The interface design leads to poor productivity
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by
kubarebo
I see an easy way of perhaps bumping up the productivity by an order of magnitude. Each time a field has moved to an extent that any eggs that might have been laid are about to exit the field, or the video is over, whichever comes first (let's call it a segment), you need to see one frame, confirm no eggs, and move on. There's absolutely no point in watching the whole wretched segment when no eggs are laid. Only when the eggs are present at the end of the segment, you need to watch it. Such an interface would immensely speed things up. Also, the video download should happen in the background.
So far, I see the interface as a huge productivity drain. It screams "let me waste your time, please". No, thank you. That's a turn-off, similar to basic UX/UI turn-offs on other zooniverse sites. Do you people not have anyone do any usability testing on this? I've just come from old weather that steadfastly refuses to use more than 30% of my screen, and forces me to squint the whole time. Cyclone Center - same thing, the image is literally 3x3 inches on a 17 inch screen. Galaxyzoo - ditto. Planetfour plainly doesn't work at all (keeps classifying same image over and over). I'm not using a mobile browser, just let me see the damn things already without a magnifying glass. Please.
The wormwatchlab seems to be in the same league. The videos are too small, too short, and the interface wastes everyone's time. Seriously? Does it have to be a let-down each and every time? Is it so hard to get right?
Posted
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by
m4ndara
in response to kubarebo's comment.
I like wormwatchlab the way it is: watching the worms moving, forming circles, all the different types of worms, the fast ones, the "lazy" ones... I find it very relaxing. Yes, it could be more productive, but then it would be less fun.
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by
aexbrown
scientist
Eggs aren't always easy to spot in single images, watching the movie is often required to confidently pick them out. I like that the approach has been kept very simple. The task is relatively easy to understand so that it can be done with minimal training. And as m4ndara says, it can be interesting to watch the videos for the sake of the worms' behaviour. People would have been unlikely to pick up all the larval worms in still images.
If you'd like to go through videos more quickly, you can click the bar at the bottom and drag your mouse to get a quick overview of the video and then go back if you see an egg being laid to mark it precisely with the z key. If you then also use the x key to go to the next video it's pretty efficient. Admittedly the scrolling doesn't work very well if you're on a slow connection.
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