We are looking for EMBL people to help with our intranet user research. By keeping a digital diary you can help us to better understand how you use digital resources in the course of your work and home life. This will help us to design things that work better for you. We are asking for this help with a view to developing a new EMBL-wide intranet over the coming years.

Download the digital diary form [PDF]

What we are hoping to learn

We want to gain insights into how you work. We are particularly interested in how you use digital resources – such as mobile apps and websites – in the course of your work and home life (we know that the two aren’t always completely separate). We are also conducting online surveys, in-person interviews and researching things like website analytics; this exercise is part of a broader effort to understand user needs and behaviours for EMBL’s websites.

What you would need to do

You will keep a paper diary over the course of 3-5 working days (preferably consecutive days). We’d like you to note roughly where you are and what you are doing when you are using a digital device for work. We’d love to know what works well for you and what doesn’t. Print out copies of the diary from the second page of the form and fill them in. Try to write a short entry every hour. Noting ‘pain points’ or things that work particularly well would be a great start.

Want to try it?

Download the form and drop us a note (contact details on the form).

Digital diary form [PDF]