User Experience Monitor

The Value of A Space of Your Own for Design

For many years I've struggled with the pros and cons of group work vs individual work in the area of software app and Web design.  Sometimes it's great to have a team, and a creative team at that, to work out specific problems.  Other times, well, I just need to be on my own thinking quietly about the problem (and so does my Art Director, and so does my developer).

So, I relished this article in the New York Times Sunday Magazine:  The Rise of the New Groupthink, and the research behind individual vs group creativity. And guess what the long and the short of it is? Individualism wins out when it comes to innovation. And introverts rule.

Browse vs Search - The Evolution Away from Serendipity

There's an interesting aricle in The Economist's Online Magazine "Intelligent Life" by Ian Leslie on how Internet may be hampering innovation.  He points out that as search engines like Google and social networks like Facebook give us back more of what they guess we want (rather than what we may need) we end up in a less varied and diverse world - at least online.  Many innovations come about by serendipity, and the Web is moving away from that, and more towards a tailored, personalized experience.

I am not sure I buy the entire argument, as many Web users (including myself) find a way to "discover" information in innovative ways, even using Search alone.  But it is interesting as a framework for the larger issue - the move towards Search and away from Browse as a model for behavior on the Web.

Do we want tailored? Is personalized always good?  Possibly not.  Check out Leslie's article and see for yourself:

The Search for Serendipity

And the UI Innovation Award Goes To... "Zen Mode"

Most web and mobile users look for zip and jazz and wow factors in their interfaces.  I am in love with simple interfaces.

Therefore, I applaud the Nieman Journalism Lab for their "View in Zen Mode" button.  What could be simpler?  You're reading along in an article, and you want to focus on it.  You push the "Zen Mode" button and whoosh! all the distractions of left columns and right columns and headers and footers fall away and magically, you're just - reading the article.  Sweet.

Try it out on this terrific article by Ken Doctor: "The newsonomics of the long goodbye: Kodak's, Sears', and the newspapers'" and see what you think. (Hint: The "Zen Mode" button is on the right).

The article in regular mode (a few distractions, like most Web articles)

 

The article in "Zen Mode" - mmm, lots of white space. Doesn't look exciting in this little screen capture but when you're reading it, it feels very, well, Zen. I feel calmer already.

 

 

The iPad at Work and Play

I enjoy reading Usability News, and recommend this online newsletter that comes out of the Software Usability Research Laboratory at Wichita State University. In their December 2011 issue authors B.Nguyen and B. Chaparro have a summary of the results of a  study on the ways iPads are being used:

iPad Usage Patterns On-the-Go and At Work

 

Case Study: Using Designers for Problem Solving

I can't think of a more impressive testimony to the use of designers - and by extension the design process - in problem solving than is pointed out in an article by Justin McGuirk in The Guardian about some processes happening overseas - in Finland, to be exact.

The Finnish Innovation Fund advises governments on ways to solve pressing social problems (and Finland has its share). What's unique about this group is that it  incorporates designers (whether from web and interactive, urban planning or architecture) into its process for their ability to redesign systems and improve the user/customer experience - and keep their eye on the long-term picture through implementation.  It may be a way of avoiding the kinds of social disasters we're all so familiar with, when policies are implemented by bureaucrats who don't think through problems.

It's all about human-oriented outcomes.  As McGuirk points out:

"While strategic design can't necessarily find the perfect answer, it at least begins by asking the right questions.

Read more at The Guardian

The Semantic Web - but Not from the User's Perspective

CNET writer Laura Locke's article and interview with Gi Fernando on the changes coming down the pike at Facebook is interesting because they discuss the "semantic Web," not from the user's perspective, but from the advertiser's perspective.

As Facebook begins to implement its new approach to such action verbs as "Read," "Watch," and "Listen," the Internet giant will begin to monetize things in a new way. As always, the game-changer continues to change the game.

Read the entire interview

Tracking Google's Influence: A Review of 3 Books on the Search Giant

This is an interesting article  by Daniel Soar in the London Review of Books about the influence of Google.  He reviews three books out this year: "The Googlisation of Everything (and Why We Should Worry)" by Siva Vaidhyanathan, "In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works and Shapes Our Lives" by Steven Levy, and "I’m Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59" by Douglas Edward, and analyzes what they're saying collectively about the search gian.

I love his assertion near the end of this article that: "Google is getting cleverer precisely because it is so big."  This is the antithesis of what most analysts think about Google!  How does he come to this conclusion?  You'll just have to read the article.

 

Is Social Media Too Hot to Criticize?

I am of two minds about the growth spurt of social media, because I inhabit two different realms: a personal one of friends and family, and a business one of colleagues and clients. 

Thus, I find myself torn right now as to how much to criticize social media ventures.  I have spirited arguments with friends about the problems vs the benefits of Facebook vs Twitter. 

And yet, many businesses seem to have the attitude that they need to jump in to any new media opportunity, before they've fully explored their goals and what they want out of it.

Two interesting recent articles on this topic are:

Social Business Reality Check: Move Beyond the Hype by Robert Strohmeyer of PC World, and The Twitter Trap by Bill Keller (Executive Editor of the New York Times).

The PC World article is  more geared towards business professionals, but both tackle the issue of a "reality check" with social media.

From a business perspective, Stohmeyer analyzes the issues of getting on the social media bandwagon without a well thought out strategy.  Chasing "followers" makes no sense if those followers don't translate to either good PR or sales of some sort.

Keller bravely tackles the "illusory" aspect of many social media, which is more the "Emperor's Clothes" issue so many of us feel but (in business circles, at least), don't always articulate:

"I’m not even sure these new instruments are genuinely “social,” Keller says. "There is something decidedly faux about the camaraderie of Facebook, something illusory about the connectedness of Twitter."

 I am glad I am not alone in my wary distrust of all media social. These articles make good reading for the cautious.

How Many Users Are Sufficient for a Discussion Group?

LinkedIn recently reported as part of its initial public offering package that most of its members don't use the site on a regular basis.

The fact was picked up by Jim Edwards in a recent article on bNET, recently. It's an interesting issue on at least two levels:

1) First, because LinkedIn is revealing they can't differentiate between active, inactive, and even dead members

2) Secondly, because (I would posit) it does not impact the user experience of an active member - at all.

If you actively participate in group discussions on LinkedIn, does it matter if there are only 10-20 active participants?

Would you rather have 40-50? Or 200-300?  I don't think it impacts the user experienc within a discussion group.  I currently belong to both national and regional discussions. This story was reported on in a regional discussion group of which there are less than 700 members.  There are probably "lower limits" below which a discussion group seems to become a bit lame, but I'd be hard pressed to say what those limits are.

I think quantity and quality are two wholly different aspects of any online discussion, and I for one am perfectly happy having 40 intelligent users in the conversation provided the conversation "works for me."

 

US Digital Trends in 2010

Comscore just released their report on trends in the US digital marketplace - "U.S. Digital Year in Review."

Top trends reported incude in this latest report include:

• Although portals are still large in online (measured by total time spent online/day), the general shift away from portals to social media and entertainment sites is a major trend.
• Facebook takes the lead on Engagement (no surprise), with 180 million visitors/month. Facebook now accounts for over 12% of the time spent online in the US.
• Smartphone adoption surges past 25 percent penetration in the US. One third of Americans now access mobile browsers and applications.
• In the area of search, 2010 saw the integration of real- time search, improved blended search results and other new search modules, all of which have enriched the search experience.
• Online TV viewing is showing significant growth in 2010.  On an average day in December 2010, more than 88 million Americans watched online video, up 32 % from a year earlier.

Download a copy of the report on comScore's Website.