Minimal Functionality for Digital Scholarly Editions

In this paper, we are analysing the quality of use of digital scholarly editions (DSEs), via usability testing. We do a competitor analyses in which a small sample of target users is gathered in a usability lab, asked to answer research questions via different research tools, and finally to rate the experience. In our first study, we compared three DSEs and found that not all the editions are ideal in their usability and that efficiency is valued more than content. In a second study, we pitched three different media: a printed book, a digitized edition (or PDF) and a digital edition of Nietzsche Also Sprach Zarathustra. We found that users preferred using the PDF edition due to its higher accessibility, portability, and annotation features. This paper introduces our user research and hypothesizes on the benefit and feasibility of developing DSE with a user requirement document.