Since ExhibitFiles will be a community-built website, it was decided early on to require a membership (it will be free) for authoring and commenting. Since our design workshop, we’ve been actively exploring how we might structure “personal profiles” within the ExhibitFiles community.Based on the comments from the design workshop and our group of advisors, we’ve outlined the following elements as part of ExhibitFiles profile:—-NameWhat I do, where I workWhat I’ve done in the past (multiple-no more than five)City, State, CountryEmailExhibitFiles password (repeat password)Website(s) (multiple-no more than three)More about me (text area)My image (upload a JPEG or PNG)Resume and/or portfolio (upload a PDF, doc, or URL)What I’ve added to ExhibitFiles (automatically populates once a user adds content to the site)Things I’ve bookmarked in ExhibitFiles (automatically populates once a user bookmarks files in the site)Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, Email Use Agreement (check box)—–The purpose of the profiles is to allow ExhibitFile members to connect with each other, but also to learn from one another. We’re hoping that the “What I’ve added to ExhibitFiles” and “Things I’ve bookmarked in ExhibitFiles” will provide additional ways to access the “records” (the content of the ExhibitFiles site).Finding a balance between enough information and too much is an ongoing challenge in planning for the site. Too much and no one will want to fill in lengthy forms, not enough and we may be leaving out valuable information.The profiles (and language used) are intentionally informal and brief. We’re hoping that ExhibitFiles users will post additional information (resumes and porfolios) and/or link to additional sources using the “Website(s)” element. We’re not looking to recreate LinkedIn (who were part of our Competitive Analysis), but rather to create profiles that have a balance between professional in and personal information.As always, if you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to post them here.

As part of the ExhibitFiles design process, we conducted a workshop at the Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley, California, June 13-14, 2006. Most of the workshop participants were exhibit developers, the primary users of the website.

We focused on potential features of the ExhibitFiles site. Card sorting, free-listing, and a lot of discussion over the two days really helped move our thinking along.

We’ve captured some of the results from this meeting in a Design Workshop Document (880K PDF). As always, your comments and questions are welcomed.

While much of the early planning was, as Wendy has already mentioned in a post, “guided by conversations with colleagues, brief surveys, and analysis of listsev records” –we also conducted what’s known as a competitive analysis.

While the ExhibitFiles site doesn’t have any “competitors,” there is much to be learned from other websites that house collections, have members, and do the things we’re looking to do online.

We looked a wide-range of sites, from AIGA Design Archives to The Getty Explore Art and the PPS Image Gallery. We also explored websites well out of our realm, since they contained features or qualities that we hope to emulate: Boxes and Arrows, flickr, Linked in, ma.gnolia, ODEO and Veer.

Exploring these sites really helped move along the design process; in particular it helped us identify in part, potential features for the ExhibitFiles site. Next week, I’ll be posting a summary of design meeting in which our core contributors looked at and evaluated these features.

Competitive Analysis PDF (1.3 meg)