My friend Steve Portigal, an esteemed customer research consultant in the Bay Area, has a series on his blog titled “War Stories” — anecdotes from ethnographic researchers about the craziest things that have happened to them in the field. One entry from Priya Sohoni is particularly striking. Titled “Taking empathy to a whole new level,” [Keep Reading…]
Apple listens: iPad screen orientation lock
When I upgraded my iPad to iOS 4.2, I suddenly lost all sound. I freaked out, thinking I’d have to take it into the Apple Store to get fixed, or worse, reinstall the operating system and lose all my apps. So of course I asked the Twitterverse for help, as I tend to do. Turns [Keep Reading…]
Facebook recruits for user research…on Facebook
Apple always gets flack for not conducting user research (even though that’s a myth — it’s market research they don’t conduct). Apparently Facebook doesn’t feel the same way about keeping their research under wraps. I recently happened upon an interesting page on Facebook where they allow people to apply to participate in user research studies, [Keep Reading…]
My Best Advice for Conducting User Interviews
In a previous life, I was a Professional Writing major and part-time journalist. I contributed to my school’s student newspaper, as well as the faculty and staff newspaper, and almost every week for two years, I wrote an arts column for the Pittsburgh City Paper — Western PA’s leading alternative newsweekly [read my old clips]. [Keep Reading…]
How Little You Really Know
You have no idea how little your users really know. And that shows just how little you know. You work in technology for a living. You’ve been using a computer since you were born. You are obsessed with learning new things. You are a nerd and you hang out with other nerds. You constantly think [Keep Reading…]