The Critical Importance of Web Usability Before, During and After a Disaster

In the past two years, Eye Street has had the opportunity to conduct user research with disaster survivors in Galveston, Atlanta, Nashville, Chicago and Raleigh.  We’ve conducted user research with disaster managers at conferences in Orlando, San Antonio, Toronto and also with those interested in disaster preparedness through multiple studies in the Washington DC area.

Eye Street will recreate the experience of these user groups using new online resources that will eventually replace the resources that they currently use.  We have them try certain tasks on these Web sites and assess whether they can complete these tasks successfully.  Also, we’ve had the opportunity to listen to their stories - to hear and better understand what they went through in order to assure that the Web sites that are being created would meet the needs of these types of audience groups in the future. 

Usability testing is a powerful experience in and of itself, for any audience group, but it becomes all the more meaningful when you realize that you can make a difference for those who are, as one survivor put it, “in that freaking out stage.” 

There is so much that this usability testing and resulting reporting has accomplished over the past two years in providing information that has led to definitive improvements, but there is so much more still to do: to create Web sites for desktop and mobile devices that have what those involved in, or are preparing for, a disaster want and need; and to let them drill down quickly and efficiently to exactly those bits of information that are critical to their preparedness, their survival and their recovery.