Using a Holistic Approach to Evaluate the Digital Humanities System for Parliamentary Information

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1HraoaPSp9pC_BFlteUR_SbiPro35WJAc&usp=drive_fs

In recent years, legislatures worldwide have promoted projects for constructing digital humanities systems for parliamentary information. However, studies have yet to perform in-depth investigations on the overall effectiveness of such systems from a user perspective. Therefore, this study used a holistic approach and chose the “Taipei in the Making,” maintained by the Taipei City Council, to evaluate its performance. Specifically, Google Analytics (GA) was used to collect statistics on website use and user participation from 2016 to 2021. A usability assessment questionnaire was distributed randomly to different user groups, including councilors, to perform a usability and satisfaction survey. The results revealed that the website’s user base grew from 2016 and peaked in 2018 but decreased precipitously after 2018, and the returning users only comprised ≈ 25% of users, indicating that user engagement could be enhanced through a strategy such as interface improvements. In addition, the results of the usability assessment among respondents revealed that the satisfaction construct had the highest score, followed by memorability and learnability constructs, indicating that the system can satisfy the respondents’ search for parliamentary information needs. In conclusion, the Taipei City Council and government departments are recommended to combine various assessment methods to devise a holistic approach to develop the system further and facilitate public use of parliamentary information.