CUTGroup Presentation for Social Enterprise Class at Northwestern University

The CUTGroup
Daniel X. O’Neil
Sonja Marziano
Social Enterprise Class
Northwestern University
February 25, 2015
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@danxoneil @smartchicago #CUTGroup

Agenda-cize
• My personal journey
• Smart Chicago
• Origins
• Components
• Tools
• Methods
• Examples
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@smartchicago #CUTGroup

My personal journey
• Web worker since June 15, 1998
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First
• I made my first civic app in 1999
• Text-based WAP systems were just
coming into general use on phones
• I tried to think of the most compelling use
case for this technology. In other words,
what can’t wait for you to get back to your
desk?
• The answer: Killer on the Loose
April 21, 2015 4@danxoneil

Most compelling wireless utility,
1999

I’ve worked with some developers

Our principles
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Access, Skills, and Data
• Access to the Internet for all
– Broadband at home
– Public computer centers and Community technology
centers
– Next generation stuff
• Skills once you’re on the Internet
– All on ramps
• Data so that there’s something worth looking at
once you’re on and know how to work it
– Apps
– Infrastructure
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Three Chicago Institutions
• The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
– A center for ideation and conception
– 2007 report, “The City that NETWorks”
– The primary source of funding
• Chicago Community Trust
– Provides housing for the organization and is fiscal agent
– At the center of funding and knowledge for the region
– Critical financial, human resources, and other support
• The City of Chicago
– The most important policy lever in the region
– Departmental relationships
– Getting things done
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CUTGroup
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• The Civic User Testing Group is a set of
regular Chicago residents who get paid to test
civic apps
– http://www.cutgroup.org/
• The CUTGroup Book: Civic User Testing
Group as a New Model for UX Testing, Digital
Skills Development, and Community
Engagement in Civic Tech
– http://www.cutgroupbook.org/

Origins
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• Stemmed from Illinois Open Tech Challenge
(IOTC)
– Very successful in recruiting tech talent
– Not so successful in recruiting residents
– My experiences
• We basically came to the thought: “If it doesn’t
work for you, it doesn’t work.”

Three Main Components
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• UX Testing
• Digital Skills
• Community
Engagement

Components: UX Testing
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• Legitimate UX testing -- the developers who
work with us get specific, actionable feedback
from relevantly situated users
• Both quantitative and qualitative info
• We’ve found glaring bugs, discovered unique
insights, and helped people plan new product
releases.
• We stray from UX test design principles,
however, in a very key way: by requiring the
developer to participate in the test.

Components: Digital Skills
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• Each test consists of a
mix of 10-20 people of
widely varying digital
skills, all learning and
teaching each other, in
the same room, out in
plain public view
• Developers are
learning how to
conduct UX tests and
to make their sites
better

Components: Community Engagement
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• Biggest surprise to us
• Conduct tests in Connect Chicago locations
– More than 250 places in Chicago where you can
use a computer for free
– http://weconnectchicago.org/
• We were surprised to see how much people
like the CUTGroup.
– Same last two questions on every CUTGroup test
form:
• “Did you like this CUTGroup test?”
• “Anything else to add?”

Components: Community Engagement
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• Diverse group of testers from different
backgrounds and neighborhoods

Tools
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Tools
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• Mailchimp: http://mailchimp.com/
– E-mail campaigns
• Wufoo forms: http://www.wufoo.com/
– Collect information
– Recruitment e-mails
– Tests
• Excel
• Patterns: software that helps collect data from
different systems; assists with segmenting

More Tools
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• Devices
– Laptops & iPads
– Encourage testers to use their own devices
– We can segment based on tester devices
• Recording equipment:
– http://www.smartchicagocollaborative.org/hardware-
and-software-for-cutgroup-and-civic-hacker-events/
• Gift cards:
– http://www.smartchicagocollaborative.org/gift-cards-for-
cutgroup/
– $5 gift card for sign up, $20 gift for a test
• Candy!

Methods: Pre-Test
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• Developer meeting
– Target testers, Type of test, Questions to ask
– What do we want to learn?
• Recruitment
– 1st e-mail campaign
– The more we ask of testers, the smarter we get about
testing!
• Segmenting
– 2nd e-mail campaign asking for time availability
• Scouting for test locations
– We want to be all over the city

Methods: During Test
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• Proctoring
– Different test types:
direct proctoring, focus
groups, remote, self-
driven/in-person
– Depends on developer
meeting and what we
want to learn from the
test
• We use Wufoo forms
to ask test questions
with or without a
proctor

Methods: Post-Test
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• Analysis
– In-depth analysis of different questions
• Publishing results for every test
• Follow Up
– Github Issues; example from CUTGroup #9:

Tests
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We have conducted 12 tests to date:
• #1 – FreedomPop Router Test
• #2 – Go2School User Application Test
• #3 – Chicago Health Atlas
• #4 – EatSafe.co
• #5 – ChicagoWorksforYou.com
• #6 – OpenStreetMap Editor
• #7 – EveryBlock iPhone App
• #8 – Waitbot App
• #9 – Foodborne Chicago
• #10 – Build it! Bronzeville
• #11 – Expunge.io
• #12 – Roll with Me

Examples: EatSafe.co
• EatSafe.co Tester #8
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGjMhz3TIkI
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Examples: OpenStreetMap
• OpenStreetMap Tester #5
– http://youtu.be/BWNZxVhV7Kk
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Foodborne Chicago
• An app that searches Twitter
for tweets related to food
poisoning and helps report
these incidents to the
Chicago Department of
Public Health
• https://www.foodbornechicag
o.org/
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@smartchicago @foodbornechi #CUTGroup

Foodborne Questions
Here is a list of questions we wanted to answer through this
test
• How do users feel about responding to a random tweet?
• Does the form require too much information?
• Would users feel better or worse if there was more
Chicago Department of Public Health or 311 visibility?
• Why might residents on the South side of Chicago not
respond as often as residents from other Chicago
neighborhoods?
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Foodborne Results
• How do users feel about responding to a
random tweet?
- Twitter is used as a private communications
network for the majority of our testers.
- Twitter handle & logo helps
- Tweets should have three elements:
compassion, question, and an official element.
• Does the form require too much information?
- Surprised that form wasn’t too long per testers
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Foodborne Results
• Would users feel better or worse if there was more
Chicago Department of Public Health or 311 visibility?
- Wanted stronger connection to City of Chicago
• Why do residents on the South side of Chicago not
respond as often as residents from other Chicago
neighborhoods?
- Twitter users see Twitter as a way to connect with
people they know, or are within in their circles
whether that be their friends, their work, or their
community.
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Improvements
• Change the Tweet
• URL Update
• Be more Official
• More about Process
• Being part of more Networks
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The CUTGroup Book
http://www.cutgroupbook.org
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Be a Tester!
• Are you a Chicago Resident?
• Interested in testing?
• Sign Up Here  http://www.cutgroup.org/
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Sign up to test yer stuff!
• Are you a developer?
• Want to do this?
• Sign Up Here 
http://www.cutgroup.org/developers.html
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So ya thanks
• @SmartChicago
• @DanXONeil
• @SmartChgoKyla
• @SSMarziano
• www.SmartChicagoCollaborative.org
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CUTGroup Presentation for Social Enterprise Class at Northwestern University

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