User feedback: Testing the leaders demonstrator application

Abstract

The LEADERS Project has developed a set of open-source tools that can be used by archivists to create online applications where digital representations of archive documents are presented alongside relevant contextual information. These tools use Extensible Markup Language (XML) technologies and are built around three well-known encoding standards: Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Encoded Archival Context (EAC) and the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). A fundamental aspect of the LEADERS Project has been to gain user feedback as part of the research and development process. To this end, a demonstrator application has been constructed and has since been tested by a representative sample of archive users who took part in moderated discussions on its strengths and weaknesses. This article describes the results from the user testing of the demonstrator and discusses how different types of users reacted to the application's interface design, search functionality and detailed displays. It is hoped that this feedback from users will be useful to future implementers as a guide in the design of new online archive applications created using the LEADERS tools.