Bonnie Expunge Assist Review (for PM/Org Meeting)

[amejiamesinas]

Overview

During our monthly PM/Org meeting, Bonnie will conduct a recorded review of our Expunge Assist Site and Letter Generator.

In July 2023 Bonnie provided EA team a recorded review of the landing page and letter generator. Updates since last review by team

• Content: Updated all CFA/HfLA changes, Rewrote the example letters on the Landing Page to be unique and match the LG, updated the "Before you Begin Page" Instructions, Created Alt Text for relevant images
• Dev: audited and refactored site for accessibility (the site is now easily navigable using a keyboard or screen reader), published the credits page, implemented redesigned 404 page, implemented redesigned FAQ page
• Research: audited site for accessibility, completed content terminology research, developed expungement in CA huide for all teams
• Design: Designed the Credits page, 404 page, and loading page design, Adjusted illustrations on the landing page to improve readability and quality of the pictures, Redesigned the FAQ page, Added an error prevention modal at the of end of letter generator to allow user flexibility in downloading the letter or returning home and erasing data.

Action Items

• Using Zoom, Begin Recording
• Go to: https://expungeassist.org
• Please review the site (including the letter generator, about us, and FAQ page)
• Please share out load any thoughts, first impressions, concerns, or issues that need to be addressed
• Additional Questions from team:
• What is your experience/first impressions of the last modal before the user officially exits the letter generator?
• For the FAQ page, how easy is it finding information? What was your experience using the accordions?
• Upon Completion, Please Add Recording HERE

Additional Feedback

Any updates on Privacy Policy?

Resources

Upload completed to Usability Test Bonnie - June 2024

[ExperimentsInHonesty]

Missing commas, and sentences that start with the same word.

Add all the text on the site to a Google doc, and then use this Chrome extension to find all the places that commas are needed https://languagetool.org/ (it works better than Grammarly alone). This with Grammarly will also catch when multiple sentences start with the same word (e.g., "This")

[ExperimentsInHonesty]

External link indicator

Example

See example on this page https://tdm.ladot.lacity.org/about

HTML

<a href="http://www.hackforla.org" target="external">Hack for LA <svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="up-right-from-square" class="svg-inline--fa fa-up-right-from-square externalLinkIcon-0-2-196" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512"><path fill="currentColor" d="M352 0c-12.9 0-24.6 7.8-29.6 19.8s-2.2 25.7 6.9 34.9L370.7 96 201.4 265.4c-12.5 12.5-12.5 32.8 0 45.3s32.8 12.5 45.3 0L416 141.3l41.4 41.4c9.2 9.2 22.9 11.9 34.9 6.9s19.8-16.6 19.8-29.6V32c0-17.7-14.3-32-32-32H352zM80 32C35.8 32 0 67.8 0 112V432c0 44.2 35.8 80 80 80H400c44.2 0 80-35.8 80-80V320c0-17.7-14.3-32-32-32s-32 14.3-32 32V432c0 8.8-7.2 16-16 16H80c-8.8 0-16-7.2-16-16V112c0-8.8 7.2-16 16-16H192c17.7 0 32-14.3 32-32s-14.3-32-32-32H80z"></path></svg></a>

[ExperimentsInHonesty]

Add a subject line, etc. to a mailto link

info@expungeassist.org can be customized so that clicking on it in specific places gives different results. For example

HTML

‹a href="mailto:info@expungeassist.org?subject=Incorrect Information">info@expungeassist.org‹/a> with the subject: Incorrect Information

I tried to paste this into an html editor to show you what it looks like but with no success. But it does work, it just doesn't work here or any of the online tools I tried to display it on during the recording.
‹a href="mailto:info@expungeassist.org?subject=Incorrect Information">info@expungeassist.org‹/a> with the subject: Incorrect Information

[ExperimentsInHonesty]

Credits page

The author for this image

is listed as

which links to
https://www.freepik.com/author/rawpixel-com

[ExperimentsInHonesty]

Credits notes

Credit page needs to link each credit to the url where it came from
See https://www.hackforla.org/credits/ for examples

On this image

The word pencil would be linked to
https://pictogrammers.com/library/mdi/icon/pencil/

Or you could add the word source and link that, or something.

[ExperimentsInHonesty]

User stories

User Stories for the question "What have you been involved with since your conviction?"
where the user has both unemployment and employment checked

• A person who had a job and now is unemployed
• A person who was unemployed and now has a job

[ExperimentsInHonesty]

Key moments in video

I rated the concerns in order of priority. The Must change, has to be done for the MVP, all else could happen after. Could can be rejected, it's not a requirement, just a suggestion.
Concern M = Must change
Concern S = Should change
Concern C = Could change

Homepage:

Starts at 0:50

• What is Expunge Assist
  • concern S: missing commas
  • concern S: multiple use of the word this
• Committed to data safety
  • concern M: that we are giving a blanket promise. And there are applications out there that might be installed on the computer, such as a keystroke logger, and screen recorder that employers sometimes use, that would record their visit to the site and everything that they typed.
  • concern C: iPhone and image inside are both dark, the external could be lighter
• A complete letter
  • concern C: communicate that they are creating the letter
  • concern A: how we communicate that they need legal representation
    • The sentence "This is not a replacement for legal advice." can be changed to "ExpungeAssist.org is not a replacement for legal advice."
• Frequently Asked Questions
  • concern S: we use the word gun on a faq question on the first page and firearm on a different faq questions on the FAQ page, we should standardize and probably should use the word weapon
  • concern C: contradiction in the explanation if something is expunged or just updated
  • concern C: The Button Read our FAQ, might be better if it said "All FAQs" or "More FAQs" (is actually mentioned in the FAQ review part of the video)

About Us:

Starts at 9:28

• What is Expunge Assist
  • concern S: missing commas
  • concern S: multiple use of the word this
  • concern M: how we communicate that they need legal representation
    • The sentence "This is not a replacement for legal advice." can be changed to "ExpungeAssist.org is not a replacement for legal advice."
• Why Record Clearance Matters
  • concern C: 144,000 might age badly, we can fix that by adding a date or at least a plus sign
• Partner with us:
  • concern S: add free of charge to the partner with us section

FAQ

Starts at 12:35

• concern C: Formatting of the FAQ page is different from the FAQs on the homepage
• concern S: commas missing
• concern C: "it is often about one page" could be changed to "It is usually one page"
• concern S: we use the word gun on a faq question on the first page and firearm on a different faq questions on the FAQ page, we should standardize and probably should use the word weapon
• concern M: external links should let the user know where they are going by saying who the publisher is (example: Clearing Your Adult Criminal Record in California: A Step-by-Step Guide (publisher: Los Angeles County Neighborhood Legal Services
• concern M: external links need to have an external link. See the comment above External Link Indicator with details and examples
• My conviction was not in California.
  • concern S: Can I still use Expunge Assists, seems to be dissuading people from using it. Reword to communicate that they can use the letter it creates as a draft to share with their lawyer or legal aid clinic as a starting point.
  • concern S: we want to know if people outside of California are finding Expunge Assist and want to use the tool. Create an anonymous survey that they can fill out to tell us how they are using it, and what the jurisdiction is, and if there is a legal aid clinic or lawyer who has directed them to use it.
• concern C: there are several places where we encourage people to get in contact with us, we can customize those links to have default subject lines. See comment above Add a subject line, etc. to a mailto link

Privacy Policy

Starts at 36:40

• Will be replaced by org text

Terms of Service

Starts at 37:00

• Whole page
  • concern M: spacing in Terms of Use needs to match spacing on FAQ page
• The declaration letter generator
  • concern M: link to the acts and add the external link icon
• User-generated contributions
  • concern M: where did you copy this text from? This will have to go through legal.

Credits

Starts at 40:02

• concerns M: I could not find some of the icons referenced. We need accurate links
  • watch video for the details about Material UI
  • see credits notes in comment above

Welcome

Starts at 50:46

• concern C: footer could use a tiny white pixel at the top to differentiate it from the rest of the page, which is the same color as the footer.
• Before you begin
  • concern M: external links need to have an external link. See the comment above External Link Indicator with details and examples
  • concern S: add the Roadmap to Reentry link to the FAQ where the other links or under a different question if appropriate.
    Introduce yourself
  • concern C: when you get to the preview, it's not necessarily clear that if you are fine with how it looks, you should continue, for someone who is new to the app. I recommend user testing that (do people hesitate here? Does it prevent effective use of the application?)
• When you click NEXT
  • concern M: It takes the user to the next page, and then adds a modal on the top of that with a button that says "LET'S CONTINUE". But that creates this weird flash of a different screen, and then we see the modal. Instead, it should either show the modal on the current end of the section and then when you click LET'S CONTINUE it goes to the next section, or remove the modal, and integrate the content of the model into a page on the workflow. The reason why I have tagged this as a must, is because it's very disconcerting, If I were paranoid, it would make me feel as if I were being watched. It feels like a glitch in the matrix that only you see and generally seems unpolished and diminishes the professionalism of the rest of the site, which is outstanding.
• Involvement
  • Employment and Unemployment might need some work
    • concern M: Do some walk throughs where you pretend you are one of these user stories (see user stories comment above). If you can't find any problems, have me review it again as those two users specifically.
• Involvement: Employment
  • concern C: The questions What do you do at this job? and How has your role at work impacted your life for the better? seem like they should be divided into two separate questions. But you might have a reason why you have not There is another part of the form that has two questions (Why have you chosen to study this? Why does it matter to you?) but those seems like the same question, where What do you do and how has it impacted your life are totally different questions. I see another section has a similar set of questions that could be divided (What do you do at this community service organization? How has your volunteer work impacted your life for the better?). I think this is worth a discussion, but ultimately it seems like it worked. It just might be adding to the cognitive load of the person answering in a way that you don't want it to.
  • concern M: What is the person is holding down two jobs? Many people need two jobs to make ends meet. Figure out how the app would need to change to accommodate that.
• At the end of each section
  • concern M: The sentences that have been added to the app make it more likely that the letters will be perceived as formulaic. We always had some words to join things together, but it's been overly customized now. Example in Involvement: Community Service, the sentence "Serving other has been fulfilling for me".
• concern S: It's really easy for people to forget to capitalize sentences or forget periods. The software can detect if it needs to be corrected and correct it.
• Why
  • concern M: The text "Thank you for considering my case." should be in the closing for spacing reasons.
• Completed
• concern M: all the options in this section run the risk of compromising the persons privacy. There are also additional problems
  • concern M: Cownload .docx just downloaded something to the computer they are on. What if they forget to delete it.
  • concern M: Download PDF was cut off at 1 page and just downloaded something to the computer they are on. What if they forget to delete it.
  • concern M: Download .txt just downloaded something to the computer they are on. What if they forget to delete it.
  • concern M: Send Email didn't do anything for me, not sure what happens when other people use it. If it's not their computer, then it's not going to pop open their email app like it usually will on a personal computer (although that didn't work for me and I am on my personal computer)
  • concern: Copy to Clipboard - aren't we concerned that they will forget they have copied this to a clipboard and then the data is on the computer after we told them it wouldn't be.
  • What we could do is give them a set of instructions
    1. copy to clipboard
    2. In a separate browser tab, log into your email or personal Google Drive
    3. paste the letter draft into your email or a Google doc.
    4. Copy this line of text "Im Done" (now you have just replaced the the letter from your last clipped clipboard).
       • This of course is only true if there isn't a software that saves all items from clipboard (I have seen volunteers at HfLA with application that did that).
         concern M: they may have clicked the return home button without saving, the text on the button sould say something like DONE. so the text on the button on the modal needs to be more clear, see video for details.
• Return Home
  • concern M: they may have clicked the return home button (which should be changed to DONE on the completed page or something) without saving, so the modal should confirm that they have copied the letter if they need it or go back to do so.
• Introduce yourself
  • clarification of an item on the video: I asked my partner who was a Marine, and he said the language you produce for the United States Armed Forces is fine.

Test of bookmarking

Starts at 1:39:16

• concern C: If you bookmark a page from the form filling out view and paste it into another browser tab, it does not carry any other info (AWESOME)! But when you click the back button, it shows a question without the progress bar (because there is no progress). I wonder if we couldn't just make the app not show any url change on these pages. So the page would always say expungeassist.org or expungeassist.org/welcome if its in the form. The static pages on the site should retain their URLS (example: https://expungeassist.org/about-us). Or if you went to a bookmarked link and there was no saved content in the form, after this page https://expungeassist.org/form/intro, it would kick you back to the welcome page or the homepage.
• Before you begin section of form, Keep your browser open
  • concern M: Please revise the text ...so be sure to keep your broswer open... to say ...so be sure to keep this browser tab open...

Additonal notes

I forgot to look at the 404 page when the video was on. It looks great.

Specific Questions from the Action Items

Q: What is your experience/first impressions of the last modal before the user officially exits the letter generator?
A: see above under "- Completed"

Q: For the FAQ page, how easy is it finding information? What was your experience using the accordions?
A: I like the ones on the hompage better, the title is bold and the bounding box seems more playful than the starkness of the FAQ page.

[ExperimentsInHonesty]

Please add this to the PM/Org agenda

We need to discuss the future of this tool, given that it is only servicing people who missed the deadline for Proposition 47

[github-actions]

Hey @ExperimentsInHonesty! Thanks again for taking this issue.

Time for an update! Please comment the following update:
**Progress:** What's the status of the project? What have you done and what still needs to be done?
**Estimated Time to Completion (ETC):** When do you estimate to be finished?
**Blockers:** Anything preventing you from finishing?

Thanks again!

[github-actions]

Hey @ExperimentsInHonesty! Thanks again for taking this issue.

Time for an update! Please comment the following update:
**Progress:** What's the status of the project? What have you done and what still needs to be done?
**Estimated Time to Completion (ETC):** When do you estimate to be finished?
**Blockers:** Anything preventing you from finishing?

Thanks again!

[github-actions]

Hey @ExperimentsInHonesty! Thanks again for taking this issue.

Time for an update! Please comment the following update:
**Progress:** What's the status of the project? What have you done and what still needs to be done?
**Estimated Time to Completion (ETC):** When do you estimate to be finished?
**Blockers:** Anything preventing you from finishing?

Thanks again!

[github-actions]

Hey @ExperimentsInHonesty! Thanks again for taking this issue.

Time for an update! Please comment the following update:
**Progress:** What's the status of the project? What have you done and what still needs to be done?
**Estimated Time to Completion (ETC):** When do you estimate to be finished?
**Blockers:** Anything preventing you from finishing?

Thanks again!

[github-actions]

Hey @ExperimentsInHonesty! Thanks again for taking this issue.

Time for an update! Please comment the following update:
**Progress:** What's the status of the project? What have you done and what still needs to be done?
**Estimated Time to Completion (ETC):** When do you estimate to be finished?
**Blockers:** Anything preventing you from finishing?

Thanks again!

[github-actions]

Hey @ExperimentsInHonesty! Thanks again for taking this issue.

Time for an update! Please comment the following update:
**Progress:** What's the status of the project? What have you done and what still needs to be done?
**Estimated Time to Completion (ETC):** When do you estimate to be finished?
**Blockers:** Anything preventing you from finishing?

Thanks again!

[github-actions]

Hey @ExperimentsInHonesty! Thanks again for taking this issue.

Time for an update! Please comment the following update:
**Progress:** What's the status of the project? What have you done and what still needs to be done?
**Estimated Time to Completion (ETC):** When do you estimate to be finished?
**Blockers:** Anything preventing you from finishing?

Thanks again!