Observr is a tool for Observing and Analyzing activities. Originially Observr was intended for User Centered Design but in almost any senario where observation is going to happen, Observr can help.
Observr has two main sections, Observation and Analysis. With other forms of observation notation (ie: Pencil and Paper) the process of the converting the raw log to a form ready for analysis is a laborious process with little reward but with Observr that process is instantaneous.
Start using Observr
- Observation Tab
The Observation page has three panels: Activity Log, Mood Log, and Activity Label. The primary panel is the Activity Log. - Use the text box at the right to note down every action your subject takes, timestamps will be added automatically and used to determine the duration of each action
- If at any time, the subjects mood is noteworthy, simply hit tab and you will target the Mood Log entry field. After entering a mood your cursor will be taken back to the Activity Log immediately.
- In order to properly analyze the activity the log needs to be formalized by assigning labels to every log entry. Do this by first deciding what the base labels are (For example if you are observing a subject writing a research paper and there are activities, "Searching for John Clease", "Searching for Graham Chapman", "Searching for The Holy Grail" these might all be labeled simply "Web Search").
- Once you have some labels created you can start applying them to the entries in the list. Do this by click on a label to activate it, then click on any items in the Activity Log to apply the labels.
- Analysis Tab
The Analysis Tab has four areas to it. Three represent the information and the fourth is for taking notes.
In interface design there is often a give and take between productivity and intuitivity. Observr was designed to be incredibly productive so concessions were made to the inuitiveness, this resulted in a great product that when someone new sits down to use it, they dont really know what is going on.