PLANIFICACIÓN SECTORIAL

To begin, the total code coverage once the coding was complete came to 46% cov- erage across both documents—that is, of all of the characters present in both tran- scripts, 46% of those characters were contained by at least one coded segment. The first step taken in the analysis of the data was to examine the most recurring codes. There were a total of 343 instances of codes across both focus groups. The top 5 codes are listed below: Individually, each of these codes accounted for roughly 5%

TABLE4.1: Top 5 emergent codes showing # of occurrences and the % of occurrence overall. Code # % Discovery 42 12% Technical Limitations 36 10% Readability 28 8% Visualisations 28 8% Lack of Context 22 6%

code coverage across both transcripts, and thus cumulatively accounted for approxi- mately 25% of all code coverage. The only code with a higher percentage of coverage was the 6PSM code (which applied to an entire activity). Upon closer inspection,

three of the five codes were related to specific problems participants had encoun- tered (Technical Limitations, Readability, and Lack of Context), one was related to Reasons for Use, and the final code was related to data visualisations in general. The Discovery code also consisted of three subcodes: Analysis (using the system to facili- tate some form of analysis of information, such as a comparative analysis), Learning (using the resource as an active learning tool), and Pattern Recognition (using the resource to discover unseen patterns in the data). This latter code (Pattern Recogni- tion) was strongly correlated to the Visualisations code.

Each of these codes was used to inform the overall design of Alcalá. Discovery was clearly an important factor for many of the participants and thus one of the aims of the Alcalá Record Books was to find ways to facilitate that discovery process. Further analysis of the subcodes showed a marked interest in the use of data visu- alisations as a method of discovery. At one point, participants in one of the groups discussed the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database [294] and the impact the data visu- alisations themselves had on understanding the data:

Yeah the transatlantic life trade, that database, there’s some very good data visualisations of that but when you speed it up you see the enor- mous impact it had. You’re just seeing ships. You’re seeing people. But you’re seeing data as a...everyone was accounted for as one unit of cargo. Important people. So when you see that amount of cargo moving, you know, around the triangle, but when speeded up, you don’t see it until you see it over time, 20, 30, 40 years, impact. I think that one was quite good. [207, 00:14:40]

This same individual noted that they did not truly understand the impact of the data until it was visualised. Another participant also noted how "mind blowing" the experience of visualising this type of data can be: "But I think when you see the data moving as an action over a period of time, like spatial history, you know and across a geographical space, it’s definitely, it’s mind-blowing." [207, 00:16:13]. In a separate discussion, another participant noted the need to be able to switch between the visual search and the traditional search:

You know sometimes you can go to a site and you can search by text or you can explore the graph or something. But what I want to do is like a single thing to go between those things. Because my mind does not go to like ’oh let’s do it by text or let’s do it by picture’. It wants to go where it wants to go. [207, 00:42:26].

Some of the needs around discovery were further illuminated by an examination of the Visualisations code. Participants repeatedly mentioned using data visualisa- tions as a prompt or a window into the data. They were effectively replacing the traditional browse mechanism with the use of a data visualisation. Some were fo- cused on discovering specific information to support an idea or hypothesis, but an

4.2. Initial Discovery 111

equal number were leveraging data visualisations as a means of exploration. Such behaviour holds true with observations made by Johanna Drucker, who notes the importance of building mechanisms into a system that are beyond that of the effi- cient accomplishment of tasks and can facilitate novelty and enjoyment [6].11

The coded segments around technical limitations showed either issues with ac- cess (such as the lack of high speed internet) or basic problems with either UI or System Design. These include broken links, the inability to close modal overlays (or the lack of an intuitive close button), fidelity of images, etc. While important to recognise (as they are clearly recurring issues for participants), most of these items can be addressed through standard best practices in software development. Some of the problems, however, were related to access to the actual data: the ability to down- load the source object in a specified format (i.e. standard XML, TEI, METS, etc.) or the ability to download the data behind a visualisation to reproduce it locally. While ultimately considered outside the scope for the Alcalá Records Books (which is con- sidered a prototype), these items were taken into consideration in the construction of the boundary objects and poster interfaces (to be discussed later).

Having perhaps the most significant impact were the codes around Readabil- ity and Lack of Context, as both related back to the Discovery code and the use of data visualisations to facilitate discovery. More than one participant mentioned the overwhelming volume of data contained in many of these DREs and the difficulty presented in attempting to read every item. In these cases, data visualisations were mentioned as ways of exploring the data at a higher level and allowing for a more focused approach to consuming the material present in the DRE. Multiple users also noted the importance of contextualising the data contained within the visualisations, as too often these types of visualisations are presented with little to no context re- garding their construction or implementation. Both of these factors were strongly considered in the later design of the Alcalá Record Books.

It became clear through the analysis that the vast majority of participants were driven to DREs with the goal of discovery. Despite the common belief that most users seek out DREs in order to read the content, it is clear from the sample set mentioned here that users are in fact driven to discover and explore; reading is a by-product.

Users of these systems demand alternative methods of engagement that assist with findability, accessibility, and discovery, as it is clear that their use of these systems is not simple engagement with the source material; the users are instead driven by a need to find and discover. Thus, the primary goal of the user is not to read but rather to explore. [295]

Armed with the information collected from the focus groups, this work set out to design Alcalá with the idea of discovery and exploration of the manuscript as the foremost goal with learning through annotation as an important secondary goal.

11_{For the full quote by Drucker regarding the importance of moving beyond the "reductively mech-} anistic" [6, p. 151] theory of interface, see Chapter3.