User Information Artifacts

User stories

We created user stories to help define project requirements as part of the discovery process for Project Electron. They were generated from user research in the form of in-person interviews, surveys and existing literature. The user stories follow the format:

“As a [kind of user] I want to do [an action] so that [goal].”

An initial set of user stories are divided into four user groups:

• Donors and Depositors
• Researchers
• Rockefeller Archive Center Staff
• Allied Information Professionals

Additionally, a second set stories specific to archival discovery and delivery – many of which articulate pain points in current discovery and delivery environments – was generated in 2019.

All user stories are available on GitHub.

Personas

Based on the user stories, we developed thirteen user personas and a persona template. These personas help synthesize our user research, and we engage them in design and development processes as a strategy to center the people who will be using the systems. The personas are divided into three user groups:

• Donors and Depositors
• Researchers
• Information Professionals

All personas are available on GitHub.

Data modeling

Data Model

Modeling archival data is essential to building systems integrations and supporting archival discovery. Our model is based on the Portland Common Data Model (PCDM). Check out the working model overview and JSON schema validations in the RAC Schemas Repository.

Annotated Bibliography

In the early stages of the project, Project Electron team member Patrick Galligan created an annotated bibliography on data modeling, a subject that we had limited previous experience with. This has been a resource for our team, and we hope it can be useful for others in exploring the topic.