The National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC) Is a New NOAA Facility at Stennis

SO503

Data Center Lab

Spring 2001

You are to go to this site, and answer the questions below. You will email me you answers as a WORD document, which I will consolidate and send to Andy Lomax (USNA '94) with METOC.

http://www.ncddc.noaa.gov

The National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC) is a new NOAA facility at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The mission of the NCDDC is to provide for the archive of, and access to, the long-term coastal data record.

NCDDC has put together a prototype front-end search and retrieval system and we are requesting that you test our system. This prototype system is not intended to be the final system that NCDDC will field. There is a limited set of metadata that is now accessible, and an even more limited set of data that is available via this front-end system. Our plans prior to this center becoming fully operational include accessing much more metadata including all the metadata within the FGDC clearinghouse nodes, and making a larger set of data available via the middleware.

While testing this system, please feel free to comment on all aspects of what you have available to you now, and what you would like to see available in the future. We have a set of question that we would appreciate you answering on our website. If you click on the “Questions for Beta-Testers” link, it will generate a form for you to answer and mail. Feel free to do this in parts – you do not have to complete the form to mail it off to us.

Questions:

System

1.  What type of system are you using (PC, workstation): PC

2.  What OS are do you have? Windows NT 4

3.  What Browser are you using? And what version?

Website

4.  Did you like the look and feel of the website?

5.  Was it easy to figure out how to search for data?

6.  Was it easy to find this form and use it?

Search catalog

7.  Did you have to download the runtime environment? If so, how long did it take? Would you prefer a system that did not require a download? If you had the option of no download with limited capabilities vs. download with extensive capabilities, which would you choose? What capabilities would you like to see made available (ie. Graphic displays, data manipulation, etc.)?

8.  Was the search front-end understandable?

Time of Interest

9.  Did you use this section of the search? And if so, which options? Would you like to see changes in this section? Would you like additional capabilities in this section? If so, what are they?

10.  Did you find and/or use the help available in this section? Did you understand the explanation given? Should it be changed?

Keyword

11.  Did you select a keyword for your search? Were there keywords available in your area of interest? What did you think of the list of keywords? Would you prefer to type in your own keyword?

12.  Was this section intuitive or do you think it requires some type of help information?

13.  How could this section be improved?

Map Section

14.  Was this section intuitive or do you think it requires some type of help information?

15.  Did the buttons perform the functions that you expected? Did you easily understand the functions of each of the buttons?

16.  Did you rope off an area on the map or move the view of the map?

17.  How could this section be improved?

Results page

18.  Did you get results back from your search?

19.  Was the results page easy to understand and intuitive?

20.  Were you able to easily figure out what the icons meant?

21.  Is there any other information that you would like to see on this page? If so, what is it?

22.  Is there information on this page that you see no use for? If so, what?

23.  Did you look at the metadata? If so, was there enough information to help you? Would you like to see it made available in a different manner?

24.  Did you request data using the shopping cart? If so, how many data sets and what type of data?

Additional information page

25.  Did you use more than on type of information page?

26.  Were these pages understandable?

27.  How could these pages be improved?

Shopping cart

28.  Did you understand how to use the shopping cart?

29.  Is there anything that was not intuitive and should have a help option for?

30.  Did you download data? If so, how much data was downloaded and how long did it take? Was the way it was downloaded acceptable to you? Could you read it once it arrived on your computer?

31.  How could this be improved?

Overall

32.  Did you like how the front-end operated?

33.  Are there any specific improvements/recommendations you have to make it function better?

34.  How much previous experience do you have with data browsers?

35.  How much previous experience do you have with WIPE?