AMICO Annual Members Meeting 2001
Final Report

Users & Uses Committee Meeting Report

1. Statistical reporting

   1.1 Qualitative vs. quantitative

   • Questions that need answering
   • Methods to achieve answers
   • Desired format

   
   From committee discussion it was determined that while AMICO Members may pull up their individual usage information from RLG and check the Members web site for the monthly summary of usage by all institutions, Members typically do not retrieve this information or look at it proactively on their own.

   New Distributors of The AMICO Library are being added, and Members are asked to pull data from potentially 4 or more sources, use of these statistics may go down even more. Therefore, the U&U committee discussed what they would like to know about end users and how this information could be reported directly to each Member.

   1.2 Quantitative Statistics

   The primary questions raised by the group were:

   • How many people are accessing and using my museum's objects. broken down at the record level, so they could see, for instance, that 26,347 images from museum x were accessed in a 6 month period?
   • How deeply does image viewing go?
   • How many of the 26K+ images were at the thumbnail view, larger view, largest presentation view, etc?
   • This would allow members to see how deeply users are getting into their content.
   • How many of each of these images were used by what kind of user?
   • Numbers broken down by user type, so were they coming from a university or a K-12 school, or a public library, etc? Obviously, the different distributors would each be broken out for these different pieces of information.
   • How does my museum's image use compare to all members' image use by users?
   • How does this use compare to the public thumbnail catalog?
   • What top search criteria are used?
   • Can we see top search criteria, to determine if users are more frequently looking for particular cultures or object types?
   • How does usage compare across time?
   • Trending comparisons should be part of the report, comparing the previous year's or month's usage activity.
   This report should be emailed to each Member's principal contact directly as an attached file (not something that must be retrieved from somewhere; the report should be sent biannually.

   
   

   ACTION:

   • AMICO will work with distributors to confirm that desired pieces of user information are provided in accordance with the Distributor specification..
   • AMICO will mock up a sample report and provide it to the U&U committee for review in August.
   • AMICO will take the refined report and provide to the entire membership for sign-off; AMICO will populate a sample report with RLG and OhioLINK (if possible) data for members to see real report. This should be available in October; Members will provide feedback by mid November.
   • AMICO will send the first report in Dec (for previous 6 months - June-Nov. 2001) and then will be sent regularly in June and December of each year. (Note that some Distributors may not have full statistics available for this first period)
     
     

   1.3 Qualitative Evaluation

   The other side of use statistics is getting some anecdotal information about "HOW" and "WHAT" users are doing with The AMICO Library. Since this sort of information is more qualitative, AMICO needs to look at surveying users to get this testimonial information.

   ACTION:

   • AMICO will investigate end user surveys. Sample survey questions will be sent out to the U&U committee in August. These will build on past survey work.
   • AMICO explore including a bulletin board system in the Use area of the public web site to allow more informal ways of exchanging information and collaborating than the current University users d-list.
   • Members will review and sign-off on report format and provide input on user survey questions and survey delivery.
   
   
2. Compare public web use and RLG use

   Statistical reports of the public Thumbnail Catalog site and RLG's presentation of The AMICO Library were reviewed by the committee. Consensus was reached that measures needed to be made standard across the two reports.
   
   The committee questioned Adam Brin, AMICO's Webmaster, about the reports he created regarding the Thumbnail Catalog. They wanted to better understand that within search types, say by keyword or object type or creator culture, how many searches actually took place. Also, they said they would like to see information about use of the Model Assignments.
   
   In RLG's statistics it was noted that consortial subscriptions were not broken out to the individual schools. (The Florida State consortium appeared to have the 2nd highest use of any subscriber but this was 10 schools' use lumped together). The other elements in these reports were included in the more general statistical reporting discussion.

   ACTION:

   • AMICO will break out search numbers within the particular search criteria and will add tracking of use of the Model Assignments for the public site reporting.
   • AMICO's requirements with distributors should reaffirm the need for single institution statistics for consortial subscriptions. (These are in all of our new contracts.)
   • Members will actively use statistical reporting a device to reinforce AMICO stature within their respective organizations.
   
   
3. Review and feedback on redesigns to AMICO Members and public sites

   Committee members did not have any strong feelings (positive or negative) regarding the redesigned Members and Public websites. Generally they felt there was great depth of information on both sites, but found it was hard to keep current. Direct links to pieces of information that were new, required action were useful as a way to focus their attention on the site. Some enhancements to the members site to allow easy toggling between the Contribution Management System, the AMICO public site, and other site were not clearly understood and may need explaining.
   
   This discussion then rolled into more general communications with Members. Members feel like the committee lists are fine, but that the announce list does not always provide them any priority level (all the messages seem either urgent or not worth taking notice of).
   
   Summarizing developments into a newsletter format might be useful. Then those items NOT part of the newsletter would be urgent or to require action.
   
   ACTION:

• AMICO will add screen shots and descriptions about content contained on the AMICO sites to the "How to AMICO for Members" guide.
• AMICO will actively try to add direct links to content when corresponding with AMICO Members.
• AMICO will investigate how to better package information to members relating to the general announcements list and a potential newsletter.
• Members will filter suggestions for content in newsletter to the AMICO Communications Director and pass on thoughts about the web sites if they occur.
  


4. Review and comment on new K-12 interface

Members had seen a brief presentation by Michael Vulpe of i4i about the proposed new functionality for K-12 users. We discussed what types of metaphors would be useful to create as educational templates in i4i that might help Members to create content and use The AMICO Library. Some of these metaphors were:

• "Slide Sets", which are typically organized around a theme or exhibition or subject area;
• "Family Guides", which include activities to do at home or in the museum that help to further learning made in the galleries and promote sharing amongst the family unit;
• "Docent Training Materials", which give docents knowledge about the museum's collection and helps them place that collection within a larger art historical context.
  
  

The participants felt that these metaphors could be nicely emulated with i4i tools.

Other functionality that members would be excited to see include:

• side by side image comparison with the ability to independently scroll within a set of images,
• the ability for children to draw and add to works or take pieces of works and mix them up to create new works,
• an "overlay" feature to layer x-rays or preliminary sketches of works,
• a highlight tool to allow a lecturer to point out compositional aspects of a work or point out fine details, and
• zoom functionality.
  
  

ACTION:

• Members to provide samples of the educational metaphors (document genres) discussed.
• AMICO will provide these metaphor types to i4i and once DTDs are created, will populate them with Member content.
• Members may test i4i tools if they wish (contact Kelly to volunteer).
• AMICO will provide suggestions for tools to i4i and monitor creation and incorporation of these tools into the i4i software product.


5. Address Museum Use of The AMICO Library

   As the ideas for museum metaphors were discussed we talked about how museums were using The AMICO Library. Most members are not using The AMICO Library because they typically focus educational efforts on their own collections. The creation of associated materials is focused on members' own online databases or sites (such as the NGC's Cybermuse or the Whitney's DOCEO). To promote The AMICO Library as an educational tool for Members we need to confirm that the standard images that are in members educational products - like those slide sets or family guides - are actually contributed to The AMICO Library.
   
   We need to know more about Members Educational activities to help them understand how The AMICO Library could be useful. AMICO staff will survey all members, asking about educational resources on their web sites that could enhance AMICO Library works, presence of Fellows programs, Teacher training institutes and partner schools. We'll take the same opportunity to review other AMICO Proposals, such AMICO communications, the discussion lists, the creation of a newsletter, etc. It was thought that such a survey could uncover some nuggets for User and marketing efforts.
   
   ACTION:

   • AMICO will perform a comparative inventory of member works that are contained in member-created educational materials and are contributed to The AMICO Library. This inventory will create a want list for members' upcoming submissions. Inventory will be completed and list sent to members by Sept. 15th. Members to provide these examples to AMICO for analysis.
   • AMICO will create a member survey on marketing and educational issues. A mock-up of the survey will be out to U&U by July 15.
   • Member review and approval of the survey will be due by Aug. 1 and the survey will be sent out Aug. 3rd. Members will complete the survey by Aug. 31st.
     
     
6. Discuss desired outcomes for K-12 Testbed and methods of achievement

   The K-12 Testbed was discussed vis à vis the implications of the i4i interface and application. Committee Members expressed concern that the conversion of the Testbed to a new environment could cause some users difficulty. They felt that not having a fully Mac-compatible application was problematic as the K-12 education market is very Mac-oriented. It was noted, though, that the browser version of the i4i XML application will have at least the functionality of RLG's Eureka system.) Some conversion is required regardless of who serves as Distributor, as the RLG interface is also going to change. We need to prepare the Testbed participants, by making sure that they feel the new environment is responsive to their suggestions.
   
   Members wanted to understand from the Testbed participants what content is most important to them - "If you could access one thing, what would it be?" Also, they were curious about better understanding the technological infrastructure in these schools that are participating.
   
   They felt that a training session/workshop on the new software was essential for the Testbed group. Such a session would be useful for getting "hands on" understanding, and it would also promote solidarity and sharing amongst the group, and allow AMICO to have tangible outputs from the group at the end of training session. Members wondered if the Testbed could possibly be opened up to stand-out partner schools that they worked with. Additionally, the group liked the idea of seeking funding to allow the K-12 Testbed to grow and reach a wider audience or be the nexus to an Educational Advisory Group that met on an annual basis to create outputs, tie The AMICO Library back to curriculum standards, and help shape and evangelize AMICO Library use.
   
   ACTION:

   • AMICO will post responses to the survey of Testbed participants' technical infrastructure on the school Testbed site and direct members to it.
   • AMICO will notify K-12 Testbed participants of the software conversion, and determine when a training session could occur in August.
   • Members will provide contacts of possible teachers that they work with regularly to be part of the Testbed or some sort of Educational Advisory Group going forward.
   • AMICO will work with members' standout teachers and existing partner schools to include new Testbed participants if possible, and incorporate them into the i4i training schedule.
   • AMICO will work with i4i to develop appropriate documentation and training materials for all users, including those in the Testbed.
     
     
7. Determine continuing or new committee chair

   Since Stephanie Stebich is leaving CMA and moving to MIA, the committee felt that nominations should be made on the U&U discussion list for a new committee chair. The previous chair did nominate Melissa Phillips of the Whitney Museum of American Art to become the next committee chair.

   ACTION:

   • AMICO will suggest Melissa as Stephanie's successor to the U&U discussion list and request the Committee to decide about this by July 20.
   • Members will need to confirm the nomination or suggest other candidates.

   
   

   Top

   Summary

   General Session

   Users Session

   Committees

   Closing

   Background

Last modified on  October 10, 2001