University of Leeds Pilot - uol-library/spacefinder-ui GitHub Wiki

The intention of the pilot is to understand how students use the application and get feedback to inform any future development, with a view to rolling out the service in September 2022. The pilot will start on June 6th, 2022.

Cookies

One of the consequences of running the pilot affects the use of cookies for collecting anonymous usage data for the application. Normally, the use of these cookies would adopt an opt-in strategy, where users would need to give consent before they can be used. For the pilot, an opt-out strategy will be used instead, with a warning on the cookie consent page that the application is in a pilot stage and the collection of this data is important. However, users will still be able to opt out of all cookies to comply with legislation. In a production environment, all cookies would be opt-in.

Analytics

Google Analytics will be used to measure the following:

  • Page impressions / usage
  • Interactions with filtering, geolocation and search tools
  • Selections of space data arising from map clicks and list clicks
  • Use of links to external sites within the application

User survey

When users have been on the site for 30 seconds, they will be presented with a link to a form to rate the usability, speed, quality of information and their overall experience. They will also be asked for any feedback or suggestions on how the site can be improved.

Implementation

During the pilot, the site will run in GitHub using GitHub Pages (powered by jekyll). Beyond the pilot, the site could be hosted on an alternative platform by using a GitHub Action to publish the site to a different target.

Outcomes

The main purpose of the pilot is to find out:

  • what the appetite is among students for a mapping application which locates study spaces on campus.
  • how sudents use it: what features they use, and with what frequency they interact with Spacefinder.
  • what additional features could be considered in light of user feedback

The University of Leeds already has a mapping application (the campus map) which includes:

  • Cafés
  • Cultural venues
  • IT Clusters
  • Sports Centres
  • Baby changing facilities
  • Student Accomodation
  • Libraries
  • Prayer rooms
  • Disabled toilets
  • Disabled access points
  • Defibrillators
  • Public Art
  • Walks / paths (accessible route and biodiversity walk)

The map also includes details of all the major buildings and faculty offices on campus.

While the current campus map has a broad focus when compared to Spacefinder (whose focus is primarily on study spaces), there may be an opportunity - if Spacefinder proves successful - to use the Spacefinder application as a replacement, or to broaden the focus of Spacefinder to include more diverse information from the campus map.