Card sort documentation
About card sortingIn this process, the sites within the University's main Web site are written individually on index cards, then presented in random order. The cards are then physically arranged into discrete categories by teams of participants.
Card sorting at SCU, December 2006-March 2007The existing pages and subsites on the SCU Web site were pre-divided into six categories, as defined in the previous step. For each category (About, Centers and Research, Community and Campus, Academic Programs, Service and Administration, and Students), representatives were identified to participate in 13 total card sort exercises (a minimum of two per category). These pages and sites were given to the participants, who took 60-90 minutes to sort each card into relative groups that made sense to them, adding or removing cards as needed. They then each labeled the categories they had created, and any subcategories below that they had identified as necessary. The final step was to order each card in each category by importance, to determine which sites should be listed first, and then to order the main categories in importance as well. The results were recorded by the Web publishing team. Following the completion of the card sorts, the multiple results are examined by the Web publishing team, with assistance from the editorial staff of the Office of Marketing and Communications, to determine which categories and organizational scheme make the most sense. The categories are renamed if necessary, and the editorial staff provides brief descriptions and keywords for user context. |
