 Stolen v
- Page 13 and 14: Th ese essential characteristics co
- Page 15 and 16: By leading by example, government s
- Page 17 and 18: private sector to provide end servi
- Page 19 and 20: Costs and gains: Gov 2.0 is conceiv
- Page 21: Other mechanisms which will facilit
- Page 24: ICT for Government and Public Servi
••• 8<br />
User needs and behaviour<br />
For this study, a set of user experiments were conducted in a laboratory setting.<br />
Th e user experiments took place in the UK at OxLab in Oxford during summer<br />
2010. One hundred and thirty persons participated in the experiment, which they<br />
were given an hour to complete. Each person was provided with four scenarios.<br />
All the individuals were asked to think themselves into the fi ctitious situation.<br />
Th e scenarios described four diff erent life events: all took place in a cross-border<br />
context. Th e language used was English, and the sites that the users were asked to<br />
search were also in the English language.<br />
Th e experiment’s purpose was to identify the ways in which people approach<br />
a life event and how they navigate and use the available online sources to fi nd<br />
appropriate solutions.<br />
Th e four examples of life events used in the experiment involved: experiencing<br />
the theft of identity papers abroad, preparing to study abroad, preparing a longterm<br />
stay abroad, or dealing with a pandemic threat when travelling.<br />
Th is exercise provided a number of interesting results. Th e users used two types<br />
of search strategy to fi nd information: When confronted with one of these four<br />
life events, the individuals involved in the experiment tended to segregate the<br />
separate actions, tasks, and information they needed related to the life event and<br />
approached the issue at hand in a ’disaggregated’ way. When they searched for<br />
the information, they followed two diff erent strategies.<br />
When using a single strategy, the users looked solely at government portals<br />
(portal-only) or they relied entirely on a search engine (search-only). When they<br />
used a mixed strategy, it meant that they started with a government portal and<br />
ended up by searching using a search engine or vice versa.
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