tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-273725042024-03-23T14:14:24.188-04:00FritillariaStacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-54104034170257385222016-07-05T13:22:00.001-04:002016-07-05T13:22:31.832-04:00The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Again!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hIkrsP-RwOo2BMjct7FXt6yXhYnuGvb4QbpgKs6T_Oejw_bpcmr2P5oa5NtvjhMqBNHuB0_UhQ6zQrjL8oQ-bbe3QPNLvCqE2tCh_69myUrEwrnt1xpY5AzADek8YbwO5efjnw/s1600/monkey+Jet+Li.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Jet Li, portraying the Monkey King, stares wide-eyed at the reader." border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hIkrsP-RwOo2BMjct7FXt6yXhYnuGvb4QbpgKs6T_Oejw_bpcmr2P5oa5NtvjhMqBNHuB0_UhQ6zQrjL8oQ-bbe3QPNLvCqE2tCh_69myUrEwrnt1xpY5AzADek8YbwO5efjnw/s320/monkey+Jet+Li.jpg" title="Jet Li as the Monkey King" width="320" /></a><br />
Is an information architect just a wireframe monkey? No, of course not! But unfortunately, sometimes we're confined by a mindset that thinks IA is a box to check off on a project plan. <br />
<br />
We need a framework and shared vocabulary to build the discipline of IA and help us all become better information architects. So... what's missing from whatever we're using now?<br />
<br />
In "<a href="https://blueprintdigital.com/ia-summit-2016/stacy-surla/">The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: A Language of Critique for Information Architecture</a>," presented at the 2016 IA Summit, I discuss Van Gigch's Meta-Modeling Methodology (M3) and Michel Foucault. I walk through the M3 model as a tool for distinguishing among 3
key levels of critique: day-to-day practices, IA/UX theories and models,
and the paradigms that shape what we can do or can even think about
doing. The goal is to work towards a discipline-level
framework and a shared vocabulary for making sense of what we do.<br />
<br />StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-42868086923891011792015-10-10T16:16:00.002-04:002015-10-10T16:49:38.607-04:00The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Language of Critique for Information Architecture<style>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigrB3BXJd17E-T8UkNOnj1kF8eXxpS83plFVTXh1Tg1NWBsGJSKqgxg2WOFnmZ_2K1q8IvwNNP46Ro6XyPJeRDQ-NH5Erg1vBwVfYtGjIyCcjuu-AKUWKsheTVxgmGdxUNxd7fng/s1600/RyGuy286781189%2540N02-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="A dried maple leaf on a distressed background with lines of barbed wire in the foreground" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigrB3BXJd17E-T8UkNOnj1kF8eXxpS83plFVTXh1Tg1NWBsGJSKqgxg2WOFnmZ_2K1q8IvwNNP46Ro6XyPJeRDQ-NH5Erg1vBwVfYtGjIyCcjuu-AKUWKsheTVxgmGdxUNxd7fng/s320/RyGuy286781189%2540N02-2.jpg" title="Ry Guy, flickr.com/photos/286781189@N02" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the 2014 Language of Critique roundtable, Marsha Haverty
said “If we don’t have a way to describe what we do, we’ll be limited to… being
wireframe monkeys.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
IA is more than wireframes. But we’re confined by the
mindset that thinks IA is a box to check off on a project plan. If you find this a problem, you’ll want a way to change the discourse. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A language of critique is going to help you become a better,
more influential UX professional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can
all use that.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Furthermore, maybe you’re at a stage in your career where
you’re elevating the practice. Are you teaching, researching, or publishing?
Then you might be interested in the project to shape a language of critique for
IA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In order for us to develop IA as a
discipline, we need a framework for evaluating the goodness of information
architecture, both as a whole, and in specific cases.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So what’s a language of critique for IA?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what’s wrong with whatever we’re using
now?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h4>
Introduction to the M3 model
</h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We can talk about our work as taking place on three
levels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<ul>
<li>The bottom level is the level of applied work. </li>
<li>The middle level concerns theories and models. </li>
<li>The top level is the level of paradigms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is called the Meta-Modeling Methodology or M3. It was
developed by John Van Gigch, an organizational theorist, in 1991 as a way to
look at how scientific disciplines ideally operate back and forth across
different levels of inquiry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the book
<u>Reframing Information Architecture</u>, Lacerda and Lima-Marques proposed
using the M3 model as a means to develop IA as a discipline.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlfRhm3Rr8ps9RPWqHF2UblT42onclBletX0zWeOnJ7B_uo3n35hRH7eSuiSx2haJ1x9MPVUVymq5p3TE_h0UBfeW-rA1CP82yXziFpi6Ytc6yg_h6dTAaTUuYv0EwD1dJHLZWbA/s1600/M3+diagram.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlfRhm3Rr8ps9RPWqHF2UblT42onclBletX0zWeOnJ7B_uo3n35hRH7eSuiSx2haJ1x9MPVUVymq5p3TE_h0UBfeW-rA1CP82yXziFpi6Ytc6yg_h6dTAaTUuYv0EwD1dJHLZWbA/s400/M3+diagram.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h4 class="MsoNormal">
Reframe IA history</h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The work of Lacerda, Lima-Marques, and many others is part
of an effort now underway to bridge information architecture research and
practice.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Think about psychology, literature, physics, economics. All
mature fields have a framework and a vocabulary for making sense of what they
do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>IA emerged in the 90s as a practice,
along with the emergence of the web. But we still lack a foundational framework
that gets taught, that is continually developed and refined, and against which
our work is measured. We lack a shared understanding of what we do.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A seminal moment for IA occurred six years ago in Memphis,
when Jesse James Garrett delivered a scathing closing plenary at the IA Summit.
Jesse challenged the IA community to move beyond being a practice, and figure
out how to become a discipline. He called for us to develop a language of
critique. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Keith Instone, Andrea Resmini, and
other leaders in our field are engaging the community right now to shape the
future of IA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This effort has brought
academics and practitioners together in workshops and roundtables. It’s
developed the book <u>Reframing Information Architecture</u>, published last
year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it’s now engaging the broader
UX community in an ongoing Reframe IA conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h4 class="MsoNormal">
A practical example </h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To get our heads around the M3 model, and see how it can
help our work and our practice, let’s look at a few examples.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was approached by a client at work to answer the question:
does the Smokefree.gov website have a good information architecture? This is the
kind of thing we’re all asked to do on a regular basis – design a good IA, or
evaluate an IA for goodness to make a product better. This is work at the
applied level.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It so happens that Smokefree is a cross channel program. It
includes websites for various audiences, a text messaging program in different
languages, a handful of native apps, and it uses several social media
platforms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a complex, maturing
program that’s designed to help people quit smoking. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I suggested a heuristic evaluation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where would heuristic evaluation be on this
model? It’s a research-based tool. So it lives at the level of theories and
methods. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We tend to use Nielsen’s heuristics for user interface
design, or something adapted from that set. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as I observed to the client: you’re not
operating under the old web-interface-only world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your program works through multiple channels.
You’re acting within a new paradigm. You’re aiming to deliver a connected
experience to your users. So we really should be evaluating how well the IAs
work across channels. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was cautious enthusiasm for this at first. It can be uncomfortable
to think or to commit resources outside an old, well-known paradigm. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a cross channel evaluation really did fit
in with delivering a connected experience, and so they agreed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Interestingly, when we went looking for heuristics that
would let us assess IA across channels, we couldn’t really find them. So we
began developing a set on our own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And a
member of my team, Dilini Abeywarna, presented “Cross Channel Heuristics” at
Mobile UX last month, contributing to the theories and methods layer. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h4 class="MsoNormal">
A comparative example</h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Does this make your brain hurt? Let’s apply the model to a
different discipline to see if we can get some insights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consider the field of comedy. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The SOLUTIONS LEVEL. Here we think
about the devices and conventions used to create comedy. They include techniques
– like sight gags, repetition, hyperbole, slapstick.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We can think about comedy at the THEORY
LEVEL. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What makes something funny? Some
people favor:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Superiority Theory. “Here Comes
Honey Boo Boo” is funny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why? Because
ridicule, and feeling superior to others, is one of humor’s primary uses.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There’s the Benign Violation Theory. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We laugh when some line is crossed, but the
outcome isn’t really threatening. According to this theory, tickling make us
laugh because it seems like an attack, but it’s actually harmless. Jerry
Seinfeld is funny because he points out the outragous in everyday life, which
is benign. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Incongruity-Resolution Theory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">A
man at the dinnertable dipped his hands in the mayonnaise and then ran them
through his hair. When his neighbor looked astonished, the man apologized: “I'm
so sorry. I thought it was spinach.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And there’s the PARADIGM LEVEL. Here we
address questions that explore comedy as a field of study. These include: </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why do only humans seem to have humor? </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why does timing matter? </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What are the necessary and sufficient
conditions for a thing to be funny?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well, a cognitive scientist, a
philosopher, and a psychologist walk into a bar to discuss a grand unified
theory of humor. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These examples I’ve
shared come from their book, <u><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Inside
Jokes: Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind</span></u>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h4 class="MsoNormal">
More about M3</h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back to user experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We can talk about our work as taking place at different levels. The
problem is, we <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">don’t</b> do that. We
tend to collapse all questions of goodness into one packed layer, mostly the
bottom one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A client is unhappy with your design. But why? Is it poorly
executed according to current best practices?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Does it fail to take into account an important dynamic – say the growing
importance of the 50-something market, or people’s expectations that things
will work smoothly across mobile and desktop?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or conversely, is your design based on your firm grasp of these
shifts, which she’s not aware of?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
important to be able to talk clearly and constructively about these different
layers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So let’s parse this out a little
further.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The bottom level, the
level of applied work. </b>Anything that involves designing or evaluating an
artifact, such as a website or a feature, is an example of this. You start with
a practical problem. You need… what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
search results page. A series of input screens. A campaign minisite. You need whatever
the user story, or project plan, or your discovery process says you need. The
output of work at this level is a solution to a practical problem. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, how do you know how to do this work? How do you evaluate
whether you’ve done a good job? You have your practices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And your practices are informed by your
science, which comes from the next layer up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Level 2, the level of
theories and models. </b>It includes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">concepts</b>
that help us understand the problem space. Some examples: Designing for
accessibility. Content strategy. Theories of behavior change. Embodied
cognition. Responsive design.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this
level we also see research that investigates whether specific practices work. The
HCI literature falls here, and publications from the Nielsen/Norman group. Is
your client hesitant about parallax scrolling? Or is she asking whether we need
to banish the hamburger menu?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is
where you say: Let me show you the science! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Theories and models inform how we carry out the
practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Conversely, the practice tells
us what research is needed, and helps new concepts emerge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there’s more. Theories and models change
– or need to change – based on what’s happening on the next layer up. When our
world shifts, and you’re using methods from the wrong paradigm, you’re going to
run into trouble.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s an example of a challenge at the theories and models
level.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the Smokefree project, the team wanted to know if <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">specific</span> information architectures can
be used to support people trying to change their behaviors. It seems to me the
answer would be yes; there’s an IA for that. Our work enables and persuades
people to do things. Like renew, contribute, buy, share.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We design the IAs for apps and devices to
help you lose weight, get exercise, become better at saving money. There’s
going to be research on IA and behavior change, right?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We looked for empirical research on the effects of different
information architectures on health outcomes, behavioral outcomes, or website
engagement. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Out of an initial 688 candidate papers, only 1 <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">both</span> looked at IA and controlled solely
for IA. So only one paper could perhaps contribute some light on the question
of whether specific IAs support people trying to change their behaviors. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We know by experience and annecdotal evidence that some IAs
are better for informing and persuading people than others. But we can't prove
it, because there's a gap in our science. The language for asking the right
questions is missing. Researchers aren't looking to fill that gap. And they
don't know that they're not looking.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are going to get traction on this research. It’s one of
my quests this year.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">On<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to Level 3, the level of paradigms. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>This is philosophy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s how we CAN know what we know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paradigms are like containers, articulating
the shape of what they hold. Understanding the paradigm gives great power to
your endeavors. It helps you see the possibilities, and lets you bring
meaningful things to life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being
oblivious to the prevailing paradigm will lead to your work being ineffective
and irrelevant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which is tragic.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We can think about paradigms by looking at what changed and
what’s now possible, and then giving a name to all that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For instance, Uber exists in a paradigm we
can call “the Sharing Culture.” That paradigm changes how we think – and how we
CAN think – about transportation, as well as commerce and other domains.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 90’s saw the birth of an epoch-making paradigm called
the World Wide Web, where digital pages were connected with other digital pages.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has shifted to a paradigm called
“the Internet of Things,” where the objects I use and the very life I lead are
intertwined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Things and information are
connected to one another and are tied to my goals, my behaviors, and my location
in space and time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The increasing focus on customer experience in the
government sector is a result of the widening socialization of the Internet of
Things paradigm. It’s also a result of another, related paradigm shift.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t know what it’s called, I haven’t heard a good name
for it yet. Digimodernism. Selfie Realization. Here, the individual is at
center stage. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the old paradigm, culture is a spectacle before which we
sit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The author, the creator is primary,
while we, the audience, watch and listen. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the new paradigm, the spectacle does not and cannot exist
unless the individual intervenes. There is no Facebook unless we all write
stupid stuff in it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyone who reads a
post can, and is expected to, become a co-author. The interesting stuff is in
the comment section. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Look at what we’re doing right now. You have a presenter
standing up on a slightly elevated stage, an audience seated in a neat pattern
below, spoken words, pictures on a glowing screen, and earlier some music. On
the one hand, it looks like theater in a classic sense. But everyone here can
co-create this act. The interesting stuff in this performance, I think, is in
the twitter stream of reactions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We’re operating in a new paradigm of individual engagement
and co-authoring. This is why, if we critique Facebook for being banal, we’re
missing the point. If we judge it against a beautiful, controlled website from
the 90s, we’re not seeing the potential. Also, we’re not going to understand
where we can actually improve things. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To be effective, we have to understand the paradigm we’re
working in. We need good theories and methods to work with. And then we can do
that thing – make improvements or create something new.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h4 class="MsoNormal">
Join the Reframe IA discussion</h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you’d like to continue the
conversation on developing a language of critique, you’re invited to join the
Reframe IA LinkedIn group. Next steps for the group include publishing the
results of the roundtable this year and planning a workshop and other
activities for the 2016 IA Summit. Join at</span> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Reframe-IA-494524">https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Reframe-IA-494524</a>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h4 class="MsoNormal">
References</h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hurley, Matthew, Daniel Dennett, and Reginald Adams Jr., <a href="http://amzn.com/0262518694" target="_blank"><u>InsideJokes: Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind</u></a>, MIT Press, 2011</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">IA Summit, 2013, <a href="http://2013.iasummit.org/program/workshops/the-amazing-academics-practitioners-round-table/" target="_blank">Reframing IA Roundtable</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">IA Summit, 2014, <a href="http://2014.iasummit.org/teaching-ia-a-round-table-discussion-2/" target="_blank">Teaching IA Roundtable</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">IA Summit, 2015, <a href="http://www.iasummit.org/node/411" target="_blank">Language of Critique Roundtable</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lacerda, Flavia and Mamede Lima-Marques, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Information Architecture as a Discipline — A
Methodological Approach,</i> in <a href="http://amzn.com/3319064916" target="_blank"><u>Reframing Information Architecture</u></a>,
Springer International Publishing, 2014</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Malone, Erin, “<a href="http://www.emdezine.com/defining-a-language-of-critique/" target="_blank">Defining a language of critique</a>,”
2009</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Resmini, Andrea, <a href="http://amzn.com/3319064916" target="_blank"><u>Reframing Information Architecture</u></a>, ibid</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
van Gigch, John P., <a href="http://amzn.com/1489906789" target="_blank"><u>System Design Modeling and Metamodeling</u></a>,
Plenom Press, 1991</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-22308448101306490912015-08-04T16:19:00.001-04:002015-09-01T20:33:53.436-04:00Thoughts about a Discovery Sprint<style>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrt4PTBy_0FxdwFdYEb8Y37jrwctlOQyjvAkCzy7hbbeLkV6t8z7A89E9kEkqesfe9vYu0snIT8_XgAYEtEs49-3VAp5Ei5orfY_aRLx8GN_Ss7Qt6TAOPPTDm_vKWaxUi0LyAnA/s1600/Divergence+Thomas-Leth-Olsen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Tire tracks on a snowy road, diverging straight and to the right" border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrt4PTBy_0FxdwFdYEb8Y37jrwctlOQyjvAkCzy7hbbeLkV6t8z7A89E9kEkqesfe9vYu0snIT8_XgAYEtEs49-3VAp5Ei5orfY_aRLx8GN_Ss7Qt6TAOPPTDm_vKWaxUi0LyAnA/s320/Divergence+Thomas-Leth-Olsen.jpg" title="Divergence (Thomas Leth-Olsen)" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At a recent federal/industry roundtable
discussion, Greg Godbout, former director of <a href="https://18f.gsa.gov/consulting/">18F Consulting</a>, suggested that user
experience can be incorporated into agile development through the use of
something called a Discovery Sprint. GSA's boutique agile shop provides
this service as one of the short-term offerings on its menu. Now called a <a href="https://www.gv.com/sprint/">Design Sprint</a>, following Google Venture's
model, its purpose is "…to assess your team's or organization's readiness,
understand your customers and their needs, brainstorm ideas, and provide
guiding principles and recommendations to move forward."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">This advice reflects an understanding that, for all its strengths, one
of agile’s downsides is that it’s not a user centered method. Agile scrum is
optimized for rapid development and release of working code. It’s not optimized
to make products that will get adopted by end users. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Agile <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">can</i> result in products
that work for the consumer, but to do this reliably it’s necessary to make an
agile practice <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">also</i> a user centered
practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m aware of two ways agile scrum
can be refactored to include user centered design.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Idea 1:
Sprint 0 (aka Discovery Sprint or Design Sprint). </span></b><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Add a Sprint
0 in front of development for each release. This is where UX folks can carry out
UX activities that will set the development team up for Sprint 1. Thereafter,
keep UX ahead of development by a duration (i.e. in Sprint 1 do the UX for Sprint
2). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Pro: </span></i><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">UX becomes
part of the development process. Hurrah!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Con: </span></i><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">When design
is a different class of sprint, the team is siloed. Separated by a sprint, UXers
and developers are never focused on the same things. Sprint 0 works against the
idea of applying the strengths of a multi-disciplinary team to solving
problems. And it breaks iterating on solutions into hand-offs.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Workaround:</span></i><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> Have the
whole team participate in the discovery sprint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This leads to the following idea…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Idea 2:
Agile+Lean UX.</span></b><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> Incorporate UX into the work of everyone on the team, using Lean Startup principals and methods.</span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> Lean UX is a </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">collaborative, cross functional approach to product development that starts
with a multi-disciplinary team of UXers, coders, product managers, and other
relevant perspectives and skillsets. The team focuses foremost on finding and
solving the right problems. They jointly develop and test hypotheses, ensuring
technical viability and user satisfaction. From these shared understandings the
team continues to iterate, learning more about how the website, app, service,
or product they’re building should behave, building ever-richer features and
elaborations, with each stage tested and corrected in its turn.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Pros:<span style="color: #ff6600;"></span></span></i></div>
<ul>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">User engagement begins at
once. </span></b><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Starting with a pool of
representative end users lets the team conduct immediate interviews that
inform the very first design decisions.</span></li>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">End user testing is
lightweight and continuous.</span></b><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">
Concepts on possible solutions and low-fidelity prototypes get tested with
real users even as the first sprint kicks off. Testing continues
throughout design and development.</span></li>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">All team members do
design.</span></b><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> Design thinking methods
that are proven to be effective are baked into how the team comes up with
ideas and solves problems.</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Con:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Concerned that Agile+Lean UX (or any approach
that deeply incorporates<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>UX into
development) will slow the team down? The counter proposition is that nailing
the right problem and the right solution will deliver the right product, faster
overall.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Tools for
Design Thinking</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Here’s a short list of practical “how-tos” for doing rapid and
effective design thinking and user experience within an agile environment.
These can be applied in both Sprint 0 and Agile+Lean UX environments. <span style="color: #ff6600;"></span></span></div>
<ul>
<li>
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Planning documents (<a href="http://www.icfi.com/~/media/files/interactive/blog/ICF%20Lean%20UX%20Plan.ashx" target="_blank">Lean UX Plan</a>, “Ziegler Day
Plan”)</span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Team design charette exercises (<a href="http://www.icfi.com/~/media/files/interactive/blog/ICF%20Design%20Excersice.ashx" target="_blank">10+10 Design Thinking</a>,
Reversing Assumptions)</span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Shared understanding methods (Lightning Talks,
Business Origami)</span><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">User Assumptions documents (“We Believe”
worksheet, Lightweight User Profiles)</span><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Lo-fi to higher-fi prototypes (paper prototypes,
digital wireframes, interactive prototypes)</span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Discount user testing (<a href="http://www.icfi.com/~/media/files/interactive/blog/Featherweight%20.ashx" target="_blank">Featherweight UserTesting</a>)</span></li>
</ul>
StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-23787406231950129312015-04-23T07:50:00.003-04:002015-09-12T15:37:15.301-04:00Design Doing: Creating a Digital Practice<style>
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</style><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The environment matters</span></b>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRt3p_M73iCseE8j7HirodTlbZxRUkYd36P6Qf7t0RsNv49hBZ3xeemCThHnFthQWCOkOWfc-lxQ5CgStr6huUFQSvrTQmURbTx_28c7xf8xWDxMLRf94cK6zg7lYm1XEz-1veRA/s1600/Group+Test.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Researcher puts large paper prototype in front of subject matter experts for testing" border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRt3p_M73iCseE8j7HirodTlbZxRUkYd36P6Qf7t0RsNv49hBZ3xeemCThHnFthQWCOkOWfc-lxQ5CgStr6huUFQSvrTQmURbTx_28c7xf8xWDxMLRf94cK6zg7lYm1XEz-1veRA/s1600/Group+Test.jpg" title="Design doing in action" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The
environment we work in matters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It gives
us agency – the ability to affect things with our actions. As user experience
professionals, it’s important for us to think about transforming the business –
our environment – so Design Doing can happen.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><i>Listen to the podcast at http://library.iasummit.org/podcasts/design-doing-creating-a-digital-practice/ </i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"></span></b></div>
<a name='more'></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IA as commodity is stupid</b><br />
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Let’s
consider Jane, an information architect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She’s a problem solver. Someone who sees the big picture AND how the
little pieces fit together. Back in the 1990s, Jane was deeply engaged in
figuring out how websites should work. She was inventing how to do IA. That was
an interesting problem!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Solving it led
to a discipline, to methods, to patterns for deliverables. </span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Now
it’s 2015.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jane and her colleagues
around the world have a body of knowledge, which is great. But all too often
her work, her IA, is thought of as a product a project manager can pull off the
shelf and insert into the project when needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wireframes have become a commodity and a measure of productivity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like lines of code.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That
is just insane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Because
now the big problem is not how to make websites work. The big <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>problem is creating connected experiences for
people across digital and traditional channels. </span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<br /></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">IA as strategic
thinker is smart</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Jane,
the information architect, is a treasure because she sees the big picture and
the little pieces. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She can think
strategically WHILE solving problems for different audiences in different
conditions. Yes, she produce deliverables, and that’s important.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">But
Jane the IA is golden because she has the ability to change the game with her
thinking and doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">What
would happen if we could plug that gold into the machine that is our business? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if you could transform the environment by
your IA thinking?</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">You
can.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A little backstory</span></b></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Your
bosses read Forrester and Gartner. Or get advised by people who do. So everyone
knows, we need to level up our game for delivering digital services. Right now.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">My
company, ICF International, took a bold step and hired a visionary leader. She
stood up a Digital Strategy group, whose role is to ponder this world we’re in,
frame the problem domain, and turn vague ideas on digital and customer
experience into concrete instances where we make the world a better place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s an interesting problem!</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The
company is taking this a step further. This is not just about how we advise our
clients. We’re looking for internal transformations, too. So we have the
mandate to bring our IA thinking to bear and transform how people in the
company actually do our work. To give agency to Jane and to all of us, so we
can work together to solve the problems of the connected world.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Full
disclosure. My role in creating this Design Doing environment is angular and
fortuitous. Hey, I’m not that visionary who stood up the new division. I’m not
the corporate decision-maker who hired her. I’m someone in middle management
who got selected to join the team.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">However,
and this is what might be interesting and heartening, I got to the position of
BEING selected, I am part of CREATING this environment, because of something I
do. It’s something all serious user experience professionals do, as we
continually invent our profession. It’s something you can do to transform your
own work environment.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I
know and live my point of view. I look for the things I believe matter, that
will make the most difference. When I see that, I lock on and fly there,
regardless of what lies between.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In
the 1990s my point of view was that making websites that work for people really
mattered. Moreover, “websites that work” was a foundation for other,
as-yet-undiscovered things that were really going to matter. </span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In
2015 my point of view is this. In the world of delivering value to people, by whatever
channels, in whichever domains, it’s all customer experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because it’s all about service.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So
I get to be all about service. And I get to be part of transforming my group,
my division, and my company into a design doing environment. That’s the power
of the point of view.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">What’s in the kit?</span></b></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Now
let’s get tactical. We’ve got a Digital Strategy group with a mandate to make
the company competitive in the connected world, and transform how we do our own
work. What sorts of things do we do? </span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">First,
we have approaches, mantras. Like participatory, iterative, innovative, rapid,
communicative, capacity building. These should sound pretty familiar – and
important, and not necessarily easy. It’s one thing to talk about helping your
client build capacity, and quite another thing to orient your work in a way
that leaves your client able to do for themselves.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We
also have new processes, new client and team engagement methods and tools.
Here’s a brief overview of some of the key ones.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Volte</span></i></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Volte is a dressage training tool that uses a very
small circle, requiring maximum balance with a balanced use of resources. </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Our proprietary process incorporates this approach
to create maximum results for our clients. There are four phases.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Symbol; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Gather: We look at our
client’s entire digital ecosystem (web, social, mobile), collecting data to see
how well these are supporting and meeting objectives. </span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Symbol; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Discern: We get to know
the client’s digital presence and audiences. We uncover audiences’ online
behaviors and motivations and marry those to client goals and objectives. </span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Symbol; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Shape: We collaborate
with the client on what we learned and create a basis for common understanding.
Over the course of a 1–2 day session, we take the client through an intensive
workshop where we work with core influencers and decision makers to address
barriers, develop solutions, and work through the real-life implications of
those solutions. </span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Symbol; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Guide: Finally, the
client gets great ideas from a unique team that unites strategic understanding,
creative thinking, and big technical chops. We provide actionable
recommendations to help grow customer relationships, better leverage the tools,
and prepare for what’s next. </span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Volte 2-pager</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<br /></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Innovation Mining</span></i></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The
purpose of innovation mining is to show clients and prospects – and other
people in our company – that we can </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">infuse innovation </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">into our work, even under
constrained conditions. </span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We’re
doing this by a process of discovery and guidance. We</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Symbol; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Find
the innovative work and thinkers within our teams</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Symbol; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Tell
our stories of innovation to clients, prospects, and across our Division</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Symbol; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Improve
our support of client programs though innovative thinking and practices</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Symbol; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Help
teams bring multiple perspectives when developing and implementing client
strategy</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We’re
piloting innovation mining by identifying an initial group of projects where
innovation is happening, or where it should be happening, but isn’t. The
director of our 500-person Division invited the leadership of selected projects
to participate in an Innovation Mining Review (something like a thesis
defense), which involves the project team presenting their story to a panel of
reviewers, and then exploring what worked and how to take their innovations to
the next appropriate level. The results include a plan for each participating
project, and communications across the Division to socialize this way of
working.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Innovation
Mining 2-pager</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<br /></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Dry Runs, Hack Days, and Other New Things</span></i></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We’re
training ourselves to do many new things to raise our game and build design
doing into our delivery. One of those new things is to bring user centered
design into an agile development framework – for real. Incorporating Lean UX
into Agile is perhaps the most effective way to include the end user within the
circle of development’s tradition. It’s also a step towards a more evolved
paradigm in which the customer is truly at the center of the effort. Right now
we’re doing Agile+LeanUX Dry Runs, where we solve problems around data delivery
and standing up working code in very short– 3 day, 1 day, and even 1 hour –
sprints. Here are a few tools we developed to support that work.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Lean
UX Plan</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Featherweight
User Testing Template</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">10
+ 10 Design Thinking Exercise</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">How can you do this?</span></b></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">My
bottom line thoughts on how to transform the environment: Be true to your point
of view. Figure out what matters, and what will make the most difference. Then
go there! Don’t let circumstances, or your own considerations, stand in the
way. BE that person. Bring the best of what you know, have done, and have
always wanted to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">You
do have to make it work within the constraints. That’s a given. But digital
services, customer experience, and service design are a tide that’s lifting all
the boats right now. So be bold and go into those rarified spaces that need
things created in them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pilot,
experiment, seize the opportunities, communicate, celebrate, have fun.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">And
in so doing, create a Design Doing work environment. This is a place where all
the crazy and beautiful ideas we hatch and nurture become the normal way to
work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraphbold">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-4143670718484807552014-11-21T11:41:00.000-05:002014-11-21T11:41:52.453-05:00User Research: What’s in the Kit?<style>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicLCiRszUxmEVDXskKJAJXA_0E8eCf7soDvpRVRzjlqzS99rgjNFJOZ4EJsVkkSDSn5RjfWBUaw0ktqKIIqlBcscgsmD7Y1kkcwo0P52hJL7n0e88lZwNTvP6KznmAnxbLiF_mLQ/s1600/houser-bag1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="A small collection of items that can fit in a pocket, including a Field Notes notebook, pen, Leatherman tool, lighter, and wallet" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicLCiRszUxmEVDXskKJAJXA_0E8eCf7soDvpRVRzjlqzS99rgjNFJOZ4EJsVkkSDSn5RjfWBUaw0ktqKIIqlBcscgsmD7Y1kkcwo0P52hJL7n0e88lZwNTvP6KznmAnxbLiF_mLQ/s1600/houser-bag1.jpg" height="238" title="" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN";">When I prepared for my first
anthropological field research in West Africa, I carefully planned and packed all
the stuff I was going to carry. My kit had to be portable, and it had to
include everything I really needed to do my work (and stay sane).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN";">In the user
researcher’s portable kit of tools, there are a core set of items that let us
get the job done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These essential
articles pack very tight, because they’re made up of skills and attitudes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The following travel pack gives me the
confidence to get the job done in any setting – be it a conference room of
hostile contractors and distressed clients,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>an animated gathering of a rural women’s agricultural cooperative, a
dimly-lit coffee shop for guerrilla usability testing, or a well-lit,
well-managed usability lab.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Attitudes</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN";">My take on
doing research in the digital realm is rather prosaic. User research is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #ff6600;">practical,
applied work</span></b><span style="color: #ff6600;">,</span> and its purpose is
to help with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #ff6600;">better
decision making</span></b><span style="color: #ff6600;">.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes the tools and methods of inquiry used
across scientific disciplines, and it uses them in a narrowly focused way, to make
products work better or help teams solve design problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are the ninja of research!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Knowledge
and Skills</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN";">As research
ninjas, we have to be adept and rigorous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our recommendations guide the work development teams do, and change how systems
are built.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, our work
matters, so it needs to be right. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN";">The keys to
successful user research are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #ff6600;">strong planning</span></b><span style="color: #ff6600;">, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">solid execution</b>,</span> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #ff6600;">persuasive
presentation</span></b><span style="color: #ff6600;">.</span> A lot of specific
skills and areas of knowledge roll up under each of those headings. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN";">Planning</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN";">For a start,
planning is guided by an understanding of the client’s context and issues (e.g.
unfindable content, low customer satisfaction scores). Expressing the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #ff6600;">research</span></b><span style="color: #ff6600;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">problem</b></span>
is the first step in planning.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN";">It is also
essential to articulate an overarching <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #ff6600;">study goal</span></b> or research question that guides
the whole endeavor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The study goal is often
confused with data collection questions, but they are not the same thing. An
example of a study goal is: “Discover the key barriers preventing users from
signing up for an online account.” On the other hand, questions aimed at
learning user demographics, what time of day users access a website, or how
people feel about a feature are data collection questions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN";">Execution</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN";">Good researchers
command of a range of research <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #ff6600;">methods</span></b>, have the skills to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #ff6600;">analyze</span></b>
their findings, and have honed a talent for translating insights into
actionable <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #ff6600;">recommendations</span></b>.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN";">Data
collection methods and sources are many, and include interviews, usability
testing, usage and feedback data, contextual inquiry, and much more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tantalizing pitfall that many clients and
researchers fall into is to decide upon a method before identifying the problem
and the study goal. Do not select a method first!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN";">Making sense
of research findings (and properly planning research in the first place)
requires a firm grip of statistics. This proven practice for collecting,
analyzing, and interpreting numerical data allows us to make inferences about
the whole based on observations of a representative sample.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sounds like user research in a nutshell.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN";">Want your
research to sit on a shelf? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Talk a lot,
but say nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you just explain
your usability test and show your charts, you haven’t finished your work. Good
researchers deliver good ideas about solving the problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the whole reason for having done the
research in the first place. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN";">Presentation</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN";">One of the
most important, under-taught skills of user research is the ability to create
and deliver a powerful presentation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being
persuasive on paper and in person is key to delivering research value.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Researchers must present their messages in
ways that speak to the needs, expectations, and attention spans of clients and
team. The skilled researcher leads the listener to make good decisions by
telling a clear story that threads together the problem, the study design, the
findings, and the actionable advice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
persuasive presentation is also highly engaging – and short.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Packing
Up</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN";">In the context
of a user experience practice, research work has been, for me, a matter of
continually unpacking, improving upon, and repacking this core set of attitudes
and skills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each piece of the kit can be
quite simple to acquire and apply, and yet I find the work in its parts and as
a whole boundlessly challenging and interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Making it ultimately quite satisfying, too,
is that it shares the aim of all good user experience design – to </span><span style="font-family: "Sinhala Sangam MN"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;">make parts of the world better, and
create personal value for other people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-38172815429449736592014-10-01T16:15:00.000-04:002014-11-21T11:35:46.985-05:00Research: The Order of Things<style>
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</style><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNuneJ2M7JuStKWU1tBp2QAXevPyib73mt393x33KPsZzsOciXHq47l5cJKvGifU8wHSUq7dRJ5xafYVeuksQ1ziOqksuhz_-NJLZDLnH7JgiEN3WhYBoB_X0HIhlo20jGfqmUw/s1600/order-hawkexpress3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Wall and stairway of books with stickers making a nearly solid collage of yellow squares - signifying the concept of a chaotic kind of "order"" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNuneJ2M7JuStKWU1tBp2QAXevPyib73mt393x33KPsZzsOciXHq47l5cJKvGifU8wHSUq7dRJ5xafYVeuksQ1ziOqksuhz_-NJLZDLnH7JgiEN3WhYBoB_X0HIhlo20jGfqmUw/s1600/order-hawkexpress3.jpg" height="200" title="Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkexpress/" width="150" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the Digital Strategy group at ICF International,
my user experience team gets frequent requests for support in planning and
carrying out a special kind of inquiry called user research. This practice encompasses
usability and a wide range of other investigatory activities that are all aimed
at finding out what will work for the people who will use your system. </span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">How Research Helps</span></span><br />
<div class="Sinhalaparagraph">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">User research is practical, applied work. It takes
the tools and methods of investigation common to all scientific disciplines and
uses them for concrete purposes. We do user research to <span style="color: #ff6600;">make <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">products work better</span></span>
or help <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #ff6600;">teams
make better decisions</span></span>. The goal of user research is to devise ways
to gain insights that will help solve design problems. The keys to success are
strong research planning, solid execution, and persuasive presentation.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraph">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Planning and the Order of Things</span></span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraph">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When planning user research, we typically first
identify a <span style="color: #ff6600;">problem</span>. This might be a problem
with a service, a product, or a situation. We then articulate the overarching <span style="color: #ff6600;">study goal or research question</span>
that guides the work, that will get us to an answer which will help us solve the problem.
The next step is to decide upon the research <span style="color: #ff6600;">methods</span>.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraph">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">That's the order. Problem statement, research question, method.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To belabor the point, we identify research
questions first and figure out a way to answer those questions second. That <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">may<i> </i></span>sound obvious. Yet in
practice clients often ask us to do it the other way. Without having clearly
defined their problem, identified their goals, or put into words the questions
they need answers to, clients will say: "do an online survey" or
"run a usability test."</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraph">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Author and researcher <a href="http://itsourresear.ch/" target="_blank">Tomer Sharon</a> says: "If you
pick a methodology first, something must be wrong." In our practice, we anticipate
the urge to start with a method first, and then help our clients do things in the
right order.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraph">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Successful user research requires us to understand stakeholders
as well as users. Therefore, we work to bring empathy and insight into the
conditions and problems faced by our line of business partners and their clients.
It’s important to know what's driving a client to take shortcuts or jump to
conclusions. But we also bring to the situation our practiced knowledge of how
to do effective user research.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraph">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I tell my team: Be confident in your mastery of the
methodology, and keep the dialogue open with your client. This combination lets
us help you do things the right way.</span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraph">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="Sinhalaparagraph">
<br /></div>
StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-38044006775759729642012-12-20T15:54:00.001-05:002012-12-20T15:58:20.960-05:00The Dubious Waves of Error<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-kaaWCrxkGYc8xsF27gBGa0_BHinDjiJFamSya2wJeEJAWasWaT8RuvZOmg3YK0Y46Owvu6GZG5ZywN1Y6iF_x8hMeck2i_ckFyz99HsUsNEuzoylekgFqPfRsyu9kySS07hTVQ/s1600/DutchShipFoundering_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-kaaWCrxkGYc8xsF27gBGa0_BHinDjiJFamSya2wJeEJAWasWaT8RuvZOmg3YK0Y46Owvu6GZG5ZywN1Y6iF_x8hMeck2i_ckFyz99HsUsNEuzoylekgFqPfRsyu9kySS07hTVQ/s320/DutchShipFoundering_large.jpg" title="Hendrick Staets - A Dutch Ship Foundering Off a Rocky_Coast" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpFirst">
From the customer’s point of view, an
error message is a crisis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you’re
hit by an error on a website, you’re in trouble – by definition. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To make things worse, the message can be so
cryptic it stops you dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>poorly-designed error message drives you to a
competitor’s site, on the phone with the call center, back to paper-based
processes, or just giving up.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpLast">
Don’t let this happen to your users!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’ll take work, but make the effort to
establish consistent and effective messages and standards for your websites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The end result should be simple; the error
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lets them get on with their business.</div>
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</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpLast">
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Error Messages
Defined</span></b></div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01">
Errors are any messages to the end user that
state or imply that an interactive process can’t go forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This goes beyond dialog boxes (and by the way
DON’T let your messages look like the example below).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Error messages include notes on forms (required
fields are not filled out, or entered values are incorrect), alerts (a service
outage is coming that will affect visitors), and, of course, dialogs for web
applications (a backend service you rely on is not available).</div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOMTF7isBGonl6-2g5f6iuMefA79r1SI2IEBwcjMKIaZWv2l4Bj8feR7tCau23s25nEA7OJgXfz1scU12eOCKP7eoGydPSw328oZoYyuBaFDykNNbrfmRiA0_XpH_uvfgWXQKCmg/s1600/QuickTime-random-error.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="92" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOMTF7isBGonl6-2g5f6iuMefA79r1SI2IEBwcjMKIaZWv2l4Bj8feR7tCau23s25nEA7OJgXfz1scU12eOCKP7eoGydPSw328oZoYyuBaFDykNNbrfmRiA0_XpH_uvfgWXQKCmg/s200/QuickTime-random-error.png" title="Poor Error Message" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--> All the messages a user might
encounter while on your site should be considered “your” errors, regardless of
whether generated from your system, your identity/management (login) vendor,
your payment partner, the HR department at your firm, or whatever other user-facing
systems and silos you integrate with.
</div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpMiddle">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Challenge
Alert: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Your problem is larger than
you thought. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition to fixing your
own, you need to establish standards with your partners, or select partners who
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>already follow the same customer-first
messaging standards you do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
recommendation will be extremely difficult to carry out. However, when you
succeed, you’ll be in the same league as the best customer service providers on
the planet.</div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Tenets of
Excellent Error Messages</span></b></div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpFirst">
As a general principle, and as always
in designing interfaces, do the hard work to make it easier for the user.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good error messages do three things: </div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Make it clear there’s
a problem, and why.</span></i></div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Make
the error message noticeable at a glance.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Explain
in plain language that an error happened, and what the error is.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If
you really can’t tell them what’s wrong, don’t obfuscate. Confess.</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Help the visitor
successfully recover with a minimum of effort.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Explain
in plain language how the visitor can recover.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Place
the message on the screen in a place that facilitates the visitor taking action.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Don’t
force visitors to retype data they’ve already entered correctly.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If
you can’t help, say so. Don’t send people on a wild goose chase to customer
service.</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Remain
consistent in tone, style, and delivery across the site.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Use
the same visual hierarchy for all error messages.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Use
a consistent editorial style to write all error messages.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Apply
the same interaction design to errors that you use for other interactive
elements.</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01">
</div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Building Better
Error Messages for eBenefits</span></b></div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpFirst">
Our user experience team is tackling
the challenges of improving error messaging on an important Veteran-facing website,
the <a href="https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/" target="_blank">eBenefits</a> portal (Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of
Defense).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The portal is an enterprise-wide
effort involving multiple internal partners, development teams, and
services.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So our approach includes
developing content, visual, and coding standards for everyone, and helping
everyone to apply them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We created an
Editorial Style Guide with specific techniques for writing error messages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 112%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">We put together a Visual Style
Guide that describes, for instance, how to apply the portal’s </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 112%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">treatment
of headers, typography, and content to </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 112%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">make the </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 112%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">error
message area obvious and its components easy to scan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we have a Partner Integration guide that
shows how to code the front end for clear and consistent messaging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpLast">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 112%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The example below shows
an online form with several types of in-line error messaging patterns that
apply when the user submits the form with empty or invalid field entries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first element is a tool tip activated by
mousing over an item.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other elements
highlight empty or invalid field labels and text boxes and demonstrate
messaging around them. </span></div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6UC7IDi-3xE_fGclJayOmdHjVwAb-jbbO1zooESnHrKP-rD7I-gjRAUVc2ny1f4eh0LKai9GP9qynoRHwwrsfYlaiXHXFU6aflb1dJPsD_iMPJrxLH-wgzrxpHxLsCNFIOQtXjw/s1600/Form+Field+Error.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6UC7IDi-3xE_fGclJayOmdHjVwAb-jbbO1zooESnHrKP-rD7I-gjRAUVc2ny1f4eh0LKai9GP9qynoRHwwrsfYlaiXHXFU6aflb1dJPsD_iMPJrxLH-wgzrxpHxLsCNFIOQtXjw/s640/Form+Field+Error.png" title="Visual Hierarchy for Form Field Errors" width="573" /></a></div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpLast">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 112%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpLast">
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</span></div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpFirst">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 112%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Here’s how this example
encompasses the 3 keys we’ve talked about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">makes it clear there’s a
problem. </b>Through visual placement,hierarchy, and color, this form makes it
obvious when something is wrong. It <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">helps
the visitor recover.</b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>The messages
are written clearly, and the steps to move forward are spelled out. Where
possible, there are suggestions on what the correct field values might be. And
it’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">consistent.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From content through visual design to
interaction design, the style remains the same for messages and for every other
element of the portal.</span></div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">For More
Information</span></b></div>
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01CxSpFirst">
There are several great resources out
there on the topic of crafting great error messages for the web. We suggest you
check out the following for more information.</div>
<ul>
<li>U.S. Government Plain Language
Guidelines, www.plainlanguage.gov</li>
<li>Defensive Design for the Web, Matthew
Linderman, New Riders, 2004<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 112%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span> </li>
<li>Usability Engineering, Jakob Nielsen,
Morgan Kaufmann, 1993</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<div class="eBenefits-TextHeader01">
</div>
<br />StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-83878811570833272732011-01-04T15:02:00.009-05:002011-01-04T15:05:02.835-05:00User Research on the Team<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJUFYybJKodoXMXPDApjbg2ysT40A3pDYGYJ7zbbOYlBGX1kAu2vfX1YeE8cimAnhzwZqRblBYeqvLvOBVM12Eae6IbLa5bjG8NsIYW3I_STHQ-mt8RvThJD_kWzeGDXHjCkiZRQ/s1600/Fight-For-User.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJUFYybJKodoXMXPDApjbg2ysT40A3pDYGYJ7zbbOYlBGX1kAu2vfX1YeE8cimAnhzwZqRblBYeqvLvOBVM12Eae6IbLa5bjG8NsIYW3I_STHQ-mt8RvThJD_kWzeGDXHjCkiZRQ/s200/Fight-For-User.jpg" title="I Fight For the User. All rights reserved by James.houston.texas" width="200" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Customers need websites that work. Business owners need projects that deliver on organizational goals. IT developers need to know what to build. Enter user experience: the profession that bridges the gaps.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">User experience (UX) team members ensure that business needs are identified, buildable blueprints are delivered to IT, and end users get websites and applications that engage them, delight them, persuade them, answer their questions, and exceed their needs and expectations.</div><div class="entry-more"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Research plays a critical role in the sphere of user experience. User research boils down to finding and listening to the voice of the customer. This strategic approach works particularly well when carried out collaboratively, with the participation of business, IT, and users alike. The user researcher translates the mandate to "fight for the user" into specific research activities, trackable metrics, actionable reports, and more. The lead researcher will also look at how user research can creatively permeate many aspects of an IT project and even extend into related channels. For instance, research can engage with the help desk, marketing department, and social media manager, to the mutual benefit of all. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In my current project, I serve as User Experience Team Lead for a major government web portal. One of our first actions two years ago was to establish a solid foundation for user research that would work within an Agile development environment. That meant our research activities had to be fast, focused, and answer critical interface questions for features that were just about to be built. One piece included setting up a large and representative user engagement pool from which we could draw respondents on short notice. Another was to lay out our research tools up front in a roll-your-own user research handbook. Another element was to put a range of metrics into place, and we now track help desk stats, ACSI survey results, web analytics, and media mentions, and create regular briefings on all these findings. We also succeeded in establishing a participatory research approach that engages users, team members, and business owners in the process of collecting information and translating it into improved design decisions. Furthermore, the UX team has begun supporting stakeholders with research for marketing and communication efforts on behalf of related projects. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Baking in user research can also pay unexpected benefits. A powerful lobby approached the business owner of my current government project and wanted to know how their constituents were being served by this high-profile web portal. Preparing a report was a simple matter, and our in-person briefing demonstrated that the voices of their constituents have been represented throughout the process via interviews, card sorting exercises, focus groups, and prototype tests. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In short, research gives us tools that work for the project, the owners, and the users. Having user research on the team is a win for everyone. </span> </div>StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-54455307853879001142010-05-13T14:48:00.006-04:002011-01-04T15:05:35.917-05:00eGovernment Challenges and Information Architecture<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimmGEpgQb62IXTdqHXt-3-TFlw2i2qvgWSgxpox5LAsp2ynlOHeeBV4M5rZJoYBIQ2mGIU2DtBXuO5KKfuZESSpmzX2uq1ryX1Rz5s6oqPRRDGBpxHDY7EnhOPJHn6oc8mduw0-A/s1600/eGovTable.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimmGEpgQb62IXTdqHXt-3-TFlw2i2qvgWSgxpox5LAsp2ynlOHeeBV4M5rZJoYBIQ2mGIU2DtBXuO5KKfuZESSpmzX2uq1ryX1Rz5s6oqPRRDGBpxHDY7EnhOPJHn6oc8mduw0-A/s200/eGovTable.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Government work provides profound, often deeply frustrating, and generally amazing wide-reaching opportunities to apply our IA/UX powers in the service of millions. But this year’s Information Architecture Summit had no sessions specifically about IA in government settings. <br />
<br />
And so I asked... “Shall we lunch?”<br />
<a name='more'></a><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div>A group of Washington, DC government IAs and representatives from Canada and Sweden formed a topic table to start the discussion. During our hour we had time for lots of questions, a few answers, and some very interesting lines of inquiry.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Going Beyond Silos</b></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There are political and developmental challenges to delivering access to applications and data across organizations. But there is a desire among government project owners to share, pointed out Duane Degler, who consultants for U.S. government agencies. Yet it’s hard for them to find others in the ecosystem with whom to share. Most government employees work either in delivery programs or in operational support of delivery programs. Civil servants often find their program mandates don’t reward, enable, or even allow collaboration. There is a need for agencies to change their processes, and opportunities to use new technologies and conceptual models to support that.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">New paradigms, like Open and Transparent Governance, are indeed emerging. Under this aegis we can see examples of data sharing and public transparency on Data.gov http://www.data.gov/ for the US and Data.gov.uk http://data.gov.uk/ in Great Britain. </span><br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As another example, Murray Thompson brought up the new, <a href="http://open311.org/">Open311 API</a> for service requests from citizens to local government. <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com/">FixMyStreet</a> lets citizens throughout Great Britain report local problems. San Francisco set up a Twitter hashtag to tweet issues to the 311 service, and has just released its <a href="http://www.citysourced.com/">CitySourced mobile app</a>. Washington, DC, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Toronto are among those who are building apps and mashups under the new API. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The </span><a href="http://www.ebenefits.va.gov/" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">eBenefits </a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">portal that Ironworks Consulting is engaged in is a joint Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense project by mandate. While inter-departmental and inter-organizational cooperation therefore had the green light, from the beginning it’s been a challenge to broker permission into a reality. The key was to start with those business partners who see the vision and are willing to play, and then build a sucessful platform that everyone wants to get involved with. More thoughts on challenges and timelines for big eGovernment projects are in the blog article </span><a href="http://fitandfinish.ironworks.com/2009/12/citizencentric-portals-in-a-nutshell.html" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Citizen-Centric Portals In a Nutshell</a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZbsjxqVGuXtUYyG7Q1CFN7vTMx7ffKrBnxjzBTyDitOdcMz3B617eTZ_JmVKYuG9RKyKx3z-W8Zx97CJiV-vJTU9-fVcbnmoIXBewgoeBiyzK1eR5hOFJnIkyGiXrhyphenhyphen9HaKIYbg/s1600/TableSketch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZbsjxqVGuXtUYyG7Q1CFN7vTMx7ffKrBnxjzBTyDitOdcMz3B617eTZ_JmVKYuG9RKyKx3z-W8Zx97CJiV-vJTU9-fVcbnmoIXBewgoeBiyzK1eR5hOFJnIkyGiXrhyphenhyphen9HaKIYbg/s200/TableSketch.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <b>Cross-channel service design</b><br />
Jonas Sonders talked about a Swedish social security help desk project in 2007 with the goal of increasing the number of hard questions staff have to deal with, while also reducing the number of staff. To achieve this, they made the simpler questions self-service, put an AI chat avatar into place, and created a “my page” for answers. <br />
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But to make this work, productivity expectations have to change (e.g. it must be okay for help desk staff to take longer to answer questions). Content has to be written to answer the hard questions. Everyone and everything has to be ramped up. In fact, the help desk vision is now out-stripping the underlying information structure. To keep up, solutions from an architecture point of view include, for instance, putting hooks in the system between data entry and information.<br />
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<b>Semantics, persistence, ontologies</b><br />
Thom Haller, who teaches and consults on writing for the web, introduced a discussion on “persistence.” What are ways of capturing classifications and organizing schemes so they get carried with the related data into the future? This is a challenge for NARA, Library of Congress, and other long-term archival receivers-of-information. Lea Taylor of MITRE pointed out that content owners ask that their blogs be archived and distributed via CD, although no user interactivity via comments are possible then. Furthermore, what needs to be discoverable in the web-enabled government? For instance, are tags legally discoverable? What’s the disposition policy and where does it come from? (In the US the answer to that question is that while the National Archives would have the ultimate voice, someone at the agency in question proposes a disposition policy.)<br />
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A follow-on discussion was held on sharing vocabulary models and classification schemes. We touched on how we might share vocabulary models (thesauri, tag models, ontologies) across groups (agencies, departments, federal/state/local, or even international) to support linking data and cross-fertilizing content. <br />
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<b>The good news</b><br />
The bottom line is there are ever-growing opportunities for IAs to build platforms for citizen-centric government. And to do so successfully, we need to continue bringing an enterprise-focused point of view to the table, including strategic and cross-channel thinking. </div>StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-80307523534411721302010-04-24T20:18:00.017-04:002015-11-30T12:43:39.447-05:00Service Design and the Customer’s Journey<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXtxLL1RpCl-QOgNGi2kQEplLeUPz_zfWaweDVMWCeBoN4_SirvpNMeCCa2s6ZYakYekmSKdRhFzxEzEJvV7boIwLHJVNaBG9uPs6gYyAvdCHFTA0KPeQu9BxPNHwqmYTibtjxJQ/s1600/Phone-Advert-Ti.mo.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="Park-Advert. Source: Ti.mo (Flickr)" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464081430408376914" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXtxLL1RpCl-QOgNGi2kQEplLeUPz_zfWaweDVMWCeBoN4_SirvpNMeCCa2s6ZYakYekmSKdRhFzxEzEJvV7boIwLHJVNaBG9uPs6gYyAvdCHFTA0KPeQu9BxPNHwqmYTibtjxJQ/s200/Phone-Advert-Ti.mo.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 134px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Call it by other names – multi-channel service design, customer relationship management, cross-channel experience design, customer experience. We’re talking about how people interact with a whole system, over time.</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br />
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To get your head around it, think about the customer’s journey. We have no control over the path our customers use. They approach us from all angles... from our website, some else’s website, phone, kiosk, bricks-and-mortar location, help desk, walking billboard, social media locale. They go where ever they will to get further information or complete a transaction. From the customer’s point of view, they’re just interacting with our brand. And they don’t care about what channel they’re using.</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br />
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That’s why we have to care.</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Service Design is Hot</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br />
Designing for the customer experience was one of four main themes of this year’s <a href="http://www.iasummit.org/">IA Summit</a>. Four sessions I attended either addressed it directly or used work products from a service design exercise to make a point. Outside that conference, the topic is either just emerging or has been around for decades, depending on where you look. Recently it’s been talked about in Peter Morville’s <a href="http://semanticstudios.com/publications/semantics/000633.php">Ubiquitous Service Design</a> blogpost, by Tim Brown of IDEO on <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_brown_urges_designers_to_think_big.html">Design Thinking</a> last year at TED, and in web collections such as <a href="http://www.servicedesigntools.org/">ServiceDesignTools</a> and the Flickr <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/servicedesign/">Service Design group</a>.</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Tools for Service Design</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br />
Service design can be integrated into user experience projects with some tools to help organize your design thinking and communicate and collaborate with your clients about it.</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br />
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The first step in grappling with designing for the whole customer experience is to create a simple <span style="font-weight: bold;">Service Inventory</span>. Identify 1) the <span style="font-weight: bold;">touchpoints </span>where the user interacts with the company or product, and 2) the <span style="font-weight: bold;">services </span>being provided by the company or product. Then create a grid with touchpoints along the top and services as rows, and fill in the details.</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbgCgbJgfeDA_kinhPh-6enpXTz4qmdBotUtVWO1xs5vHohSAIqu-JBKzdimac_MxMH5FkJxfhYhhvoEnXPyij48EjJRpRzLox1BOKQqsGNd9lraZKI23KZ5EpjC_xgp6CE7gI6Q/s1600/service-inventory-nform-tri.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="Service Inventory. Source: nForm" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464083022221109602" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbgCgbJgfeDA_kinhPh-6enpXTz4qmdBotUtVWO1xs5vHohSAIqu-JBKzdimac_MxMH5FkJxfhYhhvoEnXPyij48EjJRpRzLox1BOKQqsGNd9lraZKI23KZ5EpjC_xgp6CE7gI6Q/s320/service-inventory-nform-tri.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 150px; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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A number of examples of the Service Inventory appeared throughout sessions at the IA Summit, including the <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/jessmcmullin/leaving-flatland-crosschannel-customer-experience-design">Leaving Flatland: Cross-Channel Customer Experience Design</a> workshop, <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/resmini/pervasive-ia-ia-summit">Pervasive IA for the Augmented Tomorrow</a> session, and the <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/mauvyrusset/experience-strategy-dealing-with-a-ux-midlife-crisis-4859480">Vanguard Experience Strategy</a> session. Other templates are available online, for instance on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=%22service+blueprint%22&s=rec&z=m">Flickr </a>and <a href="http://www.servicedesigntools.org/">ServiceDesignTools</a>.</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br />
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A next step is to come up with a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Customer Service Blueprint</span>. This is more elaborated view of the system, which 1) differentiates services that are <span style="font-weight: bold;">visible </span>to the user and those that are <span style="font-weight: bold;">backstage</span>, and 2) shows <span style="font-weight: bold;">relationships among</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">journeys through</span> the services and touchpoints.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCZgUAMfYvrP3yVK02Qw-3IpsE36YOC3B400p2wWQD74QLDIs42noVRCN2NmluaZE2cTEWKXntZAKOTEsZPWog0rDlwBB7lW8kYDQ3bcioHd4wGwuIfVkqnX5dvsq9PgSfly3d8A/s1600/Service-blueprint-AdaptivePath.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="Customer Service Blueprint. Source: Adaptive Path" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464084095851370402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCZgUAMfYvrP3yVK02Qw-3IpsE36YOC3B400p2wWQD74QLDIs42noVRCN2NmluaZE2cTEWKXntZAKOTEsZPWog0rDlwBB7lW8kYDQ3bcioHd4wGwuIfVkqnX5dvsq9PgSfly3d8A/s320/Service-blueprint-AdaptivePath.png" style="cursor: pointer; height: 247px; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br />
A third tool called a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Service Prototype</span> models or mocks-up the customer experience. For example, Business Origami, created by Hitachi and adapted by nForm, is a tabletop tool that simulates the service experience through specific touchpoints. It’s used to describe current states and explore future scenarios. For instance, at their IA Summit workshop Jess McMullin and Samantha Starmer had participants use Business Origami to map scenarios for services within a conference hotel environment.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUP6dLZtWOsWmBIghurzLGfUOaBfuyF1aQlNBUomnRF8XhgX3TWQUWffIvfkXS5KYg4eBGtCBPUmalFMXbQudRnkyrP50E4t03j9z916Qc4O3W4bXSLmvCSZmiraQWtuv8uKofVA/s1600/business-origami.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="Business Origami. Source: nForm. Photo: Stacy Surla" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464084466212134946" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUP6dLZtWOsWmBIghurzLGfUOaBfuyF1aQlNBUomnRF8XhgX3TWQUWffIvfkXS5KYg4eBGtCBPUmalFMXbQudRnkyrP50E4t03j9z916Qc4O3W4bXSLmvCSZmiraQWtuv8uKofVA/s320/business-origami.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 240px; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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As with all these tools, a Service Prototype can be workshopped by the design team or created in collaboration with clients, designers, and users.</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Selling Service Design</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br />
Along with many service channels come many service owners. How can you convince all these stakeholders you have insights that can improve the customer experience? A couple of tips and thoughts:</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Look into how service owners get incentivized when transactions happen via channels other than their own. Work those angles (and/or suggest a business process improvement that adds such incentives).</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Let your metrics include success across channels – e.g. does your email newsletter also drive traffic to the retail store?</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Don’t try to boil the ocean; instead think about channel pairs. For instance, make connections between the call center and the website.</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Tell stories – fairy tales – about how experience could be and should be for your customers.</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Put It Into Play</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br />
In short, just step up to the plate and own the passages that make up your customer’s journey. By the use of some straight-forward tools and processes (which are mostly extensions of items that should be in your user experience toolkit already), you can incorporate service design thinking and deliverables into your overall practice.</span> </span>StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-36686846670010608092010-03-23T12:59:00.005-04:002010-04-26T11:16:40.470-04:00Searching for the Fundamental Flaw<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeVPGNgcxilJLKvpUJolJ9JKaJH13YZ9KNv-Lm6rG6AMGxRmxoWMrwWGd_g2R15zusfwxMdsKWYaOAGSom0skAmXEfLFe1skSAEfgcJI1Wie4-8xGbeweX24d7pdSztN7zhUHX7A/s1600-h/Railroad_by_Pro-Zak.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451875345990309794" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeVPGNgcxilJLKvpUJolJ9JKaJH13YZ9KNv-Lm6rG6AMGxRmxoWMrwWGd_g2R15zusfwxMdsKWYaOAGSom0skAmXEfLFe1skSAEfgcJI1Wie4-8xGbeweX24d7pdSztN7zhUHX7A/s200/Railroad_by_Pro-Zak.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 135px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px;" /></a><span style="font-family: arial;">I daydream occasionally about a hypothetical candy box of doctorates, from which I might some day pluck a thesis to pursue. The creamy center of each potential research project is a variation on the urgent question HEY,WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON HERE! </span> <span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
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Among many burning questions, I really want to know: Why is software for users SO difficult to design well? </span> <span style="font-family: arial;">To put some perspective on this, I wonder...</span> <br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Can consciousness in the universe be understood as an attribute of the mind of God? (Department: Philosophy)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">How do we bring an observer across the liminal space between audience and stage and thus into participation – and make her go back again? (Department: Theater)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">How can one help readers and writers from a western / linear literary tradition understand and tell non-linear narratives? (Department: Literature) </span></li>
</ul><span style="font-family: arial;">(Wait, wait, that last one was my graduate thesis. Well, the practical answer is: get a job as an information architect.)</span> <span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
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Personally, I think all my questions are relevant to user experience. But again, perhaps the most pressing one is: </span> <span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Why is software for users SO difficult to design well?</span> (Department: Computer Science)</span> <span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
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My theory is as follows. There was something twisted about how information technology came into being on the planet Earth. It didn’t have to be this way, and on other worlds it may have developed quite differently – perhaps organically instead of mechanically, perhaps initiated by artists or librarians or composers instead of by adolescent suburban math geeks. But in our reality, as a result of how this all got started, user-facing aspects of all information systems inherit foundational flaws that make it necessary for the user experience profession to exist. If that is so, then what are those flaws?<br />
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</span><span style="font-family: arial;">I should confess I’ve received no props for this theory so far. When I posed the question at a think-tank knowledge-share meeting, I got blank and silent stares from 200 pairs of engineering eyeballs. When I chatted with my friend Eric Reiss about this theory, he waved his hand and told me all new ideas get built wrong at first – that for instance chairs as we know them didn’t exist until something like the 15th century. But I don’t buy it – I know there’s something going on here. </span> <span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
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And some day, I mean to find out what it is.</span>StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-9051702095337933852010-01-08T08:25:00.002-05:002010-04-26T11:16:52.749-04:00Metadata, Taxonomies, Vocabularies - Do What?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyRfQnBgJh5b4USFYOyOj0DHLSYFoIs5AaKkt9ljXBJSrOwiCA7cs68bx6sEw6mjF-nRMGzyYa8FFNGFCwJzmU_vQtWY3lQH3AqSB1GdiOujAME_-pPQFmWx8rtwZF2qv2vY8LRg/s1600-h/orpheus.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444400511671429538" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyRfQnBgJh5b4USFYOyOj0DHLSYFoIs5AaKkt9ljXBJSrOwiCA7cs68bx6sEw6mjF-nRMGzyYa8FFNGFCwJzmU_vQtWY3lQH3AqSB1GdiOujAME_-pPQFmWx8rtwZF2qv2vY8LRg/s200/orpheus.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 182px;" /></a>Imagine standing in front of a wall of cubbies filled with parchment scrolls, and not being to find the Tractatus you know exists in there. Or no – make that try to find the right health insurance claim form on your corporate intranet. Your predicament is as old as civilization itself. And content classification structures, including tools like metadata and taxonomy, were invented thousands of years ago to deal with it. <br />
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But let’s say you want to build one of these taxonomy or metadata things yourself. You might first want to figure out what those terms mean – though ironically enough, there are creative differences over how they’re defined and used. Nonetheless, the following offers a high-level description of these key terms.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Taxonomies </span>arrange content objects into relationships. The folder structure on your computer is a taxonomy of files and groupings. A good office supplies website uses a taxonomy of products so you can find and purchase supplies. The government uses taxonomies as well; for instance, the DoD Core Taxonomy is a set of categories for people, processes and technologies to support the fulfillment of Department of Defense missions. Pretty interesting stuff!<br />
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Taxonomies are also knowledge maps that enable you to see the shape of the knowledge domain. The tree structure of a site map tells you at a glance how the sections and subsections of a website relate to one another. And if you’ve ever held a copy of Roget’s thesaurus, you’ve had a taxonomy of the English language in your hand.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Metadata </span>are detailed elements that give us a way to categorize and standardize how things are described within a taxonomy. The best-known scheme for metadata is Dublin Core, a set of 15 elements including “title,” “creator,” and “subject.” A metadata specification defines the attributes of each element (e.g. name, definition, comments, and references), but doesn’t dictate its vocabularies or the format in which the elements appear. By separating the metadata scheme from the vocabularies, you give yourself a system that is flexible and technology-independent. <br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Vocabularies </span>are lists of words used to categorize content objects. A list of U.S. federal agencies, a list of attributes of wines, and a list of music genres are all examples. If a controlled vocabulary is being used, then every website or database would call each term by the same name (or a taxonomy would specify a clear and explicit relationship among the terms being used). So “Department of Veterans Affairs” or “VA” could be terms in a controlled vocabulary, while “Vets Affairs” would (probably) not be. In fact, lists of terms that don’t adhere to an explicit, agreed-upon, and managed classification structure are known as “uncontrolled vocabularies.” <br />
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Taken together, metadata, controlled vocabularies, taxonomies, thesauri, ontologies, and other content classification structures provide a system for making statements about information objects – statements that allow things to be findable, manageable, and even interoperable. Ultimately, it’s all about getting your hands on that damned form. Or finally being able to curl up with a nice, warm Tractatus.StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-68293499998708574292009-11-17T14:15:00.010-05:002010-04-26T11:17:08.608-04:00Citizen-Centric Portals<img alt="U.S. Service Member" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411494601777490482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidfpbWTwMxb430079t0y88msWw2bwHsgY7veo4QQXLceQb250-rqemlZC8cnTFPnP8Yr7btwM2UhOsON8yTJ8o9NUB6cb9Upbe-6bXIqz5znCY21WuASRkWp9HUP6pIxPRSqSd9A/s400/promo_trusted_clip.jpg" style="float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 229px;" />I'm working on a citizen-facing, U.S. government portal in the early stages of becoming an exemplar for e-Government services. I did a peer review to identify other sites that also: 1) Steward and present content from across organizations, 2) Require close inter-organizational coordination for user authentication to deliver secure access to applications and data, and 3) Have to pull everyone involved up by the bootstraps to get the job done. <br />
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Here's what I found. <br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Commitment to eGovernance</span> <br />
Governments throughout the world are demonstrating growing commitment to the ideal of citizen-centric governance. The classic approach to realizing this via a portal is to develop one-stop, online access to an array of government services. This gets developed in stages: <br />
<ul><li>Catalog of information, with links to content hosted externally</li>
<li>Catalog of interactive and transactional e-services, with links to applications hosted externally</li>
<li>Integrated platform for citizen engagement and collaboration</li>
<li>Integrated delivery of all government information and services</li>
<li>Integration of private as well as public services</li>
</ul><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <br />
User-centered Approach</span> <br />
The user experience on government portals is likewise seen on a scale of maturity: <br />
<ul><li>Focus on defined citizen groups</li>
<li>Access to information and services organized around simple topics</li>
<li>Elaboration of information organization around “life events” and expanded topics</li>
<li>Focus on universal access through multiple language versions and accessibility to individuals with disabilities</li>
<li>Expanded focus to include, businesses, government employees, and interstate/international visitors</li>
</ul><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <br />
Game Changers</span> <br />
Visionary government portal projects tend to change the culture of government itself by their very existence. For instance: <br />
<ul><li>Delivering a functioning portal at any level depends on successful back-office integration of information systems and business processes through a shared or negotiated infrastructure. This involves carrying out challenging inter-agency technical integration and process re-engineering.</li>
<li>A robust portal catalyzes the development of new electronic services that could not otherwise be made available.</li>
<li>By enabling more client-oriented, accountable, and effective government, a portal can be a powerful instrument for administrative reform, anti-waste, and anti-corruption.</li>
</ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Case Studies</span> <br />
Some outstanding examples of mature government portals are described below. <br />
<ul><li><a href="http://www.usa.gov/">USA.gov</a> (http://www.usa.gov) is an extensive database of links to information and online services on state and federal agency websites. Driven from search results via the usasearch.gov search platform, USA.gov categorizes content for browse and search by audiences, tasks, topic, agency, and other dimensions. However, it does not integrate transactional functionality within the portal.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/index.htm">Direct.gov.uk</a> (http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/index.htm), Great Britain’s government site, provides single point of entry for all key government services, information, tools, and transactions (incorporating 18 government departments and 240 local services). Transactional tools are incorporated directly within the portal. Content is organized by subject, people, and other dimensions. The intention is to ultimately federate access to all public services online. </li>
<li><a href="http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/">Service Canada</a> (http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca) is a central point of access to Government of Canada information. The initiative provides look-and-feel directives to agencies, and the portal links to information and online transactional services. Categorizations include by life events, audience, and subject. It is a well-organized catalog, though it does not integrate functionality within the portal.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.gov.sg/">Gov.sg</a> (http://www.gov.sg), the Singapore government’s portal, provides well-organized and comprehensive access to information and e-services. It’s segmented to serve citizens/residents, the business community, and non-residents with separate, tailored portals. For instance, the MyeCitizen section offers secure logged-in and non-logged-in access to an array of e-services integrated within the portal itself.</li>
<li><a href="http://english.www.gov.tw/">MyEGov</a> (http://english.www.gov.tw) is Taiwan’s national portal. It consists of a catalog of links to resources to government sites, half of which offer online services, and provides user customization options and logged-in access to additional features.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.korea.net/">Korea.net</a> (http://www.korea.net) earned Brown University’s top spot among e-government websites. The portal offers over 800 e-services, an abundance of information and multimedia content, and interactive features including feedback forms, user customization, feeds, and mobile access. </li>
</ul><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">References</span> <br />
National e-Government Portals Conference, 2007, World Bank http://go.worldbank.org/KEP92PFAQ0 <br />
Transparency and Open Government, GSA 2009 http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Transparency_and_Open_Government/ <br />
Global E-Government 2007, Darrell West, Brown University http://www.insidepolitics.org/egovt07int.pdfStacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-37750903365258466422008-04-15T06:11:00.004-04:002010-04-26T11:17:21.578-04:00IA Summit in Second Life<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAVC24X6AlePUWKr3E24mTn4Vd_tmb6JcHSh7AeAdOVS1sZpRMwvYTjQGFevOQH2AhhrSSAI0BACFTiLlPGF8t57dKW8PxHoEt2c51Cs9FIMz4sQf8eibpOxmSohVWVros4K3t0w/s1600-h/Andrew-Hinton_iasummit08.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194979757303040050" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAVC24X6AlePUWKr3E24mTn4Vd_tmb6JcHSh7AeAdOVS1sZpRMwvYTjQGFevOQH2AhhrSSAI0BACFTiLlPGF8t57dKW8PxHoEt2c51Cs9FIMz4sQf8eibpOxmSohVWVros4K3t0w/s200/Andrew-Hinton_iasummit08.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a>We simulcast three sessions from the 2008 <a href="http://www.iasummit.org/">IA Summit </a><a href="http://www.iasummit.org/2008/"></a>into Second Life. Here's Andrew Hinton delivering his closing plenary<br />
<a href="http://www.inkblurt.com/2008/04/15/linkosophy/">"Linkosophy."</a> Also simulcast were Jared Spool's opening plenary <a href="http://www.iasummit.org/proceedings/2008/keynote_journey_to_the_center">"Journey to the Center of Design"</a> and Jason Hobbs' <a href="http://www.iasummit.org/proceedings/2008/hotel_yeoville">"Hotel Yeoville."</a><br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;"></span>This was pretty easy and inexpensive to do. The stream was hosted through <a href="http://netro.ca/Services/SecondLifeStreaming/tabid/648/language/en-US/Default.aspx">NetroMedia</a>, who were super helpful throughout. The cost for the three-day conference, including setup, was $300, and we didn't come near using the available bandwidth. (Actually we had a month of service we could have continued to use.) Additional bandwidth, in case of massive interest in your programming, is pretty inexpensive, too.<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Technical details - quick summary:<br />
</span>1) I captured video and audio via an external camera and connection to the audio board, sent to my Macintosh laptop. (If you have built-in video and audio in your laptop, you could also point those at the speaker and capture that way.)<br />
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2) I encoded and sent the signal to NetroMedia using the free Quicktime Broadcaster utility (there are equivalent ones for PC).<br />
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3) As a landowner in Second Life I set the media stream there to the URL provided to me by NetroMedia, and I created a large screen on which the media would be displayed.<br />
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Post a comment or contact me via LinkedIn if you want to know more details. <a href="http://tinyurl.com/4da3c2">Other snapshots</a> from the experiment are on Flickr. At some point this summer I'll post video excerpts from the sessions as well.StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-80165419198173611832007-05-21T20:26:00.001-04:002010-04-26T11:17:33.270-04:00Wayfinding in Second Life - An IA Puzzle<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzfzV5F_HBrdIOD0HlXyJ7TuvinyLRS6ukizUmK6-CSZZjfzIjWz4O7YYsw9OkokGzSweTcpteB4nWCdwPFzzJzDANQpC_PUW3Ur6VyK817yfIKcf-HhQrVj1Kdfh0O39vGfu7yA/s1600-h/NPCommons-Map.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5067192159989960770" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzfzV5F_HBrdIOD0HlXyJ7TuvinyLRS6ukizUmK6-CSZZjfzIjWz4O7YYsw9OkokGzSweTcpteB4nWCdwPFzzJzDANQpC_PUW3Ur6VyK817yfIKcf-HhQrVj1Kdfh0O39vGfu7yA/s320/NPCommons-Map.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a><br />
The founders of the <a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plush%20Nonprofit%20Commons/149/49/26">Nonprofit Commons</a> sim in Second Life asked me for input on how to improve navigation for visitors to this 3D environment. The sim houses the virtual offices of more than 25 nonprofits, including CARE, Alzheimer Society of Ontario, AngelAID, Transgender Resource Center, Missouri Humanities Council, Techsoup, and the <a href="http://iainstitute.org/">IA Institute</a>.<br />
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What fun! The discussion is taking place on the <a href="http://npsl.wikispaces.com/sim+design">NPSL wiki</a>. Following an <a href="http://fritillaria.blogspot.com/2007/02/ia-approach-to-second-life-buildout.html">IA approach to a SL buildout</a>, I suggested we determine the key scenarios, articulate factors that affect wayfinding, and then brainstorm possible solutions. <br />
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For instance, a first-time visitor might arrive at a main teleport site looking for a particular office; a return visitor might come just to explore; or someone could be at one office and want to get to another one. <br />
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Factors affecting wayfinding include signs that rez slowly and that visitors don't even recognize as signs; low awnings that obscure the storefronts from a flying position; and an orderly grid of buildings in which all places look very much alike.<br />
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Possible approaches include big navigational gestures that will register to new visitors even in a slow-rezzing environment (fortress-of-solitude arrows? a compass rose?); some way to distinguish the quadrants of the sim in a broad fashion (particles of color? memorable monuments?); and providing detail where called for (business names only on the main signpost, but logos on corner signposts?).<br />
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Other brainstorms include a single teleport hub to channel visitors through a designed wayfinding experience; a Welcome Center; street names; wearable HUD (heads up display); robot guides; and more.<br />
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Visit the <a href="http://npsl.wikispaces.com/sim+design">discussion </a>and please offer your own suggestions.StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-27854849386298516992007-05-13T08:00:00.000-04:002007-05-23T18:44:56.854-04:00IA in Second Life - ReduxThe remixed <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/stacysurla/information-architecture-in-second-life/">Information Architecture in Second Life: Summit Redux</a> slidedeck was presented this weekend to DCIA, the Washington, DC information architecture crowd. The deck summarizes observations of panelists Josh Knauer, Andrew Hinton, Lori Bell, Beth Kanter, and Sarah Dilling on 1) opportunities for information architecture work in Web 3D and 2) how IAs can use Second Life as a platform for collaboration and education.<br /><br /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=34681&doc=information-architecture-in-second-life-4282" width="425" height="348"><param name="movie" value="https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=34681&doc=information-architecture-in-second-life-4282" /></object>StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-66358043624035640522007-04-25T07:43:00.000-04:002007-05-13T07:58:48.439-04:00Technical: Web 3D and TelepresencingShared 3D virtual environments like Second Life can be used for group meetings. I know of three basic approaches. Each requires significantly more infrastructure than the last.<br /><br /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=46410&doc=using-gaming-platforms-for-telepresencing-27109" width="425" height="348"><param name="movie" value="https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=46410&doc=using-gaming-platforms-for-telepresencing-27109" /></object><br /><br /><br />The simplest approach is just to meet in Second Life. This enables you to talk, share slides, and do things together. <br /><br />The next most complicated approach is to augment a real life meeting with some Second Life participation using Skype as a streaming server. This can be done using items found around the home, but provides an awkward connection.<br /><br />A true mixed reality event links all locations together fairly well. It requires more equipment and more setup, but allows participants to see, hear, and speak to one another from either real life or Second Life.<br /><br />An argument for using Web 3D for telepresencing, and some tips on how to do it, are in my slidedeck <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/stacysurla/using-gaming-platforms-for-telepresencing/">Using Gaming Platforms for Telepresencing</a>.StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-35039966523275662532007-04-09T10:20:00.002-04:002010-04-26T11:18:40.022-04:00Technical: Real Life/Second Life Event<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisacolvin/437202131/in/photostream/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051450326709973490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw9TN9z-7pE6qNYc9TMPpM9x8eT-ILyitjivhNefDI9-LajX7ZusW9VZhUYRro5Vx0ErFnljq4Xte8J9M9cL4MRCEAc1JBBn-L0tM2CeUUBPWeRsa3PfbgcpNnSNed_2B-cBu2WQ/s320/IA-SL-panel.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a>I moderated a panel discussion on <a href="http://webmail.greenfx.net/horde/services/go.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slideshare.net%2Fstacysurla%2Finformation-architecture-in-second-life"> Information Architecture in Second Life</a> at the <a href="http://www.iasummit.org/2007/">IA Summit</a> in March. It was a joint Real Life/Second Life event, and it worked rather well. <br />
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The technical objective was to enable conference attendees on the Real Life (RL) side to <span style="font-style: italic;">hear </span>and <span style="font-style: italic;">see </span>panelists on the Second Life (SL) side, and for panelists on both sides to at least <span style="font-style: italic;">hear </span>each other and the audience. In other words, we needed the minimum conditions for panelists and audience to talk with each other, regardless of their physical location.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/etches-johnson/438114062/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051453672489497170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTZpbeG3fbEAaAP-b-NYwaRrMhRz0m7SFmLRPQ9bCTlw6msJtbNYkORfHaYYwaIH2-BqDPQJOCctIhlEgmshm9kTmWntwmeyn2UR37JXL0YQd8iIOqB6xiU0Ckys69NmE1lVGSEg/s320/IA-SL-inworld.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" /></a>We accomplished this via a Skype conference call and a Second Life connection through a laptop in the room. The audio was amplified from the RL laptop through the room's sound system; the Second Life connection was shared with the room through a video feed from the RL laptop to the projection screen; and audio from the room to the remote participants was managed via the mic in the RL laptop. Also, the remote panelists and the panelist running the RL laptop all logged into Second Life and met at <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Architecture/35/96/23">Info Architecture island</a>. During the discussion a number of members of the audience logged into Second Life as well and joined the others at Info Architecture isle. <br />
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During a trial run we'd also managed a direct visual hookup between RL and remote panelists through Skype via the webcams in the participants' laptops. This caused a lot of lag, while affording remote panelists only a narrow view of the first few rows of seats, so we omitted this channel during the event.<br />
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This low-tech solution required no streaming audio or video server, which is good. However it was dependent upon the ad-hoc audio from the room being good enough for remote panelists to hear... which fortunately it was. And because there was no video feed from the RL room, remote panelists were blind to what was going on in the room. This setup was centered on the physical location of the conference, and would not enable people to participate as members of the audience from Second Life only.<br />
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Participating from Second Life were Beth Kavka (Beth Kanter) and Lori Bell (Lorelei Junot). Present on the Real Life side were Josh Knauer (Hayduke Ebisu, who also managed the technical arrangements and ran RL laptop), Andrew Hinton (Banjo Quonset), Sarah Dilling (Sally Linden), and myself, Stacy Surla (Stacy Narayan).<br />
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For a look at what we actually discussed, read <a href="http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/03/peter_morville_.html">Beth Kavka's blog entry</a> about the session, or see the <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/stacysurla/information-architecture-in-second-life/">Information Architecture in Second Life (Redux)</a> slideshow.StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-89836948044577774082007-03-12T07:12:00.001-04:002010-04-26T11:19:02.183-04:00IA Exercise: CatalogsBrowsing for things can be challenging in Second Life. Here are few examples of "catalogs" of various kinds.<br />
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These catalogs take the form of: a pile of stuff, a building as a container for the items of interest, books on shelves, books on a table display, a rolling index, and a wall display.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">IA Exercise</span><br />
Some SL catalogs take advantage of the unique 3-D nature of the environment. Some struggle with it. Some forms are useful for certain kinds of browsing. Others are frustrating -- or are frustrating at certain times. What are some great solutions to the 3-D catalog conundrum?<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBx7yXghCmUQdlZEMk0wcWd0V71WldDIBMqBC9aY9nZgHIQ2aFa-z1NpbqiwCY-Fp4gCrANl7L7saQDGtu_saSSdffH2zNe3bZnStzYDu-WjfthGseqma0PN_In1ME-ll0ZDgPxg/s1600-h/PileOfStuff.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5040995492508521906" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBx7yXghCmUQdlZEMk0wcWd0V71WldDIBMqBC9aY9nZgHIQ2aFa-z1NpbqiwCY-Fp4gCrANl7L7saQDGtu_saSSdffH2zNe3bZnStzYDu-WjfthGseqma0PN_In1ME-ll0ZDgPxg/s320/PileOfStuff.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD19cY7LDA5R3wRPbv-tkp911AaVFqrYYWsUAqiC2SB4R-uA8-5WKgD-GrTaiWG64XBBRdZkIcQpa23pnGLhUc9w-I5-Ej2Sy9GFm_ANgY_QWNlnd9J4GcNDe5NWZF4IJn8z4p-w/s1600-h/BuildingCatalog.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5040995496803489218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD19cY7LDA5R3wRPbv-tkp911AaVFqrYYWsUAqiC2SB4R-uA8-5WKgD-GrTaiWG64XBBRdZkIcQpa23pnGLhUc9w-I5-Ej2Sy9GFm_ANgY_QWNlnd9J4GcNDe5NWZF4IJn8z4p-w/s320/BuildingCatalog.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6pRw64ekc2ZbOj5RkZbOEZEdVsbM1xlD5mtbukqUQ6RTAoumE9QQr_evicSIl658jYR4iP2_FDsQytxzZf12Th6PewWyxGTArVdT-uYSSJDsOTRM6xfCcO0gUoGzmqCEYz0NRg/s1600-h/ShelvedCatalog.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5040995496803489234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6pRw64ekc2ZbOj5RkZbOEZEdVsbM1xlD5mtbukqUQ6RTAoumE9QQr_evicSIl658jYR4iP2_FDsQytxzZf12Th6PewWyxGTArVdT-uYSSJDsOTRM6xfCcO0gUoGzmqCEYz0NRg/s320/ShelvedCatalog.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1aB6WI7BTYeoKwLxmLaC_1ggsR3U7DofNn7qwsVxdfknk9aPd8RGiFn870UjiSFjLY5odIMk7IqRLt3SpHiA2L_hxwhIDKuoPylXwZenPH2Xk4m0mKU8S5wvIBCzMSx88OFBwog/s1600-h/RecentAcquisitions.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5040995204745713010" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1aB6WI7BTYeoKwLxmLaC_1ggsR3U7DofNn7qwsVxdfknk9aPd8RGiFn870UjiSFjLY5odIMk7IqRLt3SpHiA2L_hxwhIDKuoPylXwZenPH2Xk4m0mKU8S5wvIBCzMSx88OFBwog/s320/RecentAcquisitions.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibfaP1WtKLwHp80li081j5zoyp84ii82qLkgoFXZgAttinv548fr7QII2hmdTnkb7wwDx5wGqRBSCHIHzWJkyh76mdYQ2irgf8EDm49GyI64X74D6_VVNb9TPmcDJLvPNhDxJLdw/s1600-h/RollingIndex.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5040995209040680354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibfaP1WtKLwHp80li081j5zoyp84ii82qLkgoFXZgAttinv548fr7QII2hmdTnkb7wwDx5wGqRBSCHIHzWJkyh76mdYQ2irgf8EDm49GyI64X74D6_VVNb9TPmcDJLvPNhDxJLdw/s320/RollingIndex.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9jbfis6g9GNApra7kAZYaiuiMNbBd2gixXpyeDmJhAqN5veZ84mbJqqChdgKbHYKsbdDrt5W9HU5u6Svfc_VgkoE00Zj85LJxGGQt206QVD6EhMlW26R9LOVa_CF7pjZnY60ZXQ/s1600-h/WallCatalog.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5040995501098456562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9jbfis6g9GNApra7kAZYaiuiMNbBd2gixXpyeDmJhAqN5veZ84mbJqqChdgKbHYKsbdDrt5W9HU5u6Svfc_VgkoE00Zj85LJxGGQt206QVD6EhMlW26R9LOVa_CF7pjZnY60ZXQ/s320/WallCatalog.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a></div>StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-8791252872399665182007-02-21T20:44:00.000-05:002007-02-21T21:18:32.377-05:00An IA Approach to a Second Life BuildoutThe IA Institute is preparing to build a SL presence. The team is defining requirements. We're also simply trying to get a handle on the enormous job of representing good IA practice while communicating the mission, values, and activities of the Institute in a Web 3-D environment.<br /><br />I've suggested starting with scenarios, figuring out key elements of the virtual environment, conducting research, then building information structures that support the scenarios. But what approach would YOU take?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">Scenarios</span></span><br />Who are the audiences? What are the 5 or 8 things people intend to do on Info Architecture island? For instance:<br />* Wanting to locate and visit to find out what’s on the island<br />* Wanting to attend a specific event<br />* Wanting to acquire a tour HUD<br />* Wanting to organize a meeting on the island<br />* Wanting training in how to make buildings<br />* Wanting to discover points of interest elsewhere in SL<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">Key Elements</span></span><br />Identify the key elements in the virtual environment that support or hinder people accomplishing their intentions. For instance:<br />* Finding things (geolocations, info repositories, events, objects...)<br />* Creating things (info repositories, events, buildings, applications...)<br />* Interacting with people (meet, hear presentations...)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">Research</span></span><br />What research is needed before scenarios and key elements can be finalized? For instance:<br />* Participant observation<br />* Surveys of other islands’ solutions<br />* In-world focus groups or other interviews<br />* Literature review<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">Buildout</span></span><br />Plan and begin buldout of information structures that support the scenarios. For instance:<br />* Teleport hubs for the island with appropriate signage<br />* Outdoor meeting place with screens for presentations<br />* Sandbox for building practice and tutorials<br />* Kiosks or other structures for delivering objects<br />* Catalog solutions for providing access to information repositories<br />* Easy-to-use instructions on “how to hold an event”<br />* Library of relevant case studies—e.g. “IA Challenges in Second Life”<br />* Think of how to support the SL build with non-SL channels<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">IA Exercise</span></span><br />Does the focus on communication and information-seeking cover enough of the territory? Are the scenarios good ones? Are the key elements sufficient? What research is really needed? What information structures are sufficient?StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-3919019314187421512007-02-18T20:57:00.000-05:002007-02-18T21:37:26.368-05:00IA Exercise: Finding An Event Location at the Second Life LibraryThere are a number of in-world ways to find locations and events in Second Life. But let's say I'm a regular person. I've heard about an presentation scheduled at the Second Life Library on Info Island, and I want to find the outdoor amphitheatre.<br /><br />The first thing I'd do is search for the library website and look for coordinates there. I happen to know that a "Slurl" will give me a jumppoint from the web to a location in Second Life. From the Info Island website, however, I have some difficulty finding the Slurl. But finally I do manage to get it. I find myself at the telehub. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifnONZso-_QLA7PWBn7GpCZ4I_plCzBsdsAGmTK8v6_oqDJ_IUYMM4kGL8IyfQkAcraTUoZ-cvt5PXu2V4bs5DDgUq18zMZfrV_Vdndp7DZoKwbsh2dJ_8ZvnR7stIn-EhTPVX5w/s1600-h/refdesk.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifnONZso-_QLA7PWBn7GpCZ4I_plCzBsdsAGmTK8v6_oqDJ_IUYMM4kGL8IyfQkAcraTUoZ-cvt5PXu2V4bs5DDgUq18zMZfrV_Vdndp7DZoKwbsh2dJ_8ZvnR7stIn-EhTPVX5w/s320/refdesk.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5033061070249359074" /></a><br />Well, the signage and the view from the telehub has changed quite a bit since the last time I was here, many months ago. But hey, there's a reference librarian here. This is lucky -- she can just tell me where the event is being held.<br /><br />However, let's imagine there is no-one at the reference desk. The signage at the telehub may tell me where the event is, but I'm having trouble interpreting all the posters. One thing I'd try is to just fly around and look for something that looks like an outdoor amphitheater. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTGkMH6G4485OgivH2MyLpTBl_NYVuIMVKuYvFUoAzbH20KzxMW1Y2cGz45YjtlIAIcZgaADxVuW599PjRBFiiZHSHGKHrCPhXf0Lhn4DJnpEV3VTEjgIzSHCjVzrAYGpuBapnNw/s1600-h/cybrarycity_amphitheatre.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTGkMH6G4485OgivH2MyLpTBl_NYVuIMVKuYvFUoAzbH20KzxMW1Y2cGz45YjtlIAIcZgaADxVuW599PjRBFiiZHSHGKHrCPhXf0Lhn4DJnpEV3VTEjgIzSHCjVzrAYGpuBapnNw/s320/cybrarycity_amphitheatre.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5033062917085296386" /></a><br /><br />Ah, here's one. I think I've been here before. This looks like an amphi- theater to me. But on closer inspection I see I'm on Cyberary City. I'll aim for Info Island and scan for the amphitheater. Let me check out the map -- which I can do by pulling up the map feature. This tells me I'm heading towards Info Island, so I just keep flying until I get there.<br /><br />And just beyond a great big, brand new building is the Info Island amphitheater. Looks just like the other amphitheater. What a good idea! And beyond that, the telehub again. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6qhheGA8CknolezT2m8YVXduCrlaoKo2owRj405Ac2B2fn0DNbl-8v2nkdg0GOHBPxoqVjCIIcai3K2waxOJKG9pJJSP2ucSqrZ_rJiJW1XKWxNpTvnI3eDKf625MI5Nl3tJYCA/s1600-h/infoisle_amphitheatre.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6qhheGA8CknolezT2m8YVXduCrlaoKo2owRj405Ac2B2fn0DNbl-8v2nkdg0GOHBPxoqVjCIIcai3K2waxOJKG9pJJSP2ucSqrZ_rJiJW1XKWxNpTvnI3eDKf625MI5Nl3tJYCA/s320/infoisle_amphitheatre.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5033065494065674034" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">IA Exercise</span><br />Where does the user experience start? In Second Life at the telehub? In Second Life's search feature, or at the map feature? Or before Second Life, at the website? <br /><br />What should signage look like? What about live help? Should structures (like amphitheaters) resemble their functions? Can structures look really interesting and still work?StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27372504.post-42369612237095649762007-01-09T13:48:00.000-05:002007-01-09T21:23:43.226-05:00IA Exercise: Congress in SL<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6vF_mu02gpks7f_QLvPIVUkVU1xURzQAwVZGjRtD_H-sqsaAo3IH8kvznj-7l14XuRPS_8OKyv6PATum_sml7rxzMMpCcbIE9MfosZhi4unYMHVIcmWtgHu7hTZkfl99z3cmFg/s1600-h/congress01.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6vF_mu02gpks7f_QLvPIVUkVU1xURzQAwVZGjRtD_H-sqsaAo3IH8kvznj-7l14XuRPS_8OKyv6PATum_sml7rxzMMpCcbIE9MfosZhi4unYMHVIcmWtgHu7hTZkfl99z3cmFg/s320/congress01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5018104913541223698" /></a><br />Here's the <a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Capitol%20Hill%202/36/251/22/">U.S. Capitol in Second Life</a> -- we can tell by the ghostly dome that floats above the House / Senate floor. <br /><br />After flying over the Capitol grounds I come across a park surrounded by pavillions. Landing in front of one, I see it represents the National Security agenda for the 110th Congress. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5BxovIQTKGm-PvpP0ieQhGKA7XMz5aJHdSoFbr6yAHLGqOzmi8h62ndJrwpkUDuq9M64iymLmAo5keSdnETVDUaOJPh_6st0_BVwz3yX9EFptwqOuiQy1DbuQG7gb3SjdVonelQ/s1600-h/congress02.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5BxovIQTKGm-PvpP0ieQhGKA7XMz5aJHdSoFbr6yAHLGqOzmi8h62ndJrwpkUDuq9M64iymLmAo5keSdnETVDUaOJPh_6st0_BVwz3yX9EFptwqOuiQy1DbuQG7gb3SjdVonelQ/s320/congress02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5018106064592459042" /></a><br />It looks like I can find out the Democratic Plan by clicking the lectern. Fascinating!<br /><br />But what about other parts of the agenda? I suppose they must live in other Pavillions.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzvzJU7542Q-Nde5QbHA7Sj_UMWf1b7g8nHHcRFyd64UMDKZzpb_7mjkpWG1o3OKCGmrm54gCYLYASCTHykKc9PqnMO7HqfFMCpVWHxRY2djcpdi2eRf35liizPTjGgCuGkw7OLg/s1600-h/congress03.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzvzJU7542Q-Nde5QbHA7Sj_UMWf1b7g8nHHcRFyd64UMDKZzpb_7mjkpWG1o3OKCGmrm54gCYLYASCTHykKc9PqnMO7HqfFMCpVWHxRY2djcpdi2eRf35liizPTjGgCuGkw7OLg/s320/congress03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5018107718154868018" /></a><br />Hmm, they're really far away. <br /><br />Do I really need to walk across the park in order to find out what the Democrats are planning to accomplish? There must be a better way! <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">IA Exercise</span> <br />The metaphor is too literal for the information-rich potential of this space. But this is a beautiful park, so I don't want to see billboards. I want to understand my information options at a glance, and for it to be easy to delve deeper. As an exercise in IA for 3D spaces, first steps would include inventorying the main functions, information types, and user scenarios for this space.StacySurlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12803435546397889450noreply@blogger.com1