'Users accidentally left a previous search filter active when starting a new search': ReScript querying issue 3

Page section
Search legend

Heuristic
Learnability

Description
When starting an additional search, users often forgot to click on either “Clear All”, or to clear search terms individually, before starting a new search.

Impact severity
High

Recommend
Add “Clear All” function to the search legend, plus link to edit search using the Super Search form.

Examples
Users were asked to conduct a search to find all members of Balliol College, and then to conduct a search to find all MPs.

Figure 3—1: there is no way of replacing the current search criteria

Quantitative measure

You have completed a search on Balliol College. You now want to start a new search for all records with the name “Abbott” in the Alumni Oxonienses. Where do you click first?

Actual question

You have completed a search on Balliol College. To start a new search for all records with the name "Abbott" where would you click first?

Initial click test result ('before')
September 2011: 89 responses.

Figure 3—2: Before

Development change
Historians typically create large amounts of textual content as they search, so increasing the size of the search input box and including an easy-to-find ‘Clear’ button is a natural step which will help (and hopefully prompt) users to refine their queries effectively (e.g. search for 'Balliol' in the Alumni).

Figure 3—3: A large text area is provided for users to play around with their search criteria, accompanied by a simple 'Clear' button

Follow-up click test result ('after')
November 2011: 330 responses.

Figure 3—4: After

Reflections
Clearly, the larger area covered by the search input drew the majority of users in, although some preferred the option in the page header. Some users may have been confused by the question and went straight to the first search result, entitled 'Abbott'. Fewer went for the Clear button, a simple example of personal preference which the site can support.

By this point in the analysis, it is easier to discern the amount of random clicks which the survey attracted, and use that impression as a mental filter for all of the screens in the survey.

Bruce Tate, Project Manager
Donna Baillie, Project Officer

Tales from the Parish Clerks’ Memoranda No.12: A Tale of Two Pirates

When is a pirate not a pirate? In 16th century London the distinction could mean the difference between being hailed as a hero, or swinging from the gallows at Wapping. In August 1587, Thomas Conodale found himself on the wrong end of this distinction:

30 Awgust Ano 1587: burial

Thomas Conodale beinge A Batchelor He was Borne in Glossester beinge A Sea Faringe man and executed at wappinge For pyracye the xxxth daye of Awgust in ano 1587 betwixt the ower of too and three of the clocke was Buried the Sayde xxxth Daye of awgust in ano 1587
beinge xxviij yeares owlde no parishioner For the minester ijs For the grownd in the common churche yeard xijd For the Second clothe xd For the pitt & knell ijs viijd For the clarkes atendance viijd For the Sextenes attendance iiijd he was exicuted at Waping
P69/BOT2/A/019/MS09234/001 fol 128r

How I wish the High Court of Admiralty records were digitised and available online! These contain all records of prosecutions for piracy and would be very helpful for learning more about Conodale’s circumstances. That his body was buried rather than being publicly displayed on Execution Dock indicates that he was considered a small fish. Notorious pirates were left on the gibbet until three tides had washed over them, and then their remains were often covered in tar (to slow the process of decay) and displayed hanging in chains as a warning to other seafaring men.

If you had a talent for ocean-based looting and violence but did not much fancy being hanged as a criminal, you could always join up with a captain who had been granted a Letter of Marque from the monarch. This document essentially provided a license for “privateering”, or legal piracy, and was in use in England from the 16th to the 19th centuries. As ever, when goods are being appropriated, the distinction between whether it is considered a criminal or legitimate act depends on who is doing the pilfering – and who gets the spoils. In 1587, Sir Francis Drake was England’s most successful privateer, seizing Spanish ships and goods from as far afield as the Caribbean and presenting the booty to Elizabeth I. The following excerpt from the Calendar of State Papers Relating to English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 8: 1581-1591 accessed from British History Online demonstrates just how lucrative such activities could be:

July 17. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives.

Letters from England, dated the 9th inst., announce the arrival of Drake at Plymouth. After having worked great havoc on the coast of Spain he had seized one large galleon, called the S. Lorenzo, on its way from Calicut with a cargo of spices to the value of a million of gold, and ten other ships with sugar, cotton, and various merchandise on their way from Brazil. In London there were great signs of rejoicing, and the Queen sent two gentlemen to meet Drake and to do him honour. Sugar is so cheap there that what costs five reals here is sold for half a real the pound there.

This is only one example of the riches Drake brought to Elizabeth: amazingly, he eventually seized enough goods to pay off the national debt in its entirety, for which service he was duly knighted and paid handsomely enough to be able to buy Buckland Abbey in Devon. The circumstances of his crew members were considerably less exalted, and the Parish Clerks’ Memoranda books contain many references to sailors returning from Drake’s expeditions in ill health and with little money, ending their lives in lodgings:

5 Iulye Ano 1587

Roger Gillisonn beinge a Sayler & a Stranger whose Dwellinge was in westcaple in Sealand he was Browght from Spayne in Sr Frauncis Dracke his Ships and Beinge Sicke was Lodged at the Howse of EdwardWynard a victulor Dwellinge at the Signe of the Flower de luce beinge in the libertie of east Smithfield wheare he endid his Lyfe and was Buried the vth Daye of Julye in ano 1587
P69/BOT2/A/019/MS09234/001 fol100r

Thomas Conodale and Roger Gillisonn: both minor players in the colourful 16th century saga of piracy. One ended his life “dancing the hempen jig”, the other dying among strangers far from home. Whether deemed criminal or legitimate, a pirate's life was a far cry from our romanticised notions. This would never happen to Johnny Depp…

Many thanks to St Botolph without Aldgate and London Metropolitan Archives for permission to reprint extracts from the Parish Clerks' Memoranda.

The Parish Clerks' Memoranda transcripts were prepared by the Centre for Metropolitan History team as part of their Economic and Social Research Council-funded Life in the Suburbs project (Grant Reference: RES-062-23-1260).

'There is no method for users to initiate queries using statistical tools': ReScript querying issue 2

Page section
Making Connections column

Heuristic
Learnability

Description
When the Making Connections column contained no data, i.e. when first viewing the page and before any searches had been carried out, users had no idea what it was for. Once it contained data, approximately half of the users still had no idea. When asked to perform a task that could be done either by simply reading the results in the Making Connections column, or by conducting a new search, most users conducted a new search. Users appeared to have no real understanding that Making Connections was providing results of statistical analysis.

Impact severity
Medium

Recommendation
Redesign the Making Connections function so that (1) the main search page only displays an “alert” that informs users when significant connections have been made; and (2) create a more advanced, separate “Super Connections” page which allows users to perform cross-tabulations and create graphic representations of the results.

Examples

Search for all people who died of Consumption and then find how many of these people were located in Sparrows Corner.

Figure 2—1: the statistical analysis tool, Making Connections, is regarded as an additional navigational aide

Quantitative measure

You have searched to find all people who died of Consumption. Where would you look to find how many of these people were located in Sparrows Corner?

Actual question

The results show all people who died of Consumption. Where would you look to find how many of these people were located in Sparrows Corner?

Initial click test result ('before')
September 2011: 89 responses.

Figure 2—2: Before

Development change
Historians value site search highly, so search result snippets are now followed by hyperlinks which allow further searching within these results (e.g. http://www.rescript.org/searchresult.aspx?q=con+London&b=2).

Figure 2—3: Sparrowes Corner appears in the list of links for results 1 and 4 - these links immediately re-query the search index

Follow-up click test result ('after')
November 2011: 330 responses.

Figure 2—4: After

Reflections
There is currently no stand-alone functionality to permit statistical analysis as the effect and form of the service needs further research. In order to build up an evidence base to support or reject the inclusion of such a facility, search results now feature these extra links which, while tinted and appearing in smaller text, still appear to be effective in catching people's eye. However, the prevalence of clicks on the document title rather than the string Sparrows Corner suggests further visual work is needed to make people aware of this functionality.
Many users are drawn directly to the search box (after all, they know what they are looking for) – but this method is subject to getting the right spelling in the volume, and knowing its spelling variants. Adding the hyperlinks underneath the snippet enables the system to show a short burst of the style of authorship to the user, alerting them to the fact that they may need to use multiple non-standard spelling variations for their search to be successful.
Bruce Tate, Project Manager
Donna Baillie, Project Officer

'Users do not understand the difference between querying and searching': ReScript querying issue 1

Page

Search

Heuristic

Learnability, Memorability

Description

Users found the blue circle and red triangle symbols and accompanying text confusing. Some tried to click the symbols, expecting them to be interactive. Even after learning what the symbols and text meant with reference to searching, users continued to find them confusing, and reported having to think about what they meant each time they conducted searches.

Impact severity

High

Recommend

Replace the current search legend with a breadbox with a link to a Super Search form which will pre-populate the current query.

Examples

Users were often unable to understand exactly what the two search options (blue circle and red triangle) offered, making the search process slow and clumsy.

Although both symbols were clearly distinct, users failed to associate them with the relevant action

Quantitative measure

[Using the alumni of Oxford university]: You are looking for records on Exeter College. Where would you click ?

Actual question

You are looking for all records on Magdalen College. Where would you click?

Initial click test result ('before')



September 2011, 89 responses.

Before



Development change

Redesign using the 'calendar' function, a device familiar to historians, containing links which toggle the highlighting of matches in the article. When highlighted, each match also becomes a ready-made hyperlink to the site search engine [e.g. http://www.rescript.org/article.aspx?p=1&a=14].

The new calendar function sits in the first sidebar - 4 college entries have been selected and relevant matches within the article body are highlighted accordingly

Follow-up click test result ('after')

November 2011, 330 responses.



After

Reflections

Although there were clear groupings of clicks in both the before and after screens, the redesigned screen has more which are correct (the calendar option in the first sidebar and the link at the bottom of the page). Groupings do appear over other incorrect instances in the article body (using the red herring 'Magdalen Hall' as opposed to 'College'); perhaps that might be alleviated by varying the highlight colours. As the quantity of responses varied heavily between the tests (almost 4:1 higher the second time around), it is not surprising that there were more random clicks in the second test.

Feedback from interviewees regarding our initial design, which treated XML marked-up text as a ‘database of words’, and used UNION and INTERSECT queries rather than straightforward searching, prompted a radical overhaul of our vision for the service. The new version focuses more on analysing the particular article on screen at a given moment, and utilises functions which we believe will be more intuitive for historians to use. We look forward to further feedback from users in our second tranche of interviews.

Bruce Tate, Project Manager

Donna Baillie, Project Officer

Tales from the Parish Clerks’ Memoranda No.11: Beating the Bounds

The year 1587 was an interesting time for the rowdy ritual perambulation known as “beating the bounds”, in which parishioners set out en masse with large wooden sticks to confirm the boundaries of their parish. Originating as a pre-Christian practice, beating the bounds served the very practical purpose of ensuring that each successive generation of a largely illiterate community knew the boundaries of their own area, in order to make sure that no over-zealous adjacent land-owner encroached on their territory. But it also provided an excuse for a raucous day out, in which the locals, traditionally partaking of ale and bread (one suspects more of the former than the latter), would set out to impress upon the young lads of the community the extent of the region to which they owed allegiance. And when I say “impress upon”, I unfortunately mean this literally. In medieval times, the young boys were likely to be beaten with sticks, thrown over walls, or turned upside down to have their heads knocked against the actual boundary stones to make sure that they remembered where these were. Clearly, the links between trauma-induced brain damage and loss of memory had not yet been established. In Elizabeth I’s reign, the mob-like quality of these outings was toned down considerably, but there were still hazards to making the parish perambulation...

25 Maye Ano 1587

Ower preambulationn
Memerandumm that Mr Hayse ower minister wt Richard Casye the aldermans Depuetie and Sertenn otheres of the Auntientes of this ower parishe of St Buttolphes extra Algate Londonn Ded go the Surcute of the Sayde parishe the xxvth Daye of maye in ano 1587 In Maner and Forme Followinge at the Whiche tyme theie ded Beginn there Surcute Fromm the churche & So thorowe the churche yearde and thorowe Mris Shingwelles howse Beinge Builte of part of the churcheyeard And fromm thence theye Went to Whightchappell Barres retorninge from thence to Sparrowes corner and So went downe Hogg Lane and So went thorowe the Well close and from thence theye went or ded go Downe Nyghtingeale Lane and to to the midle of the mill theare where the 100 psalme was Songe and mr Hayes Havinge Read ann Epistell wt a gospell and havinge also prayed for the Longe preservationn of the Queenes Moste exilent Matie we ded go from thence thorowe St Katherynes and So a longe By the Iorene gate of the tower up towardes the pownde and there kepinge the Queenes Maties Highe waye towardes the postarne we weare there mett By onne Jhon Phillips the under porter of the tower beinge Accommpaned Withe three warderes of the tower the wch three Warderes had there halbardes and there neckes and the Sayde Jhon phillips Demanded of the minester wt the rest whether theye Weare goinge that waye the wch minester wt the rest Aunswered that accordinge to the Queenes Maties Lawse and Awnsient costom they Weare goinge towardes the posterne where theye Ded meane to Reade a gospell accordinge as they Weare Wonte to do unto whom the Sayd Jhon Phillips And the rest with him Sayde that the liefe tenaunnt had commanded the contrarye Wherefore he chardged the Whole companye in the Queenes Maties name not to comm any nearer that waye for if that theye Ded comme anye Nearer that it Showld be upon there owne parcell, But willed them to go up towardes the crosse Whiche thinge the minester withe the rest accompaninge hem Ded Did, and at the Sayde crosse the 117 psalme beinge Sonnge and a gospell red the Minister wt the rest of the parishioneres Ded go a longe towardes algate and So from thence theye Ded go to the mother Jacksons howse in Hownsdiche and a part of the 103 psalme beinge Songe and A gospell Read the Sayde minester ded go From thence into the churche wheare the Lettanye wt the Soffrages beinge Redd the minester and the parsihioneres Ded depart in peace et ces

P69/BOT2/A/019/MS09234/001 fol 78v

I can’t help feeling sorry for poor Mrs Shingwelle who had to put up with all and sundry tramping through her house! But why did the parishioners have such a difficult time when they reached the postern gate of the Tower of London? The ever-obliging Mark Merry explains: “The reason the parishioners/parish officers were turned away from the Tower – somewhat ostentatiously on occasion! – was that the Tower was a (Peculiar) Liberty free from the jurisdiction of both the City corporation and the normal parish/Church administrative system. As with all the Liberties they were constantly being pressed into defending their privileges and freedoms in the face of encroachment from the City/ parishes, and so met the perambulators of Aldgate on their annual stroll to make the point ceremoniously and symbolically that they had no claim on the Tower.”

Well, thank goodness we no longer have disputes between the Corporation, the Church, and the good people of London about the proper use of public space in the City…

Today, the bounds of Portsoken Ward, in which St Botolphs without Aldgate is located, are still ceremoniously marked every year – as are those of the Tower of London – although I am happy to report that instead of beating the children with sticks, the children instead now use the sticks to beat the boundary markers. This is a very colourful ceremony as can be seen in these excellent photos from the 2010 beating of the bounds of Portsoken Ward.

Many thanks to St Botolph without Aldgate and London Metropolitan Archives for permission to reprint extracts from the Parish Clerks' Memoranda.

The Parish Clerks' Memoranda transcripts were prepared by the Centre for Metropolitan History team as part of their Economic and Social Research Council-funded Life in the Suburbs project (Grant Reference: RES-062-23-1260; http://www.history.ac.uk/projects/life-in-the-suburbs).