Abstract:

This study focuses on user experience (UX) design for curators of academic informational content and is based on the case of a multisite development system created by the authors, as members of the Ionian University, and known within the institution’s community as “Publish@Ionio”. During the course of this research, quantitative data concerning the use of the system’s content management user interface (UI) were collected and used to analyze of the habits and needs of academic content editors and to draw relevant conclusions.

Curating and editing informational content for the World Wide Web is a very demanding task, especially in the case of content related to scientific research and higher education, in the context of a complex academic environment. In order to make it easier for editors to focus on the nuances of this task, the tools at their disposal must offer a streamlined UX, focused on maximizing the value of the content while minimizing the effort and time needed to publish it online. The presented system, offers a Web based UI that allows the publication and dissemination of informational content throughout multiple interconnected institutional websites based on a common architecture. This aims to achieve information consistency, wider outreach, and better use of the technological and human resources of the institution. An important factor for the success of such a system is the UX it offers to content editors and administrators.

This study presents in detail the methods and practices followed by the system’s interface and provides insight concerning the wider area of designing a UX tailored to the needs of academic content editors in a multisite environment, through quantitative data. The presented interface focuses on the elements that allow people in charge of curating content for each of the various institutional offices, to do so through an intuitive environment, without the need for specialized knowledge in the field of IT. Moreover, additional features that derive from the nature of the content, which revolves around educational and research activities, are detailed. Finally, special emphasis is placed on the methods used to achieve a streamlined process of sharing content throughout the multiple related, but ultimately self-contained institutional websites, through user interactions based on handling requests both from other editors and from the wider academic community of the institution.

The quantitative data that form the basis of this study were collected through an extended period of production usage and refer to a variety of real-world user interactions with the system including publishing news, handling requests, providing curriculum and staff related information and many other aspects of managing the institution’s actual presence on the Web. Thus, they form a solid foundation for a descriptive statistical analysis, that leads to conclusions relating to the habits and needs of editors involved in the process of generating and curating content for complex higher education environments.

Keywords:

User Experience, User Interface, Content Management, Multisite, Academic, World Wide Web.