Digitizing Dunhuang Cultural Heritage: A User Evaluation of Mogao Cave Panorama Digital Library
Article Category: Research Paper
Publicado en línea: 22 ago 2017
Páginas: 49 - 67
Recibido: 10 may 2017
Aceptado: 25 jun 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jdis-2017-0014
Palabras clave
© 2017 Xiao Hu, Eric M. Y. Ho & Chen Qiao
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.
Purpose
This study is a user evaluation on the usability of the Mogao Cave Panorama Digital Library (DL), aiming to measure its effectiveness from the users’ perspective and to propose suggestions for improvement.
Design/methodology/approach
Usability tests were conducted based on a framework of evaluation criteria and a set of information seeking tasks designed for the Dunhuang cultural heritage, and interviews were conducted for soliciting in-depth opinions from participants.
Findings
The results of the usability tests indicate that the DL was more efficient in supporting simple information seeking tasks than those of higher-complexity levels. Statistical tests reveal that there were correlations among dimensions of usability criteria and user effectiveness measures. Moreover, interview discourses exposed specific usability issues of the DL.
Research limitations
This research is based on a relatively small sample size, resulting in a limited representativeness of user diversity. A larger sample size is needed for a systematic cross group comparison.
Practical implications
This study evaluated the usability of the Mogao Cave Panorama DL and proposed suggestions for its improvement for better experience. The results also provide a reference to other cultural heritage DLs with panorama functions.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first evaluating cultural heritage DLs from the perspective of user experience. It provides methodological references for relevant studies: the evaluation framework, the designed information seeking tasks, and the interview questions can be adopted or adapted in evaluating other visually centric DLs of cultural heritage.