2. What is Freecycle Network?
The Freecycle™ Network was established in 2003 as an email group in
Tucson, Arizona. The Freecycle™ Network has since grown into a global
concept spanning 85 countries. The goals of the organization are to keep
gently used items out of landfills and instill a sense of generosity within their
members, while limiting the items that end up in landfills all over the world.
The organization estimates it is keeping over 500 tons a day out of landfills.
The Freecycle™ market consists of environmentally conscious people who
value the idea of reusing items rather than throwing them away and
polluting global landfills. The no-strings concept also acts as a valuable way
for people to obtain items they may need, but may not have purchased
otherwise. The technical expertise of the users varies from someone with
minimal experience using web applications to the more advanced web user.

3. Homepage

4. Chicago Group Main Page

5. Signing Up

6. Signing Up

7. Searching

8. Gathering Users For Testing
• Two type of Users
• Environmentally Conscious
• Looking for inexpensive used items
• Our consist of 5 test users
• Each user answered a pre-test questioner
• The pre-test questioner consist of five questions.

9. Task
• Scenario: You are a Chicago resident, planning on moving in a few weeks and you need to gather cardboard boxes to
begin to pack your items. A friend has told you about the Freecycle.org website, where you can find free moving boxes.
You visit the Freecycle website in order to find free cardboard, moving boxes in Chicago
• Task 1:Visit the Freecycle website http://www.Freecycle.org . Once you have done so, locate the Chicago Freecycle Group
• Evaluates if the user encounters any problems with the website’s navigation.
• Task 2: Become a member of the Freecycle Website. Once you have become a member join the Chicago Freecycle Group.
• Identifies any problems the user might encounter while trying to become a memeber
• Task 3: Search for moving boxes being offered in Chicago, review any post and return to search results page.
• Determines if the position of the search button is ideal and if the returning to the list of search results was easy

10. Results
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
Found the Site
to be
Frustrating
Feltit was easy
to navigate site
Would
recommend
the site
Though website
provided
adequate
feedback
Found the Site
to be not
Effectively
Organized
Yes
No
Neutral
U1 U2 U3 U4 U5
Task 1 1:34:00 2:52:00 2:30:00 0:51:00 1:40:00
Task 2 8:45:00 3:45:00 5:54:00 6:02:00 5:00:00
Task 3 8:58:00 9:12:00 1:12:00 3:25:00 9:00:00
General Results – Post-Test Questionnaire
0:00:00
1:12:00
2:24:00
3:36:00
4:48:00
6:00:00
7:12:00
8:24:00
9:36:00
10:48:00
Task 1 Task 2 Task 3
U1
U2
U3
U4
U5
Time on Task

11. Our Findings
Source of Error Recommendations
How to search for a group is not clearly
communicated to users searching for a
group.
Make the search groups field more
prominent.
Upon signing up for new membership,
the user has to log in again to start using
the application. The user is unaware
they have signed up successfully.
Upon registration, provide feedback that
the registration was completed
successfully and automatically log users
into the site.
How to join groups, view groups, and
general use of the application are not
clearly communicated to users who log
in for the first time.
Create a “My Account” page that
prominently displays groups users
belong to as well as a leaderboard
outlining next action items such as Add
Groups or Create Post.
Options in the search filter interface are
not clearly communicated to users
conducting a search query.
Redesign the search form.
Returning to search results is not clearly
communicated to users viewing a post.
Include a return to search results link
that automatically resubmits the search
query.

12. Our Recommendation
The current process to sign
up a user to search posts
requires 19 steps
Our recommendation require 6 steps

13. Homepage - After

14. Sign up- After

15. Search -After