October 1, 2008

Clicklaw: An updateThe project formerly known as the PLEI Portal

Clicklaw Update

Overview• Project recap

– Who, why, what, how • Wireframe prototype

– Key learning points from user testing– Tour of wireframe prototype

• Clicklaw– Selecting the name for the PLEI Portal

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: Who• Project sponsored by the

PLEI Working GroupCore PLEI Working Group Organizations in BC that provide or support public legal education and information as a core activity:

•BC Courthouse Library Society •Law Courts Education Society of BC•Law Foundation of BC•Legal Services Society •Ministry of Attorney General of BC •People’s Law School •PovNet

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: Who• Project sponsored by the

PLEI Working Group• On behalf of the

PLEI Network

PLEI NetworkBroader network of organizations in BC that provide or support PLEI:

•BC Courthouse Library Society •Law Courts Education Society of BC •Law Foundation of BC•Legal Services Society •Ministry of Attorney General of BC •People’s Law School •PovNet•Canadian Bar Association (BC Branch) •Law Centre (University of Victoria Clinical Law

Program) •Ministry of Public Safety & Solicitor General

BC •SFU Centre for Education, Law and Society •UBC Law Students’ Legal Advice Program

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: Who• Project sponsored by the

PLEI Working Group• On behalf of the

PLEI Network• With 12 more

organizations formally participating

Also formally participating•BC Centre for Elder Advocacy Support •BC Civil Liberties Association •BC Coalition of People with Disabilities •BC Freedom of Information and Privacy

Association •BC Law Institute •BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre •Community Legal Assistance Society •MOSAIC •Pro Bono Law of BC •TRAC Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre •West Coast Environmental Law •West Coast Legal Education and Action

Fund (LEAF)

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: Who• Led by the BC Courthouse

Library • Funded by the Law

Foundation of BC• Building on several years of

collaboration by the PLEI Network in producing the PLEI Resource Catalogue 2006/2007 edition of

catalogue includes 200+ resources from

22 organizations in BC

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: Why?• Information seeking habits are changing: the

Internet is where many now start their info seeking – Online health searches have doubled since 2001 (Center

for Studying Health System Change)– 95% of consumers with a legal need researched general

info on their legal situation, 84% of those online (Thomson FindLaw survey on legal needs of consumers)

– legal aid clients are increasingly onlineType of client Home computer

With Internet

Use legal aid websites

Family duty counsel clients

81% 77% 26%

Representation clients 63% 52% 7%(Legal Services Society Client Services Survey, 2007)

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: Why?• Internet info seeking is now on par with or

exceeds traditional sources: – Family & friends // Books & libraries // Local bar

associations• But there are problems with online information

seeking– Accuracy & reliability of information on the Internet

varies widely– Search engines tend to turn up commercial resources

more than non-commercial resources– To effectively find things, people need to know what

search terms to use• Problems the Clicklaw project is trying to solve…

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: WhatTo provide equitable access to quality legal information, education and help for British Columbians

Everyone has a right to know the law. To do so:• empowers individuals & communities to make informed decisions• increases understanding of the justice system• enables active participation in a democratic society

•Members of public in BC with a legal issue/interacting with the system

•Legal service providers •Educators & students engaged in law-related learning

Clicklaw Mission

Principles

Audiences

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: What

Offering a unified point of entry online, Clicklaw will represent a trustworthy, guided route taking British Columbians to relevant legal information, education and help

Project Vision

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: Whatpor∙tal noun

1. door, entrance; especially: a grand or imposing one…5. a site serving as a guide or point of entry to the World Wide Web and usually including a search engine or a collection of links to other sites arranged especially by topic- Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2008

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: WhatClicklaw is a portal, meaning it is:

– a site that serves as a guide or point of entry – to content that resides on other sites– these sites are those of participating

organizations as well as others – the linked content is legal information,

education & services aimed at the public in British Columbia

– the site will include a search engine and also be arranged by topic

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: HowNov-Dec 2007 Project formation and planningJan-Apr 2008 User needs and requirements

gatheringMay-August 2008

Prototyping and user testing

Sept-Oct 2008 Technology & admin requirements Nov 2008-Mar 2009

Building, testing & adding content

Apr 2009 Formal launch of Clicklaw2009… Refine and extend…

Dec 2008: limited beta release (sneak peek)

Mar 2009: full beta release

Apr 2009: launch

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: HowNov-Dec 2007 Project formation and planningJan-Apr 2008 User needs and requirements

gatheringWe conducted surveys

•on the Electronic Law Library and LawLINK websites (two portal sites)•over 200 responses

And did website visitor & user profiling research •visitor analysis on 14 websites from PLEI Network•information about user groups from 9 PLEI Network organizations

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: How• Key learning points from user research:

– Over half of survey respondents were visiting those sites for the first time (54%) Clicklaw has to be intuitive enough for a first-time user to find their way around

– 75% of survey respondents wanted to be able to point and click on a map of BC to find organizations and services (e.g. Google maps) Clicklaw HelpMap was born

– The website visitor analysis revealed two things: • collectively, we aren’t always talking the same

language: visits, page views, hits, etc. The project’s Google Analytics implementation offer was born

• that the PLEI referral network is alive and well online

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: How• We now knew more about the broad audiences for

the site– members of the public in BC interacting with the justice

system– legal service providers – educators & students engaged in law-related learning

• But still so much diversity, complexity– to make the site simple for our users, we wanted to make

our audiences more real– we developed six user personas to serve as our virtual

focus group

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: How“A persona is a user archetype you can use to help guide decisions about product features, navigation, interactions, and even visual design. By designing for the archetype – whose goals and behaviour patterns are well understood – you can satisfy the broader group of people represented by that archetype.”

-- Kim Goodwin, Cooper (a design firm)

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: HowOur six personas

• the help seeker: Chelsea Campbell

• the independent problem solver: Rani Singh

• the info seeker: Timothy Lee

• the helper: Sarah Duncan

• the educator: Jorge Lamas

• the learner: Matthew Gilmore

Clicklaw Update

Personal Profile• 61 year-old South Asian woman• Married with two adult children• Lives in Kamloops• Has been in Canada 25 years• Punjabi speaker, with fair English • Formerly a homecare worker, but

failing eyesight forced her to quit working last year

• Husband is retired, Punjabi speaker with little English

• Computer at home but she doesn’t use it unless son is there to help her; uses computer occasionally at public library, where staff are very helpful

• Unfamiliar with InternetPersonal Context• Very organized, organizes everything

for the whole family• Some familiarity with legal system

through her daughter’s divorce • First time on Portal; might be a

regular user while working through situation

ScenarioRani’s 86-year-old mother died of Alzheimer’s, leaving no will. Her father died four years earlier, leaving everything to Rani’s mother. After years of care home costs, the estate is worth less than $20,000. Rani heard from a friend that given the modest estate, Rani may want to apply her organizational skills to handle the estate herself. Rani goes to the public library, looking for information on the steps to take and how to. Wanting to be thorough, Rani asks the librarian for help, who suggests the book BC Probate Kit as well as the Portal. With the librarian’s help, Rani searches. She has trouble reading the screen, so maximizes the display font. She learns that the local courthouse library has procedural manuals that lawyers use. She notes the location and hours. Following a pathway to related information, she sees there is a class upcoming in her community on estates law.Rani is also interested in summary information in Punjabi to print off for her husband and his relatives. She links from the Portal to multilingolegal.ca, where she finds and prints the Punjabi version of a Dial-a-Law script on point.

Key Differentiators• Wants to find out how to resolve her

legal problem by herself

Goals & Triggers• Goal: to get her legal problem fully

dealt with; she hates loose ends• Goal: to find all the information on her

problem, including the procedure and how to

• Trigger: librarian at local public library suggests the Portal as a good place for forms and how to information

Tasks (I want to…)• Find legal procedures and how to• Find forms• Find definitions of legal terms• Find info in languages other than

English • Find out about law-related classes in

the community• Return to a page to continue process in

future sitting• Print documents/forms to read/fill out

offline

Rani Singh“It’s up to me to get us through this, but I’m not sure how to go about it.”

the independent problem solver

2

For example, the independent problem solver is self-reliant, but may have some characteristics that affect their capacityBut who, by necessity or preference, is looking to resolve their legal problem by themselvesRani was given a scenario and tasks she would be likely to do on the site

Clicklaw Update

Project recap: HowNov-Dec 2007 Project formation and planningJan-Apr 2008 User needs and requirements

gatheringMay-August 2008

Prototyping and user testingWe then mapped out the site’s information architecture

•Blueprint for how information on the site will be organized

And developed a wireframe prototype•barebones version of key areas of the site•no visual design applied•clickable, but not a full web experience

And did user testing•brought testers in one at a time to test the wireframe prototype

Clicklaw Update

The prototype: User testingHow we did it

– recruited 14 test users, looking for characteristics from our user personas

– one-on-one sessions at a testing lab set up at Courthouse Library

– asked users to perform tasks on the wireframe prototype, using scenarios drawn from our persona work

– recorded using screen recording software & webcam

Clicklaw Update

The prototype: User testingWhat we learned• Some things in our prototype tested out particularly

well– Legal Issues as primary route in to information– terminology in Legal Issues: our PLEI taxonomy! – HelpMap for law-related services

• But many ideas we had were challenged– too many choices on the screen – the public don’t care as much about the fine distinctions as

we do “I don’t care if it’s a booklet or a fact sheet, just whether or not it’s online or I have to go somewhere to get it!”

– our “guided pathway” was complicating the experience

Clicklaw Update

The prototype: User testingWhat we changed in the revised wireframe

– Simplified the user experience reduced amount of info on screen

– Improved labels on site e.g., “Map of Services in BC” became the “HelpMap”

– Strengthened linkages between finding info and finding help e.g., “Find helpful services that deal with this issue on the HelpMap”

Clicklaw Update

The revised wireframe: A quick tour

Caution: these screens have not had visual design applied!

Clicklaw Update

Clicking on a Legal issue brings up information & education resources

Entry points on home page for four target audiences

Three primary routes in to information, education & help: by Legal Issues, the HelpMap, and Common Questions

Quick access to phone numbers for help seeker persona

Clicklaw Update

For example, clicking on Wills & Estates displays all information & education resources on this topic…

… the user can narrow their results in several ways…

Clicklaw Update

Clicking on Wills & Estates displays all information & education resources on this topic…

… the user can narrow their results in several ways…

…via the facets in the PLEI taxonomy: audience, resource type, media format, source

User can click right into a result (linking to the external resource), or see more details about an item…

Clicklaw Update

Meanwhile, if a user has landed on a detail page (from a Google search result, say), they can link to related items

On details page, description tries to strike the balance between helpful (for the user) and manageable (for contributors)

Clicklaw Update

The user can also link in to Common Questions on this topic, each of which point to resources that help answer the question…

…and link in to the HelpMap to locate organizations and services that provide help on this topic

Clicklaw Update

Common Questions don’t try to answer the question, but rather point to resources that help answer the question…

…and link to more on the overall topic

Clicklaw Update

Alternatively, a user can start their search over the HelpMap

Clicklaw Update

…and can narrow down their results by legal issue or the type of help they’re looking for

Clicklaw Update

Naming the PLEI Portal• Process

– Collaborative, consensus-building process– Karo Design led the project steering committee and

project team through a brainstorming and evaluation process

• We learned about name types– Functional & descriptive – e.g., World Wildlife

Federation– Experiential – e.g., Pathfinder– Evocative – e.g., Virgin

• We brainstormed options

Clicklaw Update

The name for the Portal• We did an evaluation exercise

– In small groups, rated candidates based on 9 criteria – e.g.

– Distinctiveness: how different is it from its competitors?– Depth: does it have multiple layers of meaning?– Magic: can this generate any word-of-mouth buzz?

• That generated a shortlist of five candidates– Did an availability check– Canvassed some of our user testers– Project steering committee voted

• We had a consensus winner…

Clicklaw Update

Clicklaw