The seeds are taking root! Between starting on a new project (leading a Rolling Research program and at well-known tech company), our “Crowdsourcing Terms” work continuing to take flight around the world, and launching a new Mixed Methods research class tomorrow, things are very exciting and busy. #grateful
WORK WITH US!
If you are familiar (enough) with the UX/UXR industry, and have some social media, administration, communication and or community management experience, let’s chat. We’d love some support (hence the inability to keep up with these weekly "Fuel Your Curiosity" updates). We’ll also need some design talent as we begin rebranding as well. Remote workers are welcome.
CONTINUED CONFIRMATION ABOUT OUR CONFUSING TERMS
We're still celebrating! Apparently people in Serbia, Sudan, Lebanon, Morocco, Kenya, Egypt, India, Turkey, Poland, Nigeria, Jordan, Ukraine, most of western Europe and several countries in Asia find our industry’s terms confusing too. We have heard from people in over 30 countries now, all via LinkedIn, and have 75+ additional UX-related micro-volunteers ready to participate in subsequent phases. Check out this post for context if you missed the news about our successful Crowdsourcing effort.
CONVERSATIONS FROM THE CLASSROOM
Last week my 18 UC Berkeley students started reviewing the 150 Crowdsourced terms for clarity, tone, completeness, ease of understanding, and word count. They also checked them for accuracy via secondary research.
Interestingly, almost all of them struggled with “how to find credible resources” and knowing “which entities were trustworthy”. While they did find a lot of theoretical examples, they much prefer, and continue to look for, “actual use cases”. About half describe the assignment as “a strong or excellent example of applied learning” while others say it’s “just plain frustrating to travel down rabbit hole after rabbit hole” to gather sufficient intel to either confirm the initial definition meets the success criteria and or learn enough to recommended an edit. They also added in “related terms” and an example of the term used in an educational sentence. The terms are shaping up quite nicely!
LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS TO INTERVIEW
Help elevate the next generation of UXers! These same UC Berkeley students will be conducting interviews with people in UX-related roles this coming Monday night, October 7th, between 7:30-9:30pm PST and again next Monday night, October 14th, between 7:30-9:30pm PST. The focus will be on our “Crowdsourcing Terms” format, usage and organization. Ideally each student team will conduct two interviews within this time frame. Interviewees will participate in two sessions a piece. We are looking for four volunteers to participate on each Monday night for a total of eight interviewees.
In-person interviews will take place in downtown San Francisco. Remote interviews will take place via Zoom. Please email if you are available and interested. Make sure to indicate if you can participate in-person or remotely.
This week the students are crafting their interview guides based on the goals and key questions and we workshopped in class.
SOCIAL MEDIA AT IT'S BEST
Interestingly, the sketch note Australian UX designer Milly Schmidt created about one of the feedback gathering calls also inspired an incredibly thoughtful, global dialog about whether perception trumps context. The responses, we believe, demonstrate social media at its best. A means to initiate and participate in a literate, respectful, proactive, and engaged conversation. Which raises the questions...
Do you think we have gone too far in trying not to offend anyone? Is this an issue of gender, age, or both? Have we taken a leap forward for respect, grace and dignity? Or have we put so many handcuffs on each other that no one can talk openly anymore? Does it speak to the confusion and the cluster*** around how we speak? And what's appropriate, or not? Do we truly understand each other? Take a look for yourself.
UPCOMING SAN FRANCISCO CLASSES
Mixed Methods Intermediate Daylong Bootcamp 10/4 @ 9am, 11/21 (@ 9am, 12/5 @ 9am
Conducting User Research Daylong Bootcamp 10/5 @ 9am, 11/16 @ 6pm, 12/14 @ 9am
Intro to User Research 3-hour Workshop 10/16 @ 9am, 11/13 @ 6pm, 12/16 @ 6pm
UC Berkeley Extension - Monday nights from 6:30-9:30pm, SF campus
SPEAK UP, GET INVOLVED, SHARE THE LOVE
Participate in the “Defining our Confusing Terms” crowdsourcing project. All the cool kids are doing it! Email me to get on the list.
Forward this email to someone who you think might enjoy it. Better yet, sign them up here. It will be the gift that keeps on giving.
Ask me questions related to user research. Seriously, bad research keeps me up at night!
Share your thoughts about past classes, future topics and your interests in this 10 question survey.
