Visualize how users discover resources on the GHG data and information system

[j08lue]

We have recently been discussing around the GHG Center team that we would like to get a better understanding - or visualize better - how GHG Center users discover data and resources on the website.

A concrete question has been, how we can provide references to resources about GHG data outside of the GHG Center site, e.g. at some agency-hosted website, without turning the site into a page of links (which we were explicitly asked to avoid). In other words, how can we give the user an overview of available resources, without overwhelming them with options?

Could drawing up imaginary user journeys help?

Acceptance criteria

• Found a way to address the above question and guide our design

[aboydnw]

It seems like you are asking two related questions.

1. What is the current user behavior
2. How might be enhance the user experience to achieve a specific goal of the GHG Center

Current User Behavior

We could use a combination of qualitative and quantitative data to understand current user behavior. Within Google Analytics we can see how many page visits for different types of data, and we could also understand general paths for users and exit pages. That could be helpful to understand current behavior.

Qualitatively, we heard during the GHG Center face-to-face today that they are planning some focus groups. I think we should ask to be a part of that or to at least have access to the results of that research. I am not sure when this is planned, though. Manil and Deborah might be able to connect us with Shanna.

Providing References to Other Resources

As a side note, I wonder if this is unintentionally aided by Manil's recent request to make all links open in a new tab? Theoretically it would allow the users to jump back into the GHG Center after going to the outside resource.

It sounds like their goal is to:

1. Make the GHG Center dashboard valuable in and of itself
2. Integrate the GHG Center dashboard within the already broad and diverse set of tools and information available online

So we'll need to help them make some difficult decisions on what the GHG Center is, and what it is not. I agree some sort of user workflow exercise could be a really nice way to do this.

Going into that type of exercise, I think we'd want to be really clear on what the value of the GHG Center is, independent of any other tools. That way we can follow that value prop to decide if certain parts of the user workflow should belong in the GHG Center or remain in those other tools. What would be the 2-3 unique value props of the GHG Center? Why does it exist?

Of course, if it just boils down to a UI design question of how to put a bunch of different resources on the page in a consumable way, that's different. But I'm assuming that we don't really know yet which resources to connect users wit, or even how to connect them (via simple hyperlink or another method).

What do you think @j08lue ?