{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
    "content" : "news",
    "type" : "single",
    "title" : "Packaging Up API Usability Testing for Agency Reuse |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Packaging Up API Usability Testing for Agency Reuse",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/20/packaging-up-api-usability-testing-for-agency-reuse/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Packaging Up API Usability Testing for Agency Reuse","summary" : "Over the past year, a GSA collaboration has seen a project that offers API Usability Testing to federal agencies go from the pilot stage to a regular, robust series. Already, 13 agencies and programs have participated, and several more participate with every monthly session","date" : "2014-05-20T01:00:12-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"gray-brooks" : "Gray Brooks"},"topics" : {
        
            "application-programming-interface" : "Application programming interface",
            "open-source" : "Open source",
            "research" : "Research",
            "usability" : "Usability",
            "user-experience" : "User experience"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2014-05-20-packaging-up-api-usability-testing-for-agency-reuse.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2014/05/2014-05-20-packaging-up-api-usability-testing-for-agency-reuse.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2014/05/2014-05-20-packaging-up-api-usability-testing-for-agency-reuse.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2014/05/2014-05-20-packaging-up-api-usability-testing-for-agency-reuse.md","slug" : "packaging-up-api-usability-testing-for-agency-reuse","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/20/packaging-up-api-usability-testing-for-agency-reuse/","content" :"\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/05/250-x-165-Tim-Lowden-API-Usability-Testing.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Tim Lowden and crown at API Usability Testing\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\nOver the past year, a GSA collaboration has seen \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/09/make-gov-apis-better-with-user-experience/\"\u003ea project that offers API Usability Testing to federal agencies\u003c/a\u003e go from the pilot stage to a regular, robust series. Already, 13 agencies and programs have participated, and several more participate with every monthly session that passes. The best examples from across the government have made clear that one of the most important tasks of API producers is to regularly engage their developer community and listen to what they have to say. But just encouraging agencies to do this only goes so far.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn addition to offering any federal agency direct support by hosting them at an API Usability session, we’ve also been working to \u003ca href=\"http://18f.github.io/API-Usability-Testing/\"\u003edocument and open-source the actual process itself\u003c/a\u003e. We want every agency to realize how readily they can scale out these exercises on their own. Within the \u003ca href=\"http://18f.github.io/API-Usability-Testing/pages/kit.html\"\u003eAPI Usability Kit\u003c/a\u003e, agencies will find proposed schedules, email and handout templates, an overall guide, and frequently asked questions. But since each component is itself an open source project, anyone can easily \u003ca href=\"https://github.com/18F/API-Usability-Testing/edit/gh-pages/index.md\"\u003eedit any page\u003c/a\u003e or \u003ca href=\"https://github.com/18F/API-Usability-Testing/fork\"\u003efork the entire project\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs we move forward, it’s our hope that you’ll join us—in person for API Usability sessions for your program, but also through open collaboration with the material that we use to run the program. Help make this program better! Anytime you have a suggestion, all you have to do is click the ‘Edit’ button in the sidebar and propose away.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/05/600-x-400-Gray-Brooks-What-Agencies-Get-Packaging-Up-API-Usability-Testing-for-Agency-Reuse.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Gray Brooks - What Agencies Get - Packaging Up API Usability Testing for Agency Reuse\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs with any good open-source project, we \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food\"\u003eeat our own dog food\u003c/a\u003e and strive to ensure that this program grows through an open, organic process. We’ll continue to edit and build out the resources that make up the \u003ca href=\"http://18f.github.io/API-Usability-Testing/pages/kit.html\"\u003eAPI Usability Kit.\u003c/a\u003e Through that, we believe we can ensure the best product for agencies and the best results for the final customer—the people of the United States.\u003cem\u003eThis post was originally posted on the \u003ca href=\"http://18fblog.tumblr.com/post/86214382873/packaging-up-api-usability-testing-for-agency-re-use\"\u003e18F blog\u003c/a\u003e by Gray Brooks, API Strategist.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}