From Paper to Pixels: A Usability Study of a Tsunami Safety E-Booklet

Abstract

More people have died in Hawai‘i from tsunamis than from hurricanes, floods, and volcanoes combined, making it our State’s most deadly natural hazard. For tsunami education to be effective, especially in younger audiences, learners must be engaged through multiple modalities. To help meet this need, a printed tsunami safety booklet has been modernized to an e-booklet format. Using a turtle superhero as a guide, the Hawaii tsunami safety e-booklet (http://bit.ly/tsunamilayout) helps educate 3rd through 5th grade students about tsunami hazards, preparedness, evacuation, warning, and risk. A research study was designed to evaluate the content, effectiveness, and user satisfaction of the interactive e-booklet through iterative usability testing. Two rounds of testing were conducted face-to-face and through Google Hangouts on Air where participants “thought out loud” as they explored the e-booklet content. Additional feedback was captured asynchronously through a survey link on each page of the e-booklet. A post-study captured additional attitudinal data. Changes were made to portions of the e-booklet focusing on the participants’ recommendations which included immediate audio and visual feedback, increased control over multimedia, personalization, and gamification. Feedback from the second round of usability testing indicated that improvements made to the e-booklet augmented the overall user experience.