Thing #37: Engaging Your Users with Polls and Surveys

Taking a cue from my colleague, Kathryn Brockmeier, who is offering a three-part online webinar series on conducting surveys, I thought it might be fun and useful to devote this month’s Thing to a review of some free web 2.0 tools that librarians can use to obtain feedback from their users.

As you’ve probably noticed, most discussions of Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 place great emphasis on the user. The following passage, excerpted from the “Library 2.0” article in Wikipedia on May 19, 2010, is a good case in point:

“With Library 2.0, library services are frequently evaluated and updated to meet the changing needs of library users. Library 2.0 also calls for libraries to encourage user participation and feedback in the development and maintenance of library services. The active and empowered library user is a significant component of Library 2.0. With information and ideas flowing in both directions – from the library to the user and from the user to the library – library services have the ability to evolve and improve on a constant and rapid basis. The user is participant, co-creator, builder and consultant – whether the product is virtual or physical.”

There are many informal ways to solicit and encourage feedback from users, especially given the social nature of many of the online tools and services we use (e.g., blogs, Facebook, Twitter). However, there are also plenty of tools designed for the express purpose of conducting surveys and polls. These are the tools we are going explore this month.

Why Conduct a Survey or Poll?

Surveys and polls are great ways to get direct user feedback on a wide variety of topics. Obviously you can use them to find out which of your current services users value most and want more of! Or to solicit feedback on past programming and suggestions for future programming! Or to learn what folks think of your web site!

You can also take a more whimsical approach by asking fun questions for the sole purpose of engaging your users. For example, if a popular book is being made in to a movie, ask visitors to your web site to submit the names of actors and actresses they’d like to see play particular characters. Or ask them to vote on which book series they’d most like to see turned in to a television series. Then, be sure to display sample results!

Surveys vs. Polls

So what is the difference between a survey and a poll? While it’s true that both are used to collect feedback from multiple respondents, there are some definite differences. Most significantly, surveys typically include multiple questions and take a longer time to complete, whereas polls often consist of a single question which can be answered in a minimal amount of time, possibly with a single mouse click.

Tools to Explore

There are numerous online survey and polling tools available on the Internet, offering a wide range of functionality at a wide range of prices. For the purposes of this exercise I will be asking you to choose one of the following three products, each of which offers basic functionality at no cost, to explore in more depth:

• SurveyMonkey – SurveyMonkey offers a free Basic plan, a Pro plan for $19.95 per month, and an Unlimited plan for an annual cost of $200. For obvious reasons we will be looking at the free Basic plan. With this plan you can create as many surveys as you’d like, but you are limited to 10 questions and 100 responses per survey.
  
  Responses can be solicited via email, a web link, or a website popup invitation. To see an example of a website popup invitation, visit my “Popup Survey” blog post. (Note: Cookie settings on users’ browsers may prevent invitations from popping up. For this reason it is always a good idea to link to your survey from your post/page! If you read through my blog post you will find a link to my survey!)
  
  To get started with SurveyMonkey, go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/ and click on “Sign Up FREE” under the “Get Started Today! Basic Plan” heading. At this point you can either create a free SurveyMonkey account, or sign in with a pre-existing Google Account.
  
  SurveyMonkey has created a series of tutorials to help you get started. If you decide to explore SurveyMonkey further, I recommend reviewing the following three tutorials:
  
  
  • How to create a survey
  • How to distribute your survey through collectors (web links, email invitations, and popup windows)
  • How to analyze survey responses (see specifically the “Viewing Survey Responses” section which covers the Basic account options of viewing the response summary, browsing responses, and showing replies to open-ended questions)
  
  When you review the various tutorials you will notice that skip logic (a process that directs respondents through different paths in the survey based on a response to a previous question) is not supported in the free Basic plan, nor are some of the more sophisticated reporting and analysis features. For a complete comparison of plan features, see the Detailed Features List.


• Twtpoll – With Twtpoll you can create an unlimited number of polls and collect an unlimited number of responses for free. You can share your polls via Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz, or email or embed them on your blog/website. You must have a Twitter account to create polls, but your responders don’t need one to respond.
  
  To create a poll, go to http://twtpoll.com/ and click on the “Create a Poll” button. The simple poll-creation form asks you to input your Twitter name, select a question type (e.g., multiple choice), enter your question (140 character limit), list answer choices, and specify a closing date. You are also asked to choose whether to allow multiple votes per IP address. After completing the form click on the “Create a Poll” button :

After you click on “Create a Poll” you will be presented with a number of options for distributing your poll.

Take a look at my Twtpoll blog post to see an example of an embedded poll, displayed with real-time results. Twtpoll results are organized in nice, presentable ways: Pie charts, bar charts, or tables. All answers are recorded anonymously.

A Twtsurvey application is also available for a one-time cost of $49. This gets you unlimited surveys, questions, and responses forever. However, you can create one free survey (unlimited questions / 100 responses) before deciding on whether to pay.


• PollDaddy – The free version of PollDaddy allows you to create unlimited surveys, polls and ratings.
  
  
  • Surveys – With a free account you can ask up to 10 questions per survey and collect 100 survey responses per month across all of your surveys. Skip logic (or conditional branching/question forking as it is called in PollDaddy) can also be applied by free account holders. To see skip logic in action, take my sample survey several times. Be sure to answer the first question differently each time!
  
  
  • Polls – You can create as many polls as you’d like with your free account. Each poll consists of a single question, and a list of possible answers. You can limit poll takers to a single answer or allow them to select multiple answers. You can also give them the option of entering their own answers. Finally, you can choose whether or not to allow voters to see the poll results, and whether or not to allow them to easily share your poll via services like Facebook and Twitter, in order to drive more traffic to it.
    
    After creating a poll, you will be presented with multiple options for embedding or linking to it. The recommended method is to copy and paste JavaScript code into your website or blog. You can also copy a link to share via email, IM, or Twitter. Finally, if you plan on posting a variety of different polls to the same location over a period of time, consider embedding the code for a poll widget. Then, all you have to do when you want to change out your poll is log in to PollDaddy and assign a different poll to the widget. I used this method to post a poll to my blog.
  
  
  • Ratings – This feature is still in beta. It allows you to create a 5-star ratings widget or a thumbs up / thumbs down ratings widget that can be posted to your website or blog. Like this.

Assignment

1. If you haven’t already done so, complete the following polls and surveys:
   
   
   • Survey of Nebraska Learns 2.0 Participants (SurveyMonkey)
   • How likely are you to purchase an eBook reader… (Twtpoll)
   • PollDaddy Survey (with branching)
   • What book should I read next? (PollDaddy Poll)
     


2. Now, using one of the services listed in “Tools,” create your own survey or poll. This survey or poll can be designed to collect serious feedback from staff or patrons, or it can be silly and lighthearted, aimed at family, friends, or fellow Nebraska Learns 2.0 participants. Post this survey/poll to your blog using one of the options provided to you by the service you used. If you find you are struggling with this step, at least include your survey/poll URL in your blog post so readers can get to it.
   


3. Finally write about your experience taking and creating surveys/polls as part of this Thing. Was it easier or harder than you thought it would be? Do you think survey and polling tools like these would be useful to your library? If so, in what ways? If not, why not?

For Those Wanting More Information (Optional):

To learn more about the theory and practice of designing, administering, and analyzing surveys, be sure to check out Kathryn Brockmeier’s three-part online webinar series on conducting surveys:

• Conducting Surveys I: Introduction and Questionnaire Design (originally broadcast 5/12/2010; recording available)
• Conducting Surveys II: Data Collection (scheduled for 6/9/2010)
• Conducting Surveys III: Analyzing Data and Reporting Methods (scheduled for 7/14/2010)

Additional Reading

• Use Online Surveys to Get the Feedback You Need
• A Few Good Online Survey Tools for Your Nonprofit

Thing #36: Flickr Revisited

This month we are going to revisit Flickr. Don’t stop reading if you already have a Flickr account or did Thing #8 Discover Flickr back in 2008. We’re going to do things a bit differently this month and give you some options that will hopefully work not only for folks new to Flickr but also long time Flickr users. Before we go any further, if you don’t know what Flickr is step through the short What is Flickr? tour.

For Thing #36 participants have three options.

Option 1: Watch the hour long WebJunction recording of Library Images: Engage, Inspire and Tell your Story. "In this entertaining and heartwarming presentation you will learn how two librarians teamed up to advocate more effectively (and boldly) while staying true to the personality of the communities, the libraries and the staff they serve. You and your library really can market your services and engage more effectively, and images, video and authenticity can be a key! Learn how you too can use images and video creatively and effectively to inspire Libraryland, engage the communities you serve boost staff morale and get more enjoyment from your job."

Option 2: Set up a Flickr account and upload 5 pictures. If you already have a Flickr account but haven’t done much with it you may also choose this option.

Option 3: You can always do Option 1 and Option 2. :)



Option 1

On March 30th Jeff Dawson from the Lester Public Library in Two Rivers WI and Michael Porter from WebJunction did a great online presentation titled Library Images: Engage, Inspire and Tell your Story. This presentation is an hour long. If you don’t have a free hour block of time to watch the video you can watch it in sections by following the instructions I’ve included below.

Note: This presentation does have audio so you will need speakers or a headset.

1. The presentation is located at: http://www.webjunction.org/marketing/articles/content/94460985
2. There are a number of resources listed on the page related to the presentation. To view the presentation click on View full Archive. A new page will open.
3. Select Playback.
4. You may be taken to an Installing… window. Selecting the Install using Java option worked well for me.
5. This should open a new window for the presentation. NOTE: You will need to wait about 50 seconds before you will hear anything. There is a clock/counter in the bottom left corner of the window.
6. If you don’t have time to watch the complete presentation in one sitting you can watch parts but it will take a bit of patience and attention to elapsed time on your part.

• If you need to stop watching the presentation for a few minutes you can use the pause button located in the bottom left corner
• To completely stop watching and exit the presentation you will want to note the time displayed in the bottom left corner of the screen. The first number tells you how many minutes you’ve already watched. The second number is the total time of the presentation. You’ll want to note the first number.
• To resume playback go through steps 1-5 again. Now you will have to have a minute or two of patience as you wait for the presentation to load. The bar at the bottom of the screen shows the progress. If the bar is green that means you’ve moved past that point either by watching it or moving forward. If the bar is blue that means the presentation has loaded. If the bar is gray that means it’s not done loading yet. Next open the Table of Contents. It’s located under View – Table of Contents. Scroll down the list until you find a time that’s close to the time you stopped. Double click on it to jump to that location in the presentation. Jeff’s part ends and Michael’s starts right around the 17:28 time point. The Q & A part starts around 38:07. Don’t skip the Q & A portion. It contains good information.

Option 1 Assignment

Write a blog post about the presentation. Here are some questions to think about.

1. What do you think about Lester Public Library’s approach to taking pictures?
2. Is there currently anyone in your community who takes photos of library and community events and publicly shares them on Flickr?
3. Would this be good PR for your library?
4. Is this something your library could do?

Option 2

For option 2 participants will need to setup a Flickr account and upload 5 items or if you already have an account but haven’t been using it now’s your chance to starting using it again. For this exercise you can use either a personal Flickr account or your library’s account.

Setting up an Account

Flickr offers both a free and pro account. The free account should work just fine as you get started with Flickr. You can learn about the limits of the free account and upgrading to a Pro account options at: http://www.flickr.com/help/limits

In order to use Flickr you will need a Yahoo! account. If you already have a Yahoo! account you can sign in to Flickr. To create an account follow the Sign Up link and complete the form.

Below I’m going to cover a number of topics that I think you should be aware of but if you have additional questions or want to learn more I’d suggest starting with the Flickr’s FAQ page. For each of the topics below I’ve also included the URL to the appropriate FAQ page.

Your Profile (FAQ: http://www.flickr.com/help/profile)

Your Profile can be accessed by clicking on the down arrow next to the word You which is located on the top navigation menu. On the right hand side of your profile page will be links to Manage your profile. The most important thing to know about your profile is that you don’t need to set one up. Providing information in your profile is optional. You may also want to Edit your profile privacy options. I would also suggest that you go into the Your Account area and quickly look at the Privacy & Permissions settings.

Uploading Photos (FAQ: http://www.flickr.com/help/photos)

There are multiple different ways you can upload photos to Flicker. Today we will use the upload option available on the Flickr website. The upload page is available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/upload/ or there is a link to it under the You dropdown menu. Follow the steps on the page to upload an image. For the assignment you will need to upload 5 photos. In the future you may want to explore some of the upload tools available at: http://www.flickr.com/tools. Don't forget you can also upload videos that are up to 90 seconds in length.

Now that you have your Flickr account set up you can easily share your photos with other sites.

• Flickr Badge: http://www.flickr.com/badge.gne
• Twitter: http://www.flickr.com/help/sharing/#953361
• Your Blog: http://www.flickr.com/help/blogging/
• Facebook: While logged on to your Flickr, click on Profile located in the upper right corner. Select the Wall tab if it's not already selected. Click on Options. It's located on the right side below the What's on your mind? box. The word Settings will now appear in the same spot. Click on it. Under Imported Stories: select Flickr and follow the directions.

Option 2 Assignment

1. Upload 5 photos to your Flickr account and provide the URL to your account.
2. If you're new to Flickr write a few sentences about your experience. If you already had a Flickr account write few sentences about why you haven't been using Flickr recently or how you intend to use it in the future.
3. In conclusion write a few sentences telling how Flickr could be used to promote your library.

Thing #35: Track your software usage with Wakoopa

Ever wonder how much you use a particular program? Does it seem like you spend all day on Word or Outlook? Or maybe you’ve got iTunes running in the background at all times. Not only is there a way to track all of the software you run, you can also track certain online applications such as Google Reader, GMail, and Hootsuite.

Let’s take it one step further. Would you be interested in knowing which programs and online services are most used on your public access computers? [Note: Before anyone freaks out on the potential privacy issues from this suggestions, I am well aware of them and what I’m suggesting will not track individual users, I promise.] Wouldn’t it be interesting to know if your patrons use GMail more than Yahoo! Mail and HotMail? Or maybe they’re using Excel all the time and not using Word much at all. Having this information available to you could influence such things as which software to purchase next or how to answer the “How do I get an e-mail address?” question.

The service that will allow you to get all this information is Wakoopa.

Note: Some of the screenshots in this lesson are more readable than others. To view the full-sized screenshot, just click on it.

Overview

Before we get into it too far, let’s take a look at my Wakoopa profile page:

Favorites:

These are the programs that' I’ve marked as my favorites and why I like them so much. In this case we’re talking about Chrome (browser), Live Mesh (cloud storage and file synchronizing), Backblack (online backup), and Boxee (media center).

Top 10 Software:

A listing of the ten programs I used the most in the past week, the past month, and the newest programs I’ve been using. This is a quick way to see how my usage has changed over time.

Messages:

Once you start using Wakoopa you’ll be able to connect with other users and send messages. At the moment I don’t have any incoming messages.

Level:

As you do different things in the system (use one program for a certain length of time or write a review for example) you’ll earn points. The more points you earn, the higher your level, and the more trusted others are likely to consider you.

About you:

Your bio, Web site, and other information you choose to make public about yourself.

Recently used:

The most recent software you’ve started up.

Awards:

Recent points you’ve earned.

Reviews:

Recent reviews you’ve written.

Contacts:

Links to your friends in the system.

Teams:

Links to any groups you belong to in the system.

Signing Up

So, let’s get you signed up. Head on over the the Wakoopa home page and click on “Sign up & start tracking!” Fill in a username, a password (twice), and your e-mail address. When done, click “Sign up”. (You may be asked to confirm your e-mail address. If so, that e-mail should arrive in your inbox shortly.) When you’re all done you’ll either already be logge in our you’ll need to head back to the home page to log in.

Once you’re up and running, click on the “Settings” link at the top of the page. There are a lot of options here but I’m just going to cover a few of the more important ones.

You should be on the General settings screen. Here you can upload an avatar (icon) for yourself, change your username and password, and fill in your profile information. Fill in as much profile information as you’re comfortable with. When it comes to the e-mail options, I highly suggest you sign up for the weekly updates as that makes it easier to track your usage by sending weekly reports to your inbox.

(Be sure to click Save at the bottom of the page to keep any changes you make.)

The other important settings screen in "Privacy”. Here you can decide whether to make your profile public, allow others to send you messages, and to set specific privacy settings on specific pieces of software.

For example, you could decide that you don’t wish to make public how much you use World of Warcraft as it really isn’t anyone’s business that you have that particular addiction ;-)

Installing the tracking software

Once you have your profile set up you’ll need to install a small program on your computer to start tracking what software you use. Head on over to the Download screen to get the software. Wakoopa supports Windows, Mac, and Linux. You’ll be presented with the version appropriate for the computer you’re currently on. Download the program and install it. (I’ll continue the instruction on Windows but the steps are similar on Mac and Linux.)

Once installed an icon will appear in your system tray. As long as this is running your being tracked. You will need to tell this program your Wakoopa username and password so it connects your usage with your account. Through this program you can pause or stop tracking at any time.

What I find particularly intriguing, is that you can install this program on multiple computers and, as long as you provide the same account information on each one, all of the usage on all of the computers will be aggregated into your account.

For example, I have it installed on at least four different computers that I use regularly. Now I can tell what I’m using regardless of which computer I’m on. In your case, consider installing this on your public access computers and find out just which programs your patrons are actually using. (Don’t worry, it doesn’t track so specifically as to be a privacy concern in my opinion.)

You could also do this for your staff computers. However, if you’re going to do it for both staff and the public, you may want to create two different accounts as I’m sure that these two groups have significantly different usage patterns.

The other thing you’ll want to do at this point is to tell Wakoopa what kinds of items to track. Look to the top of any Wakoopa screen (while logged in) and to the right of the logo you’ll see (in my screenshots) “for Windows and Web”. Click on that. You’ll get a menu of items to track: Microsoft Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, and Web. Check which ones you want tracked and click the Save button.

If you’re not clear on what “Web” means, it’s things like Google Docs, GMail, Twitter, and other online services. It’s not every Web site out there, just the “services”. I’ll admit that this is the one that makes some a little more nervous about Wakoopa. I understand your concerns and so do they, this is why you can easily decide not to have this information tracked.

Dashboard

Once the software is installed and tracking you may want to give it a good 24 hours before continuing. You can proceed now but there won’t be much for Wakoopa to report.

Your dashboard is similar to my public page that we looked at earlier. Here you’ll see notices from your contacts (you don’t have any yet), your top five software (searchable), software recommendations based on your usage and popularity in the system, and links to your neighbors (providing you gave some location information when you filled in your profile).

Here you can also find an RSS feed of the notices if you wish to subscribe to them via that method.

Reviews

Each program that has ever been tracked by a Wakoopa user has it’s own page containing information on its popularity, similar software, number of Wakoopa users, top users, new users, user reviews, problems, comments, source information, and details about how long you’ve been using it (assuming you are). I always like coming to these screens when considering installing new software on any of my computers. Several times I’ve decided to avoid a particular piece of software based on the overwhelming negative reviews from Wakoopa users. The screenshot to the right shows the page for Google Chrome.

Clicking on the Recommendations link will get you to a more detailed set of suggestions for you based on your usage. For example, Wakoopa thinks I should consider using LastPass (password keeping software), feedly (RSS reader), and Gowalla (location tracking). Though I will probably not switch to any of these programs I know that those recommendations are accurate based on my use of SplashID, Google Reader, and Foursquare respectively.

This is another page on which you can see recommended people you may wish to connect to based on your location and similar software use patterns.

Finally, head back on over to your profile page by clicking on your name and then click on the Reviews link. This will take you to the page of reviews that you’ve written. I’ll assume that you haven’t reviews any yet. (Don’t worry, that’s one of your assignments.) More importantly, you can bring up the reviews page of any other user. For example, mine is at http://wakoopa.com/msauers/reviews. If you’re interested in reading whatever reviews I write in the future you could bookmark this page, add me as a contact, or subscribe to my reviews via the RSS link in the upper-right of the page.

Reports

Ultimately, the reports I believe are the most powerful feature of Wakoopa. What’s the sense of tracking all this information if you can’t see the results?

To get to your main report head back to your page and click on Usage. Here you’ll see a complete report of every program and Web service that’s been tracked for your account ordered by the most used to the least used. This information is also divided into two categories: what you use actively, and what you run in the background.

For example, my current report states that I actively use Firefox the most often and so far have used it for a total of 1746 hours, 49 minutes, and 3 seconds. This is followed by Outlook (862+ hours), and Google Reader (264+ hours). If you know how I work in the office these are obvious as I pretty much have all three of them running on my desktop at all times while in the office.

In the background the top three are SnagIt (34263+ hours), Wakoopa Tracker (31692+ hours) and Windows Explorer (27146+ hours). These are programs, among others, that start whenever I start Windows and just sit in the background waiting to be used. When I do actually use them, that time is considered for the active column.

The other report I’ve encourage you to receive is the weekly e-mail report. This screenshot shows an example of one I’ve received.

In the e-mail report you’ll receive copies of that week’s alerts from your contacts, software recommendations, and your top ten for the past week, month, and newcomers. Basically, much of the information I’ve already shown you on the site, but in one hand weekly e-mail message.

Contacts

If you’ve used Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, or most any other social Web service, you’re already familiar with how friends/contacts work. Once you find someone you’re interested in connecting with just click the “Add username as your contact!” on their profile page. Now, whenever they do something in Wakoopa it will show up in your notices. That person will be notified that you’re now following them and they can decide if they wish to follow you back.

The list of people you follow and who follow you can be found by clicking the Contacts link on your profile page.

As with most other systems I tend to only follow people I know but there are always exceptions to that rule should I find them particularly interesting. (I promise to follow back anyone who follows me in April 2010, the initial month for this lesson. After that, just drop me a note in Wakoopa mentioning this and I’ll be sure to follow you back too.)

Teams

Teams in Wakoopa are like groups in Flickr. They allow a collection of like-minded individuals to connect their accounts and aggregate their data. For example, maybe you’re an avid promoter of open source software and want to know what others like you are using. Better yet, suppose your a librarian and want to know what software is in use by other librarians. Yes, there is a librarian team in Wakoopa.

Beyond aggregating data there is also a group messaging system. As you can see, there aren’t many members yet and we’re not all that talkative but maybe you could help us out with that.

Widgets

Lastly, if you’d like to let other non-Wakoopa members know what you’re doing you can use one of several different Wakoopa widgets.

One of them is a “badge” which you can customize and then embed into your Web site. This badge will constantly show either your most recent top ten programs, recently used software, newly used software or your Wakoopa level. (Mine would be Fanatic.)

If you’re a Facebook user you can also post this information to your Facebook account by following the directions for the Facebook widget.

Final Thoughts

I realize that since Wakoopa relies on installing a small program on your computer this lesson is a little different than ones we’ve done in the past. However, I know both that some of you are looking for a little more “techie” assignments, and that many librarians like to collect and review data.

I’ve been running Wakoopa for more than a year now and I' have learned things from the data it has collected for me. As a result I think that the data generated in a library setting, whether for staff or the public, could create some interesting results that the library could learn from.

Assignment

1. Sign up for a Wakoopa account and install the tracking software on at least one computer, if you can. (If you can install it on multiple staff or public computers all the better.)
   
2. Add me (msauers) as a contact.
   
3. Join the Librarians team.
   
4. Write a review for at least one piece of software or Web service that you use regularly.
   
5. Embed a Wakoopa widget into your blog in the sidebar of your blog or just in the post you write for this lesson. Whichever is easier for you. If you’re an avid Facebook user consider the Facebook integration option.
   
6. In your blog post share your Wakoopa username and give us your thoughts on the service. Topics could include: Did you find out anything surprising about your software usage? How about if you installed it for staff or patrons? Could you find this useful in the long run or does the whole idea just creep you out? Were there any features of Wakoopa that you found particularly interesting or useful or useless?