UA Microscopy Alliance - campus-wide user survey

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The UA Microscopy Alliance website was launched in September of 2013 as an authoritative website for information about campus core microscopes for University of Arizona researchers and to support a community of people interested in microscopy. Another goal was to present a more coordinated-looking single website that would be easier to share with external users.

The word “Alliance” was chosen because the facilities are overseen by multiple entities like the VPR’s office, centers, colleges, & departments. There is nothing “official” that governs all of these cores except that the managers/directors have chosen to be part of this alliance. There is no other website quite like this at the UA for any other type of instrumentation.

After 7 years the website is due for an overhaul. Before we get too deep in the process, we are asking for your feedback.

I am a:

Faculty member

Classified staff/Appointed Professional/University Staff

Post-doctoral fellow

Graduate student

Undergraduate

Core facility user who is not officially affiliated with the UA

Other:

Clear selection

I would describe myself as:

A user of core facility microscopes

Interested in core facility microscopes, but haven't personally used one yet

Not all that interested in microscopes, but happy to provide some feedback

Other:

Clear selection

Had you heard of, or seen the UA Microscopy Alliance website before taking this survey?

YES

Clear selection

HOME PAGE

http://microscopy.arizona.edu/
We tried to keep the home page simple, with these elements:
• Our Logo
• The menu
• Our mission statement
• A link to the COVID-19 status of the microscopy cores (added March 2020)
• A slideshow of pretty microscopy images
• Left side list of upcoming events/announcements
• Right side list of teasers from “Did You Know That?”
• Page header and footer

Is there anything that’s missing from the home page that you wish was here?

Is there anything on the home page that you think is unnecessary?

There is a contact link on the main menu (far right) and in the footer. The link goes to a web form for people to ask questions, however, it is typically only used a few times a year. Does the contact link need to be made more prominent in some way?

Contact form - apology

I recently (11/5/2020) discovered that the contact form is not working. My apologies if you have tried to use it and have not received a response from me. I've had a few instances in the past 7 years where UITS changed something and the contact form "broke". I am currently working to fix it.

Is the ability to SEARCH by categories (see the search menu button) useful?

YES - search by categories is helpful

NO - search by categories is not particularly useful

Clear selection

Would you prefer a search box on the home page?

YES - add a free text search box to the home page

NO - keep search on a separate page

Clear selection

FACILITIES, EQUIPMENT, PEOPLE

These types of pages are currently interconnected with one another through the database that runs the website. Every facility has equipment & people (core managers/directors/staff), and people are associated with equipment & facilities, etc.
• Facilities – the unit that the equipment and people are part of.
• Equipment – the microscopes/instruments.
• People – typically the experts who oversee, provide support and train users on the equipment.

Are there better, more descriptive SINGLE WORDS for facilities, equipment, or people?

FACILITY pages

http://microscopy.arizona.edu/facility/imaging-cores-marley-arl
This example page shows all the information that we typically collect about a facility.

Is there any information shown in the FACILITY example that is unnecessary? Is there any information that is missing that we should add?

EQUIPMENT pages

http://microscopy.arizona.edu/equipment/leica-sp5-ii-confocal-microscope-uacc
This example page shows all the information that we typically collect about an instrument.

Is there any information shown in the EQUIPMENT example that is unnecessary? Is there any information that is missing that we should add?

We have struggled with how to include specialty sample prep equipment and/or specific data processing software on this website. What complicates this is that some cores only have one microscope instrument and the rest of the equipment in that core is unrelated to microscopy.

Non-microscope equipment should just be listed in the Facility page's "about" section, or perhaps in the descriptive text section for the related instrument.

Create an "other equipment" list that links to the facility, but ONLY for equipment or software that is relevant to microscopy.

Create an "other equipment" list of all other equipment and/or software (in Microscopy Alliance cores)

Other:

PEOPLE pages

http://microscopy.arizona.edu/people/juliane-weber
This example page shows all the information that we typically collect about a core facility manager, director or staff person.

Is there any information shown in the PEOPLE example that is unnecessary? Is there any information that is missing that we should add?

EVENTS

We have featured over 180 events since the website went live. We have featured local events and announcements (including vendor seminars and on-site demonstrations) as well as regional and national courses. Events show up on the home page until the date has passed.
LIST OF EVENTS - http://microscopy.arizona.edu/events
EVENTS POLICY - http://microscopy.arizona.edu/events-policy

Are we missing anything? Is the RSS feed (found on the home page) necessary?

DID YOU KNOW THAT...? pages

DYKT includes tips, tools, explanations, and information about things that are not quite microscopes, but might be of use to our users. A random selection of 4 DYKT items is displayed on the Microscopy Alliance home page every time it is loaded. This keeps the front page “fresh”.

DYKT list (33 items): http://microscopy.arizona.edu/learn/didyouknowthat

Are you aware of other microscopy-related bits of informations that might be good to add to "Did You Know That...?"?

LEARN pages

The primary contributor to these pages has been Doug Cromey. Some of these pages and resources have been online for over two decades starting out at other UA web servers. http://microscopy.arizona.edu/learn

Recognizing that building resources like these (curated learning links, bibliographies, PDF handouts, etc) takes time and research, what do you wish you could find in this section?

A few final questions...

Thanks for making it this far, just a few more questions.

Our definition of a core facility: http://microscopy.arizona.edu/about

AZ Cores Network: https://azcores.ilab.agilent.com/partner_landing/17#/members

Is there any topic or information that you can think of that you would like to see on the UA Microscopy Alliance website?

Are we missing any University of Arizona microscopy cores or core facility microscopes?

The three state Universities are now sharing information about all of their cores in iLab (AZ Cores Network, see link above). Should the Microscopy Alliance expand to include cores from ASU and NAU?

Yes - include the cores from ASU and NAU

No - stick with just the UA-related cores

Clear selection

Should the UA Microscopy Alliance include some sort of "wish list" feature (something like an online discussion, questionnaire, or voting site) for visitors to suggest equipment that the campus doesn't have yet?

Yes

Clear selection

THANK YOU!

We appreciate you taking the time to fill out this questionnaire. We want this website to be responsive to your needs.

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