UNDERSTANDING USERS NEEDS OECD s approach UNECE Work Session

UNDERSTANDING USERS NEEDS OECD’s approach UNECE Work Session on Communication of Statistics Terri Mitton, Project Manager – Statistics Dissemination 27 May 2013

If a tree grows in a forest, will anyone notice? If data is posted on the website, does anyone pay attention?

…and a user on our website… How do we know if he can find, use and understand our content?

Users… how do we know their needs? Publishing review Workshops with Data producers User interviews Usability tests User surveys Website usage stats User emails

Survey: the audience that finds our knowledge interesting and useful. The audience we know best Other 5% Corporate 22% (delegates, policy advisors, statisticians…) Public sector 26% IGOs 3% Media 3% Civil Society 7% Source: Study on users of OECD. org (2009) Academic 34%

Usability: Data is hard to find…. Source: Usability tests on oecd. org (2009)

Usage stats: What information is most in demand? 2% of the book titles published Source: OECD i. Library usage stats (2011. ) 51% of the book downloads 7

Publishing review findings… “Bland” “Impartial” e’” “Lacks a ‘Voic “Trusted” “Organisation-centric e” “Authoritativ “Credible” ” “Poor useability” ble” = Accessibility Gap “Unreada “High Quality” e” “Rich data sourc “Honest” “Held in high regard” Source: Studies conducted by independent consultants (2011) els” ann nfusing ch “Co “Inpenetrable jargon” licy d more po ” “Nee ations commend re

Who are the data users? Policy Advisor Researcher/ Statistician Business Analyst Developer University Librarian Journalist NGO / Citizen with a cause Undergraduate Student

Vision (from the point of view of the user) “Let me easily access the OECD statistical data and analysis. Let me find, understand use the data I need. ”

Data user needs… Expert user needs: Expert user • looks for specific data • knows what he is looking for • wants fast and complete download to use in own tools • citation is important • embeds graphs • …used to complicated tools Non-expert user needs: Nonexpert • only interested in main indicators and most relevant graphs • looks for answers, no matter if analytical from pubs, particularly overviews and summaries • shares graphs • …used to consumer tools (less forgiving)

Data users’ top requirements All users Data and analysis Data overview Find most recent data Find country-specific info Get prepackaged key indicators Compare countries Identify trends Quick/simple data enquiry Download supporting data (XLS) Get data to produce a visualization Know which data views possible Glossary Reformat/process Permanent link Export CSV Metadata Expert users

Data users’ top requirements All users Expert users • • Find data and analysis Find most recent data Find country-specific info Get prepackaged key indicators Compare countries Identify trends Quick/simple data enquiry Download supporting data (XLS)

User persona: Journalist • Occupation: Social affairs correspondent • General requirements: – Find a new and interesting and unique angle on a story – Graphics produced in-house using the house style (except blog) • Data needs: – Timely data –a few days in advance of release – The main indicators made clear – OECD view or opinion – Be able to speak to a data expert – Pro-actively send data that match her areas of interest

Users need more readable content… Author’s title: “ Share of native-born children of immigrants aged 15 to 64 who report to have been discriminated against within the prior twelve months because they belong to a certain ethnic/racial group or nationality, by socio-economic characteristics, New Zealand ” Edited title: “ Discrimination against second generation immigrants, New Zealand ” But… IGOs do not have guidance on readability

New products must help users to complete a task…. “ It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them” — Steve Jobs, 1998 We conduct usability tests from conceptual phase to product.

New initiatives to meet the challenges 1 2 3 4 5 6 • New user friendly data portal / Search project • Create definitions, rules and recommendations on content accessibility (e. g. readability) • Internal communication on audiences needs • Transition to author approval on content (without presentation layer) • New API data project / innovation community • Create terms for licensing and re-use of data

Thank you Terri Mitton Terri. mitton@oecd. org OECD Project Manager – Statistics Dissemination

Image attributions PA http: //www. flickr. com/photos/33093975@N 06/4302963467/ BA http: //www. flickr. com/photos/45393120@N 07/6022241266/ R/S http: //www. flickr. com/photos/48889087714@N 01/2489612746/ UL http: //www. flickr. com/photos/34756977@N 00/5469517670/ J http: //www. flickr. com/photos/highwaysagency/6021688217/in/photostr eam NGO http: //www. flickr. com/photos/8383084@N 06/4589721703/ UG http: //www. flickr. com/photos/58447230@N 00/5041727169/ Developer: http: //www. flickr. com/photos/kurmis/83156110/