UX Week 2007 | CNN.com Relaunch Case Study

What this episode covers

The goal of this undertaking was to enhance and simplify online news for consumers to allow them to interact with news in more ways than ever before. With the site’s enhancements and redesign, users can access the news of the day through an integrated storytelling experience that provides text, images, video, commenting, and other interactive elements all within one cohesive package. The site also incorporates the latest technologies, such as AJAX, a recommendation engine, and a “From the Blogs” feature to enhance the user experience. Another core offering — live, streaming video previously available by subscription only — became free and integrated into the fabric of CNN.com. All CNN.com video including on-demand clips, live breaking news and an archive with access to over 50,000 news videos is now available to users for free. In this session, we will walk through the user-centered process undertaken in this project, including the early user research and analysis all the way through implementation and post-launch feedback mechanisms. We’ll also discuss the challenges involved in a project like this in a company of CNN’s size. We’ll explore how the early research evolved and was refined throughout the process, leading to the site that was recently launched. In this session, you will: * Discover the steps of the process required to bring such a huge project to market, including some tips and tricks on how to get stakeholders and participants fully invested * Find out how the user was involved in shaping the requirements and end product * Learn why CNN.com plans to never “relaunch” again About Dermot Waters Dermot Waters is the Director of Technology and Business Strategy for CNN.com, most recently working on the relaunch of CNN.com where he co-led the effort from the beginning research phases through launch. Since joining CNN.com in 1999, Dermot has developed and managed a wide range of products across many of the CNN and Turner brands, including search, social media, mobile, registration, e-mail services, weather, and syndication. In his tenure, Dermot has lead CNN.com’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts and been the product manager for Turner’s Digital Media Technologies managing the search platform across Turner brands; working closely with Google, Yahoo!, Verity/Autonomy and other 3rd parties in this area. He is a point person for management of vendors across a variety of technical areas, most recently working on partnerships around blogs and social media. Dermot holds an MBA in E-Commerce/CIS from Georgia State University, an MS in CIS from Georgia State University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Georgia. About Lori Adams Lori Adams is the Director of User Experience and Site Integration at CNN.com. Along with Dermot Waters, she led the CNN.com relaunch project, steering the effort from the beginning phase of user discovery through implementation. Since joining CNN in 2004, Lori has managed hundreds of site changes and brought with her a focus on user-centered practices, overseeing the implementation of several user feedback mechanisms and qualitative research methods such as personas. Lori’s background includes work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where she served as Lead Information Architect and Usability Specialist for websites dealing with topics such as flu, anthrax, and smallpox emergencies. Her experience also includes several years as a senior information architect at an agency and freelance work for a variety of companies in Atlanta. Past clients have included BellSouth, Coca-cola, Ritz-Carlton, TravelSmith, Ballard Designs, and WebMD. Lori holds a Master’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Communication from Ohio University.

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