Building on our long history of user focus in the development of our data access and discovery service, resources and supporting information, the UK Data Service is developing a new User Experience Programme.
We aim to ensure that we are maximising our information about user needs in developing and improving our products and services, launching projects to improve current and future data discovery and access platforms as well as focusing on refreshing our website.
The first project looked at developing our data catalogue, so that users can more easily navigate to the data most useful to them. Plans are also underway for discovery and access features for a platform which aims to unify access to the data, improve variable-level access and provide new opportunities for microdata linkage. We have been collecting information on user needs to inform the design of these systems so that they work best for users. Two primary activities have been conducted, a survey of nearly 1,000 current and potential UK Data Service users as well as interviews with data users. This research has given us a rich set of data which we will be analysing to ensure our systems evolve to meet user defined needs for data access.
The second project looked at refreshing the UK Data Service website. Working with user experience experts Magnetic North (mN), we undertook preliminary interviews with users to enable us to identify and begin work on structuring current and future content for the site. We have developed personas of our users to help us understand their needs for access to our resources from their perspective, a content development strategy and set of new navigation levels to help make our data access and discovery service, resources and supporting information easier to navigate and find, and to help us simplify the wealth of resources and support we make available.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to participate in these efforts, and stay tuned for more information on the results and how our systems will evolve.