So my name is David. I'm a researcher here at the University of California, Berkeley.
I've been asked by others to help improve a piece of software for people like you, who are journalists.
I'm not one of the ones who wrote this software, so you don't have to worry about offending me.
We're trying to make this software as usable as possible.
So, in particular, we want your help in identifying any parts that are difficult or confusing to use.
OK.
So what we're going to do is ask you to perform what's called a "cognitive walkthrough",
so as you step through these tasks, I want you to speak out loud, and explain what you're doing,
so if you see something that's unclear, you should say out loud what it is.
OK.
Before you do something, you should say what you expect to happen, when that happens.
And if something is surprising, you say, "This is surprising, what I expected was this, and what happened was this."
OK.
I'm going to try to interfere as little as possible.
I'll be here just to observe.
I'll be able to ask some questions, but mainly I want you to work through things
as you would if you were on your own trying to use this software.
So in particular, don't wait for my feedback to move on with the tasks.
Now I'm going to give you a short example of a cognitive walkthrough, using unrelated piece of software,
just to show you the kind of interaction that we're looking for.
So I'm going to begin,
and say that my task is to
open up a painting program and draw a red hexagon.
So, I'm looking at the desktop here,
I'm not sure how to find a painting program,
so here I'm demonstrating what I'm thinking as I go through this process.
So, I think I would start with this,
magnifying glass usually means search,
so I click on the magnifying glass,
and see if we can find something that does a painting program.
And "Paintbrush" seems pretty good so I'll try that.
All right, this is, I think what I'm looking for.
Now it's asking me for the size of the image, it looks like.
And, it kind of surprises me that I have to choose this in the beginning and I wonder if I could change this later if I needed to.
It's not exactly sure, so I don't know what to do, I'm just going to hit enter.
And now the window got a little bit bigger and I don't really know what that means,
I'm guessing it sized to the size I just put in there.
So if I want to draw a hexagon,
first it has to be red, so
this looks to me like it will change the color.
And, I guess "Maraschino" counts as red?
I don't know if there's really a red.
That, that's probably close enough.
We'll try that.
And, to draw a shape,
okay, that looks like I can draw. Now I wonder if I can undo that.
If I was going to undo something, probably "Edit",
"Undo drawing", this looks like it works.
OK, good.
Now I'm checking to see if I can have a hexagon.
This looks like a square.
There's tooltips I see that's telling me what each button is going to do.
But I don't have one that draws a hexagon.
So, I wonder if I can do it with the line tool.
Let's try the line tool.
Click, and click again.
And that did not do what I wanted.
I wanted it to draw a line between those two points, and it didn't do it.
So I'm going to undo,
and this time I'm going to try dragging.
OK, and that looks like it's what I want.
All right, this is pretty easy. I know it's not going to be a great hexagon,
but I think it's the best I can do.
And now I've used paint programs before where the paint bucket means to fill it in.
So I'm going to try that, and that worked.
Beautiful.
Right. So this is what I'm hoping to have you do is, as you go through each step,
some of it might be unfamiliar, and some of it is, may not be easy to be use.
But just talk, explain what you're thinking about as best you can.
All right, so,
we'll put this...
Uh, "Don't save".
All right.
Now I have a list of the tasks that you'll be doing.
Over the next 45 minutes or so.
It's going to be downloading a piece of software and then doing some simple tasks with it.
And I'll be here to give you some guidance but I'm going to try as much as possible to let you discover how to do things yourself.
Do you have any questions before we get started?
No.
OK, great, so go ahead and start doing this in, however you would normally do this, if you were doing this at home.
OK, and like, say what I'm doing?
Sure. Yeah, yeah. Right.
OK. I'm going to use Chrome, because that's what I use at home.
I'm just going to open it up, and I'm going to
type in "download tor" because that's what I'm supposed to do.
And I'm going to click on the first one, because,
at the top, which is "Download Tor",
and I'm on Apple, so I'm going to click on this,
and then I'm going to click "Download Tor Browser",
because it looks like I should click there, because it is purple.
No, not because it's purple, but...
OK. [Laughter.]
What makes you, what makes it look like you should click on it?
Because it has that little cloud with the arrow.
and you can't click anywhere else to download.
And now I'm waiting for it to download.
OK.
And we'll let this go, but as it's going, explain the experience that you just did.
Is this, work the way you expected it to, to do the search and then arrive at this page?
Yes.
Am I supposed to comment on anything, while it's downloading?
Just, yeah if there's anything that comes out to you, or if there's anything on the screen that you notice.
I notice it has a warning thing that says "Want Tor to really work?"
"You need to change some of your habits, as some things won't work exactly as you are used to.
Please read the full list of warnings."
I'm sort of tempted to read the full list of warnings.
Am I, am I not supposed to, or can I...?
Yeah, if this is what you would normally do when you see that, then yeah, go ahead and do it.
OK. I'm going to click on it.
But this is a lot of text and I don't really want to read it all.
"Use the Tor Browser", "Don't torrent over Tor",
"Don't enable or install browser plugins",
"Use HT—", blah blah, I don't know what that actually means,
"HTTPS versions of...", oh, you actually type in the "https".
"Don't open documents downloaded through Tor while online."
"Don't open documents downloaded through Tor..."
That doesn't make sense to me.
But I'll just pay attention because it's in capitals and it's like they're yelling at me
so I'll just not do it, that.
"Use bridges and/or find company."
OK.
OK. Now I'm going to go back. Oh, I don't have to go back.
Just, here.
OK.
And now, by the time I do that, it's downloaded. So now I'm going to click on it, because
that's what I would usually do,
and it says "Opening Tor Browser...", "Finishing..."
"Tor Browser", so I'm going to put it...
I'm going to click the thing and put it in the thing.
[Laughter.]
Click the Tor Browser and put it in the Applications.
OK. "'Copying "TorBrowser app" to "Applications"...'"
OK. Now it's like next to my Chess, or something.
I don't know if it's there, yeah, I'm going to do this, so it's easier to see.
OK. And now I have it here in the Applications.
So I downloaded it, it's installed, I think.
And "Configure Tor". I don't actually know what that means, but I'm going to click on it.
Sure.
"'TorBrowser' can't be opened because the identity of the developer cannot be confirmed.
Your security preference allow installation of only apps from the Mac App Store and identified developers."
OK, I guess I'm going to click,
I'm going to click the question mark because I don't actually know what they're talking about.
"The app has been modified...", blah blah blah.
"The original..."
OK so I have to go to Apple menu, "System Preferences", click "Security & Privacy", then click "Privacy".
Oh, this is annoying. I would maybe normally stop now.
OK.
[Laughter.] But...
That's good, you're doing a good job explaining motivations.
So, this is a lot to read and I have to go do a bunch of other stuff in order to do it.
So, now I'm annoyed, but, because it says what I have to do, then I'm going to try to do it.
"Apple menu", "System Preferences"...
Ah, I can't see my window.
OK. "Apple menu", "System Preferences", "Security..."
Oh, here. "Security & Privacy".
Then click "Privacy".
"Open the General pane of Security & Privacy preferences".
Oh, I could have just clicked there and done it. That's annoying too.
I guess I should read everything before I start clicking things.
OK now I am confused because I don't know if I'm supposed to click over here and they're just going to...
Oh. OK. So...
Oh. OK. Now "Allow apps downloaded from anywhere".
Oh that's not that difficult, except,
I'm clicking on it and it's not doing anything.
Oh, I have to click over here maybe.
Is that OK that I'm just...
Oh, yeah...
OK. So I'm going to say over here, "OK" and then I'm going to see, oh, "Open Anyway".
Oh OK, so I'm going to say "Open Anyway".
"Tor Browser is an application downloaded from the Internet..." Yeah blah blah. OK "Open".
I just didn't really want to read it all. But I know what it means, I think.
Right.
OK. "Which of the following best describes your situation?"
"I would like to connect directly to the Tor network. This will work in most situations."
"This computer's Internet connection is censored or proxied. I need to configure bridge or proxy settings."
I don't really know.
"Before you connect to the Tor network, you need to provide information about this computer's Internet connection."
What? I don't know what is happening, so I'm just going to choose the first one.
Oh wait no, I'm supposed to configure it.
I'm supposed to configure Tor.
OK, so I'm going to click "Configure", but I don't know what that...
"Does this computer need to use a proxy to access the Internet?"
"If you are not sure how to answer, look at the Internet settings in another browser to see whether it is configured to use a proxy."
Oh, I don't even know what they're talking about now.
OK, so "If you are not sure how to answer this question, look at the Internet settings—OK—the Internet settings,
in another browser".
OK, I think I have to go to my settings.
I don't actually know what I'm doing, but I'm going to go to my settings.
"Whether it is configured to use a proxy", OK.
I'm looking for the Internet settings...
OK, now I'm feeling dumb because I don't see the Internet settings.
Oh, "Network", is that what it is?
OK. Not that.
I'm looking at the network stuff.
I don't think this is what I'm actually supposed to do.
So, now I'm going to close it,
or I'm going to go back.
OK, now I'm going back to the, what they're asking me.
"Does this computer need to use a proxy to access the Internet?"
I think no.
So I'm just going to continue.
"Does your Internet Service Provider block or otherwise censor connections to the Tor network?"
Not that I know of.
OK. "If I'm unsure how to answer this question, choose No."
OK, great. "Connect".
And now I'm waiting.
So what do you expect is happening now, based on what you see?
I think they're establishing a connection to the Tor network based on, it says,
"Please wait while we establish a connection".
OK, so now, "Congratulations! Browser is configured to use Tor.
You are now free to browse the Internet anonymously."
"Test Tor Network Settings."
I want to click on that, because it says "Test".
"Congratulations. This browser is configured..."
"Your IP address appears to be..."
OK, I'm not going to donate right now.
I'm going to go back,
and now I'm going to see what I'm supposed to be doing.
Oh, I checked that it was working.
"Do a web search for 'onions'."
So I'm just going to click in here,
because it has a little magnifying glass,
and I'm going to type "onions".
Okay, that's good, you don't have to go any farther on that one...
[Laughter.] OK.
Is this, is what just happened, is that what you expected?
Is there anything surprising about this?
It's a tiny bit slow, but I know that
because Tor is like bouncing off other things,
that it's supposed to be a tiny bit slow, but it's not like uncomfortably slow.
Somehow this, the fact, this somehow looks strange to me,
and my initial reaction was Startpage, why are we at, why are they telling me that this is at Startpage?
I don't know why.
But OK, great. Startpage.
OK.
OK, then,
All right, you can do the next one.
The next one? OK. "Find a YouTube video for 'Ode to Joy'."
I'm going to go... Initially I was confused if I should type it in here or in here.
I'm just going to type it in here.
I'm going to type in "youtube 'ode to joy'".
OK. I see Beethoven, Ode to Joy.
Should I click it?
Yeah, go ahead through, go ahead through to it.
"A plugin is needed to display this content."
Oh, no.
It's like a tiny bit slow maybe.
Should I...
And I wonder if I have any audio. Oh, there it goes.
So explain to me what's going on now, if you notice anything unusual.
OK, it's like starting and stopping, but my computer does that at home because I don't have a good Internet connection,
so I'm just going to pause it, wait for it to load.
And then it's saying, "Experiencing interruptions? Find out why."
I don't really, I think it's just slow to load, so I'm just going to not find out why.
I wonder if it will load.
Now I'm going to press play again.
Oh yeah, it is loading.
OK. Good. And we're not going to watch through the whole video.
OK.
Good. Now, number 7.
"Use 'New Identity' under the onion menu."
OK, I think I'm going to go back... Oh. Then I see this onion
and I'm going to click "New Identity".
OK, so then it starts it over again?
Right, so I want, explain what you think just happened.
I think it basically like closed everything and then reopened.
OK.
Like, like, I think that it restarted a new, uh, connection. [Gesturing.]
OK. [Laughter.]
So that it wouldn't, no one would be able to see like, the fact that I,
the same person had clicked on the series of, like, searched for "onions" and then "Ode to Joy".
OK. So now, you saw the onion one.
I want you to go through the toolbar, and you can explore them a little bit.
Explain to me what each of these things means to you, what you think they control.
Like from here to here?
Yeah.
Oh, OK. "Forbid Scripts Globally (advised)".
I have no idea.
"Forbid scripts".
Should I click, can I click on it?
Yeah, you can click on it. You can explore it.
OK. I'm going to click on it.
OK. Now I have a...
OK. So maybe to be super secure you are forbidding, like, automatic scripts to run.
I don't actually know what "scripts" means.
But, there's a little... What's that thing called?
I don't know what it's called either.
Circle with a cross through it, which means that's not happening.
OK. "Permanent 'Allow' commands in private windows".
I don't know what that means either.
"Options...".
OK, this looks like advanced things.
Oh, look, it's under "Advanced". [Laughter.]
OK, so there's like general stuff,
"Top-level sites by default".
I just have no idea what any of this means.
"Whitelist". OK, maybe like blacklist, but opposite?
But I don't know what that means.
"You can specify which web sites are allowed to execute scripts."
OK, so maybe scripts are something that web sites automatically do.
And you don't want them to.
OK, so you could put... Oh, I get it.
So these are the ones you would put in if you're like, OK, it's OK if these websites do whatever they want to do.
"Embeddings".
OK, these are just advanced ways of restricting untrusted sites, I believe.
Like, that's what it says.
"Appearance".
"Status bar label", "Contextual menu"...
OK.
Lots of appearance things.
I don't, I actually have no idea what most of these, I don't know really what this means at all.
"Notifications".
"Show messages about blocked scripts". OK, that makes sense.
"Place messages at the bottom".
I don't know what "XSS, question mark" means.
"Show message about blocked M-E-T-A redirections".
I don't know.
OK, "Advanced".
Other stuff I have no idea what it means. I'll just say...
OK. If you could, what, if you could summarize your understanding of everything that's behind that button, what would it be?
Advanced security settings.
OK.
Yeah. And then, should I go to this?
Yeah, do the next one. Yeah.
The onion... OK, so these also look like different settings.
First one says "New Identity" and I already clicked on that
so I sort of think I know what it means.
"Cookie Protections". I sort of know what that means, too.
I'll click on it to see what they then say.
Oh, I... OK. "Remove all but protected..."
"Protect New Cookies." "Do Not Protect New Cookies."
That confuses me, because... "Prot—"
Because I think I would want to... "Prot—" What?
Protect new cookies from what?
"Do Not Protect New Cook—". I don't know. I'm getting confused.
Like, OK.
"Do Not Protect New Cookies".
I don't know. OK. I'm going to click OK.
OK. "Preferences".
OK. So, if I want to use proxy settings,
and more security settings.
"Don't record browsing history or website..."
"Disable browser plugins...",
"Restrict third-party cookies...", OK.
"Change details that distinguish you from other Tor...", OK.
Do you know of any reason, from reading those options, why you would go to this screen?
Would you have a reason to?
Um, if you don't want your browser history to be...
"Don't record browser history..." Wait.
Now I'm also getting...
I was going to say, if you don't want your browser history to be recorded, but this says
"Don't record browser history". Oh, OK, yeah. So if you click it then...
"Don't record browser history".
Oh, OK, so then, oh I get it.
So yeah, you're in the private browsing mode.
So if you don't want, if you're researching Iran,
and you are searching a bunch of things, you don't want the government, or whoever,
to be skeptical of your purposes for researching Iran,
then you can just search through private browsing mode.
I don't really know about the other ones.
"Restrict third-party cookies", "Change details that distinguish you from other Tor Browser users"...
Oh, if you want to remain anonymous within your searching, I guess.
OK.
OK. So if you could summarize, what do you think that onion button is for, in general?
Oh, the onion as a whole. Like, maintaining anonym—, anon— [Laughter.]
Yeah, anony—
Anonymity.
That word! Yeah, wow. Oh my gosh.
Yeah, and like the settings of your Tor Browser, I guess.
OK.
And the rest of the things in the top here, what,
some of them may be more familiar, but what do you, what does each of them do?
I would think that you can like type in a web address here.
OK.
And refresh, "Reload current page",
and then search for something with this little magnifying glass,
or the Startpage. Or, search, I guess, using the Startpage.
And the, one more here, do you know what this one does?
I don't know.
Oh, OK. Yeah.
"Print", "Save", "New Window", "Bookmarks", "History", "Find",
"Developer", "Add-ons", "Preferences", "Downloads"...
Yeah.
Like all the general...
Sure, right right.
OK. That's the very last task.