Usability testing as a tool for e-dictionary design: collocations as a case in point

By November 17, 2016,
Page 661-671
Author Ulrich Heid, Jan Timo Zimmermann
Title Usability testing as a tool for e-dictionary design: collocations as a case in point
Abstract We report about the application of usability tests to electronic dictionaries; our examples concern the design of dictionary interfaces that allow the user to access lexicographic data about collocations. We thus first summarize options for collocation retrieval, in terms of search criteria and types of data displayed as search results. We then present usability testing methods in general, as well as their application to electronic dictionaries, and we report about two tests, one with existing e-dictionaries, the other with custom-built mock-ups. We interpret this work as a first step towards usability design of electronic dictionaries: we suggest that new concepts for e-dictionary interfaces could be developed by rapid prototyping and tested with users before being integrated into dictionary products.
Session Dictionary use, pedagogical lexicography
Keywords electronic dictionaries, usability testing, collocations, access to lexicographic data
BibTex 
@InProceedings{ELX12-057,
	   author = {Ulrich Heid and Jan Timo Zimmermann},
	   title = {Usability testing as a tool for e-dictionary design: collocations as a case in point},
	   pages = {661--671},
	   booktitle = {Proceedings of the 15th EURALEX International Congress},
	   year = {2012},
	   month = {aug},
	   date = {7-11},
	   address = {Oslo,Norway},
	   editor = {Ruth Vatvedt Fjeld and Julie Matilde Torjusen},
	   publisher = {Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo},
	   isbn = {978-82-303-2228-4},
	}
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