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Non-profit community networks, generally speaking, operate from day
one on a minute budget, though there are some exceptions such as Blacksburg
Electronic Village (http://www.bev.net). So generally there is little
money available for research into user wants and needs. Vaughan and
Schwartz studied the particular case of HoosierNet (http://www.bloomington.in.us),
a typical poorly-funded network, and worked on practical ways to acquire
data from HoosierNet's proposed user population quickly before the site
came online for the community at large. Whether a network is well-funded
or not, their methodology is instructive. They decided to address the
problem of acquiring user data quickly and inexpensively by determining
whether there was a specific aspect of HoosierNet where design efforts
could be focused, and chose the overall organization of headings and
sub-headings in the web site. Also, they looked at whether there was
a critical segment of the proposed user population who would be key
to the network starting strong and could therefore be the focus of the
design effort. They did their study using volunteer focus groups. The
focus groups allowed the selected volunteers to come together for a
limited period of time, left plenty of opportunities for debate amongst
the volunteers regarding the best and worst points of the web site,
following the authors' study techniques. The authors made specific efforts
to reduce anxiety about both the technology involved in the web site
and in the expression of any criticism about the web site. The focus
group was selected from "innovators," defined as "skilled computer users
who were likely aware of HoosierNet," and "early adopters," defined
as "people who were active in the community and involved in local issues"
(589). Innovators were recruited from a list of 14 volunteers involved
in HoosierNet's start-up effort. Early adopters were recruited from
a list of community neighborhood associations and their officers obtained
from the local county library. The first person listed under each organization
was recruited for the focus group. A little fewer than half of each
recruit pool actually participated in the focus group. The authors realize
that over time HoosierNet will need to address the needs of additional
user groups, but this particular population was selected to jumpstart
the information design. While their methodology is not the only one
possible, it certainly accomplishes the goal of acquiring data about
a site's proposed user base, and is a worthy one to consider adopting.
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