An Application of Audience Analysis in Web-based Health Information System Design

Public Lecture for Students and Faculty, UW Department of Technical Communication
by Jennifer Turns
February 11, 2002

Download: PowerPoint presentation

Increasingly, people are turning to the Internet for health information. As a result, there is a need to understand the challenges and opportunities associated with web-based health information system design.

In recent work, I have been collaborating with an interdisciplinary group to explore such issues through research, design, and evaluation of one health information system--the Arthritis Source. The intent of the Arthritis Source is to help users learn about arthritis by providing them with user-centered, high quality information about arthritis-related issues.

My role has been to lead a team focused on researching the needs and characteristics of the Arthritis Source audience. Our team has used a variety of techniques to gather information covering six important audience dimensions. The results of the audience analysis provide insight into the problems identified in existing health information websites. The results also highlight design and evaluation opportunities that are available.

In my talk, I will focus on our strategy for conducting the audience analysis and the insights that have resulted. Specifically, I will
(a) describe the framework we used to define the scope of our audience analysis,
(b) discuss some data and methods we used to conduct the analysis, and
(c) identify some of the implications of this analysis for design, evaluation, and further audience research.