Summary
MIT Media Lab’s Media Cloud is an open source platform for studying media ecosystems. The platform provides tools that allow researchers to track how stories and ideas spread through media by aggregating, analyzing, and visualizing information to answer complex quantitative and qualitative questions about the content of online media. I conducted a comparative analysis of existing solutions to integrate with the multi-dimensional search filtering of Media Cloud Explorer.
Role: UX Researcher
METHODS: Competitive analysis and heuristic evaluation
DATE: 2018 (2 WEEKS)
TYPE: open data platform
COMPANY: MIT MEdia lab/Media Cloud
Problem:
Identifying UI solutions for multi-filtering by the following criteria:
Country of Publication:
* The country a media source is published in ~200 options
State of Publication:
* The state a media source is published in only appears as a filter option if country-of-publication is selected- a few dozen options (depending on which country-of-publication is selected)
Primary Language:
* The main language a source writes in a few dozen options
Media Type:
* The type of media source this is ("print native", "broadcast", etc) only 5 options
Country of Focus:
* The primary country a source writes about ~200 options
Solution approach:
Competitive research of design solutions for meta-data filtering
Bestbuy provides interactive filtering for exploratory users
Yelp after entering a restaurant search
The New England Journal of Medicine search options.
Priceline Searching for bundled deals after submitting destination and dates of travel.
Airbnb initial landing page
Deliverable recommendations:
Narrowed down my recommendation to three interfaces: Airbnb, yelp and priceline.
Interactive autocomplete search box. Autosuggestions reduce data input, speeds up data entry process, and cues the user to construct the query.
As the user enters his initial search, the platforms curates sub-filters customized to user’s search details. I can see how that is applicable to the State of publications in media cloud, which only appears as a filter if country of publication is selected.
Include a “fixed or sticky” navigation menu locked into place, that is always visible for the user as they scrolls down the long list of results. As seen in priceline and airbnb.
The mega menus that are found in yelp and Airbnb are going to be useful especially when listing ‘country of publication’ and ‘country focus’ for media cloud. Dividing the long list into groups (e.g. Airbnb under “More Filters”) might make the experience easier to endure.
Truncating long lists by hiding under “More…”
Horizontal display of selected filters in use, in pillbox patterns is helpful too if the user can deselect them individually without going back to previous page. This is useful for users who are familiar with the content of the list.
Search results opening up in in a different window, allowing the user to save the results without disrupting his filters.
Reflections:
Competitive research is very valuable as a first step before designers start sketching. UX designers can learn a lot about what the market has to offer before beginning the product design.
Studying the landscape of indirect competitors through different frameworks not only improves one’s design decisions but also helps you deliver a better product solution.