Needs and Expectations in a Tool for Exploring Slave Narratives: A Survey of Prospective Users

摘要

This paper focuses on the results of a two-part survey to investigate the needs of potential users of an interface for exploring historical narratives. First, the survey asked university faculty and K-12 instructors to elucidate expectations and desires for an interface facilitating textual exploration, particularly of historical narratives. Then, the survey showed participants an experimental interface and asked participants to comment on its features. The results suggest that there were distinct needs specific to each user population in addition to general desires common to both groups. Some areas to emphasize in future design improvements include: more support for collaboration; support for different modes of engagement; greater support for historic themes that are traditionally studied in relation to slave narratives; and greater customizability. The main contributions of this work are as follows. First, the needs, expectations and perspectives of university faculty and K-12 teachers may differ with regards to interfaces for textual exploration, and that it is important to tailor interfaces to support their specific needs. Second, this survey provides insight concerning how text exploration interfaces might be employed in classroom settings, and the features that would be needed to support such use.