Product development
\label{product-development}
We used a human-centered approach to find and prioritize investigator
needs that would set our direction. Design research has included over 50
participants with multiple roles, funding sources, and subspecialties.
We collected scenarios of perceived value through collaborative ideation
with investigators, walkthroughs with early concepts, and review of
existing analyses and presentations. Contextual inquiry also led to key
design choices and the VA task differences discussed below.
The access and expertise needed to bring data together in way that
served the design came from the Statistical Center for HIV/AIDS Research
and Prevention, which already has relationships with many of the labs
producing data. Product development proceeded with further concept
testing and prioritization, wireframe evaluations using the RITE method,
and the addition of an investigator to the team [3]. A proof of
concept revealed the need for critical data and application
improvements, as well as widespread agreement on its potential value.
Agile development then led to a beta evaluation and a first launch to
the grantees of one funder whose data we continue to add. Investigators
confirmed that the value of the DataSpace lies in bridging previously
disparate data, so we intend to integrate other sources in the future.