The National Academies Press

Currently Skimming:

Pages 5-20

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.

From page 5... ... 5 User-centered design is distinguished by a core focus on a user's needs and experiences with a tool. In a user-centered design process, the process cannot start with the final output predetermined. Read the entire page →
From page 6... ... 6 Tools for a Sustainable Transit Agency Figure 1. Process for identifying needs and proposing tools. Read the entire page →
From page 7... ... User-Centered Design Process 7 Interview Findings From the interviews, researchers found the following: • Sustainability programs are in different stages of development. Some transit agencies have done more than others, but no one interviewed felt like their transit agency had sustainability completely figured out. Read the entire page →
From page 8... ... 8 Tools for a Sustainable Transit Agency Governance 3. Integrating sustainability into governance 4. Read the entire page →
From page 9... ... User-Centered Design Process 9 Tool idea What is it? Topic area General need Green bus fleet tool Spreadsheet-based tool to quantify costs and benefits of different vehicle options Costs and benefits of specific sustainability decisions Quantification Criteria for budget prioritization List of criteria and questions to incorporate into budgeting mechanisms ROI and budgeting for sustainability strategies "Greening the system" vs. Read the entire page →
From page 10... ... 10 Tools for a Sustainable Transit Agency Figure 3. Examples of the graphics that team members created to represent first iteration tools. Read the entire page →
From page 11... ... User-Centered Design Process 11 • Step 2: In a workshop format, team members explained and discussed each first iteration tool idea. Conversations generated important questions and critical uncertainties about the value of each tool. Read the entire page →
From page 12... ... 12 Tools for a Sustainable Transit Agency Selection of Tools: Panel Meeting and Workshop At a meeting with the project panel, a group of transit agency experts was selected to guide the project, and the project team presented the second iteration tool concepts, along with the first iteration tool concepts. Discussion and workshop exercises helped to refine the tool concepts presented. Read the entire page →
From page 13... ... User-Centered Design Process 13 Participants' feedback on prototypes confirmed the following: • The Change Management Organizing Framework, organized by principles such as accountability and integration, was preferred as the dominant user-facing organizational framework for the tool. • The Transit Agency User Organizing Framework, organized by typical departments and functions within a transit agency, was preferred as a secondary organizational framework within the tool. Read the entire page →
From page 14... ... 14 Tools for a Sustainable Transit Agency areas targeted for development of new information and guidance by the project team. Using input already received from the panel and from other potential users in previous tasks, along with the project team's professional knowledge, a priority list of content to be researched and included in the tool was developed. Read the entire page →
From page 15... ... User-Centered Design Process 15 Figure 5. (Continued) Read the entire page →
From page 16... ... 16 Tools for a Sustainable Transit Agency this task was not to produce a final version of the tool, but to produce a version that can be used to gather feedback from user testers in the following step. Step 3: User Testing The team then tested draft versions of the tool with interested transit agency staff drawn from the panel and from the user focus group that was assembled for this project. Read the entire page →
From page 17... ... User-Centered Design Process 17 • Familiarizing the APTA Workshop attendees with the tools before their release would help to spread the word about the tools. In a 3.5 hour roundtable workshop format, the team introduced both tools and gave attendees time to test them on a computer and discuss in small group formats. Read the entire page →
From page 18... ... 18 Tools for a Sustainable Transit Agency To begin, the team asked participants to fill in the blank: "My agency needs to do ___________ to improve on sustainability." Participants were then challenged to search the Sustainability Routemap for material that would help answer their questions. While participants worked with the tool, project team members floated from table to table to answer questions and stimulate discussion. Read the entire page →
From page 19... ... User-Centered Design Process 19 the team realized that the tool is best directed to an audience of sustainability managers. The content of the tool is oriented toward program development much more than addressing technical issues. Read the entire page →
From page 20... ... 20 Tools for a Sustainable Transit Agency For example: • Some users thought "lifetime of project" referred to the length of time that the project was in development, whereas the team intended it to mean the lifetime of the asset itself. • Most users did not know whether or what to input in the "initial costs" section. Read the entire page →

From page 5...

... 5 User-centered design is distinguished by a core focus on a user's needs and experiences with a tool. In a user-centered design process, the process cannot start with the final output predetermined.