C + S - recommendations for remote unattended usability test products

Here are the responses I received from my request for products that do
remote unattended usability testing. 

Thanks to everyone who contributed -

Kay


THE RESPONSES
***********************************

Take a look at Silverback. It's especially great if you're testers are on an
Apple laptop with a webcam.  It records the screen and the user during
testing

http://silverbackapp.com/

-rich

****************************************

Good morning Kay,

I am familiar with Bolt | Peters' work on remote user testing, their product
is called Ethnio. boltpeters.com 

Regards,
Rebecca Evans

***************************************

Dear Kay,

Sabrina Mach, and myself are launching a new start up called FeraLabs in
September. FeraLabs was started because Sabrina while at University College
London needed effective Remote Usability Testing Software. The systems on
offer were either too expenses, too difficult to setup or didn't work. So we
started to develop Webnographer. 

Webnographer is a Asynchronous Remote Usablity Testing Software (i.e.
unattended/unmoderated). The major differentials with Webnographer, compared
to the products mentioned in UX magazine are that:-
.	It will offer faster insight into Usablity issues through easy to
interpret graphical representations. We have focused most of the development
time not just on collecting data, but how to gain insight into the data
quickly, how to find the issues and how to show these visually. We have
based the methods we use on academic research, such as information scent,
eye-hand coordination, and implicit interactions.
.	To use Webnographer, the site under evaluation does not need to be
modified in any way, and participants do not have to download anything to
their pc - unlike the other commercial remote testing software mentioned in
UX magazine.
.	We aim also to be cheaper than the competition, but as the article
in UX magazine points out that the major time factor is in the data
analysis. As Susan Fowler (she used to work at Keynote) points out the time
needed for a test is 5 weeks. Our belief is that with Webnographer the time
needed can be significantly be reduced. 

Currently, the system is been tested at the University of Sussex in England,
and once that is completed we will be looking for companies that we can work
with to test the system. During the testing period we will be offering a
reduced rate for the system of $20.00 per participant. This compares with
$40.00 to $65.00 per participant for the products listed in UX magazine. 

Please get in touch if you are wanting to be involved in some of our early
tests, or if you require further information. 

All the best

James Page

***************************************
Sorry to chime in late.  I felt a bit like the magazine was mixing two
concepts:  
 
1) Remote testing:  Log into another person's computer, record their
activity,  
etc.  Facilitate by audio if at all.  UserVue is a great tool for that, and
has the  
advantage of logging lots of computer activity as well as your own
observations  
and those of others.
 
 2) Unmoderated testing: Limit or eliminate moderation with your testing;
location
may or may not be defined.   Morae 3 has a new function where you can
provide tasks

and surveys automatically, and conduct testing without a moderator, or with

limited facilitation. 

Disclaimer:  I am a UX researcher for the company that makes both products:

TechSmith.  

Josie Scott

***************************************
ORIGINAL MESSAGE

From: Kay Corry Aubrey <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, Aug 3, 2008 at 7:50 PM
Subject: recommendations for remote unattended usability testing tools
To: [email protected]


Hi -
I just finished reading the very excellent latest issue of "UX", which
focuses on various types of remote usability testing. I was wondering if
people on the list have experience with remote unattended testing and could
suggest some companies that have reliable and reasonably priced products.

I'll collect people's responses and send them back to the list.

Thanks!

Kay

Kay Corry Aubrey
Usability Resources Inc
End user research and interaction design for software
www.UsabilityResources.net
781-275-3020

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