Kennedy F.

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The internet is an exploding global space. This is because it is the only information and interaction platform that people from around the world can use simultaneously and for the same purposes. It is also the only platform where agencies create individual platforms with their own motivations, backgrounds, and context. Because of this, the internet contains a wealth of information and resources with a stipulation: people have to know how to use it. This study demonstrates how important it is for users to be able to naturally interact with written text in an online space and the ways in which changing the information available on a page can positively impact a user’s perception of their own autonomy.

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For this study, I analyzed an app interface called MATBUS, the primary mode of public transportation in Fargo, North Dakota. The MATBUS App is a public transportation app that was created to provide services to people in the Fargo area. However, the app lacks critical information to be able to provide adequate and timely information on how to use the bus in Fargo and was too glitchy to conduct proper usability testing.

In my usability study, I'll also be asking questions like: 

• How do participants from two diverse backgrounds interact with the online interface?

• Are there any differences between how these two audiences interact with the interface, and if so, what are they?

• How might the participant’s cultural background or preconceived ideas about the interface affect the type of answers or suggestions they give? 

• What type of suggestions do the participants make about the given interface, and do the suggestions differ in any way other than language and personal style?

and finally,

• In what ways can the online interface be changed or improved to enhance the specific users’ experience, the experience of the general current audience, and to draw in traffic from more people in the target audience?

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By asking specific questions to determine how people from different demographics use the website, surveying the website and organization leaders to determine how the current audience uses the website and the changes that they want to see made to the website, this study will take the results to craft results that best serve the online interface and the community involved.

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My audience for this project is people who currently live in Fargo but come from other countries. This is a demographic that uses MATBUS because many international students and New Americans do not have cars or driver's licenses. Immigrants and refugees have a disproportionate reliance on public transportation. In 2013, 32% of public transport users in the U.S. were immigrants while just representing 14% of the population (Hanna, “Movement after Migration: Immigrant’s Disproportionate Reliance on Public Transportation.) How do participants from diverse backgrounds interact with the online interface, and what suggestions do they make based on their personal experiences and backgrounds? How can an online interface be improved, and how does this proportionately affect immigrants, new Americans, international students, and people who arrived in the U.S. under five years ago? By asking specific questions to determine how people from different demographics use the website, surveying the website and organization leaders to determine how the current audience uses the website and the changes that they want to see made to the website, this study will take the results to craft results that best serve the online interface and the community involved.