Persona One
Name: Robert Carthage
Demographic: A 65-year-old male who is a retired accountant. He lives in a significant city suburb because he likes having the city feel but does not have to deal with the noise. He lives alone and does not date, as he enjoys being alone, except for his two dogs, Hopper and Jack. He holds a Master’s degree in personal finance and is a registered Certified Public Accountant. While he enjoyed his career, he really enjoys retirement and has an adequate amount of extra money to pursue what he loves. In his free time, he loves to watch history channels and views himself as someone who seeks to learn the most about history and all aspects of various areas. While he may not be the most informed or experienced tech user, he has basic internet skills to view interesting websites. He owns a desktop computer and a smart cellphone that he uses occasionally, but is not to passionate about technology. He also loves to visit museums and travel when he is able.
Descriptive Title: Hobby Historian
Quote: “While I may not be an expert on history or the internet, what I do know is my pets are my true passion.”
A day in a life narrative: He begins his day by being awakened by Hopper and Jack as they jump into my bed and tell me it is time to go potty. He then typically takes them for about an hour’s walk around my neighborhood. When we return home, I cook breakfast and feed the dogs theirs as well. When he does not have anything planned, he enjoys watching the History Channel, when not about aliens, and watching historical documentaries. He usually does this until lunch and takes the dogs for a walk again. He finishes the day by going into the city for dinner and watching the opera or symphony. About every two weeks, he treats himself to a unique city day, and he goes into the city to see a history or art museum or visits to do genealogy projects. He also loves to travel to other countries, especially Europe, where he does spontaneous train trips where he goes where the trains take him. He only does this when he knows his dogs are well cared for since they are his top priority. He especially loves traveling to London.
Persona Two
Name: Margaret “Maggie” Smithfield
Demographic: She is 21 and completing her bachelor’s degree in creative writing. She has applied to continue her education after her graduation. With her imaginative mind, she loves animals more than anything else and has always been curious about people who have become so fascinated with them and their significance in society. When not doing homework, she loves taking her dog, Frodo, for a walk. She also likes to hit the bars with her friends occasionally. She is from a relatively rural community where she lived on a farm and sees college as a means of branching out. Her college is in a relatively big college town but not a central metropolitan area. She has never traveled internationally but dreams of traveling to Great Britain. She is some gifted with technology and sometimes even posts on TikTok to engage with the wider creative writing community. While she is well versed in social media, she does is not as well versed in traditional websites, as she engages most of her information on her smartphone. She owns a laptop, a gaming desktop, and a relatively new smartphone.
Descriptive Title: Free Spirit Dog Mom
Quote: “My pets are my children, and I want to know everything about them.”
A day in a life narrative: She wakes up early as she has an eight o’clock class. She loves to get her classes done in the morning so she has time to do her homework before going to work. She works at the campus library, where she works in the writing center, assisting students with their writing projects. When not at work, she loves to game or spend time with her dog and her cat named Wilde, after Oscar Wilde. Beyond this, she sometimes records videos for TikTok that she creates about the various stories she has written. She also likes to look at multiple pet ownership trends throughout time as she sees the cultural significance of pets, especially in her stories. When she tries to do some research, she seems to become easily overwhelmed by the sheer volume of sources she is trying to use and, thus, is not as successful. Overall, she is the typical college senior who loves her pets and loves being creative.
Revisions to personas: The most significant revisions I made to each persona made them less acquainted with technology. I largely changed this about each persona due to the reading by Mitchell Whitelaw, who emphasized the importance of better usability and searchability for websites. As someone who does research frequently, this is not something that I necessarily think about; doing research in digital archives becomes overwhelming and confusing for someone not as experienced with research. I also wanted to expand on Brennan and Kelley’s analysis of Web 1.5, which allows for the user to interact directly and add something to the project but not be as open-sourced. Finally, simplifying the overall user experience also dedicated the resources to how metadata would be used to be most beneficial for the user. Both personas understand the internet, but this limited understanding will help guide my project.