Using forums to understand users (long)

[David Ottina]

Hi All,

Below is a brief analysis of posts to the Absolute Beginners forum. It
is a simple count of what kinds of problems were most commonly viewed in
the forms as well as some general observations. I would be surprised to
learn that anything I've found is new to those of you who have been
working on documentation, but perhaps seeing some numbers will be
interesting anyway.

I'm posting it because I think this sort of thing can be helpful to the
team as source of quantitative and qualitative information to better
understand users and set priorities. If the same, or a more detailed
analysis was repeated periodically we could also measure the impact of
documentation changes to see what's working and what's not. I'd like to
know if people do think it is useful before trying a more detailed
version. Comments and questions actively encouraged.

At the end you'll see a section called "Documentation Priorities". I'd
like to be clear that I'm not saying these *should* be the priorities. I
put this in to give an example how this kind of analysis can be
interpreted in terms of priorities.

Method===
I reviewed all threads in June that had more than 150 views, eliminating
any threads that were off topic or kudos. Although the number of threads
was fairly small ~8% of the month's total, they accounted for something
like 30% of all views. I read through the threads until they morphed
into another topic or another poster's problem, tracking only the
original issues.  When mentioned, I tracked the OS the users were
migrating from.

Results and Discussion===
---Previous OS ---
The previous OS of the person starting the thread
- Windows        52%
- Not Linux      15%
- Linux           1%
- Not mentioned  30%

The majority of posters were switching from Windows. Most of these
posters expected Ubuntu to be organized more like windows, prompting
questions like, "Where is the Programs folder?" or "How do I make a
desktop shortcut?". Although they had Windows in common, there was a
very wide range of technical knowledge relating to windows. More
technical knowledge did not always correspond with success.

---Stages---
All of the threads I looked at can be clumped into 4 basic stages of
user involvement:

Stage 1) Questions about Ubuntu or Linux posters wanted answered before
they felt comfortable trying Ubuntu 22%.

Stage 2) Problems while installing or configuring Ubuntu 27%.

Stage 3) Problems while trying to install additional applications and
plug-ins 30%.

Stage 4) Problems while trying to use Ubuntu or applications 21%

---Common themes---
As you can see, there are roughly equal number of views at each stage
from choosing Ubuntu, through installing, configuring and enhancing, to
using Ubuntu. However it was not uncommon to see the same sticking point
crop up across stages.

The most striking example of this is availability of and installing
additional software (drivers, applications and plugins), which accounted
for 56% of views across stages. These threads often mentioned confusion
about the linux file structure and trouble with permissions (sudo).

Threads about using the command line and command line applications (e.g.
apt-get) were responsible for 23% of views, although this understates
the command line's prominence as 68% of the views within stage 2
(installing applications) hadn't gotten that far yet, and threads
specifically asking about avoiding the command line netted another 3%.

How to setup and use a dual boot also cut across stages with 15% of
views. Security and using sudo were also common themes.

---Documentation Priorities---
All of the common themes I found in the forums are already covered in
documentation, suggesting that the documentation is not prominent enough
and/or the navigation and content can adjusted to beginners.
Additionally, the
majority of post-install issues involved users trying to directly apply
a technique they learned in Windows, suggesting that targeting these
users more directly may be worthwhile. For instance a section that
covers dualboot from installation through use.

Finally the significant number of questions posted in stage 1 suggests
that confidence may be a significant barrier for some in making the
switch. My hunch is the documentation on the wiki may assume too much
familiarity with Linux jargon to be confidence building for new users.

Thanks for reading,
David