ux = user + experience #ona15

UX = User + ExperienceDamon Kiesow, @dkiesowHead of Mobile Initiatives

McClatchy Company

11:30am - 12:30am | #ONA15ux

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tl;dr

Next comes ubiquitous computing, or the age of calm technology, when technology recedes into the background of our lives. - Mark Weiser

Take for example, a hammer: it is ready-to-hand; we use it without theorizing… Only when it breaks or something goes wrong might we see the hammer as present-at-hand, just lying there. - Martin Heidegger

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Journalism Tech is a cargo cult

Ritual not innovation

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We are chasing technology

Print Radio TV Internet Phone ?? ??

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What will save journalism?

(Go ahead and Google it)

iPad, Apple Watch, Tony Haile, Crowdfunding, Rich tech guys, Facebook, Cat

Videos, Bitcoin, Data, Niche Reporting, Marshawn Lynch, Rap Genius, Native

Advertising, Social Media…

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Cause or Cure Cancer?

https://kill-or-cure.herokuapp.com/

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Do you have a Watch plan?

• audience • content • revenue • tempo • voice • publishing • editing • error correction

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• car dashboard? • refrigerator • front door • contact lens • jewelry • microwave • smoke detector • bathroom mirror

What about

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Glass is eating the world*

*Source: Benedict Evans & Corning

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Ubiquitous computing

• Everything has a chip • We stop noticing

Next comes ubiquitous computing, or the age of calm technology, when technology recedes into the background of our lives.

Mark Weiser (1952- 1999) Chief Scientist Xerox PARC

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Opportunity Costs

We can’t do everything

We can barely count the new things to do

Emerging technologies lack a playbook

We need to be using/playing with the new tech

And we need to make money somehow long the way

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Readers First

Technology is not the center of readers’ focus

It can not be the focus of our strategies

Doing so sets us adrift

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Readers: Make it efficient

As the pace of information speeds up, readers want a filter

The fear of missing out v.s the reality of drowning in information

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Readers: Make it seamless

Not just how new technologies work, how they work together

Does your experience move with the user and adapt to their context?

Tablet Car Radio Phone Desktop

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Readers: Make it platform native

Reflect the strengths and weaknesses of the device

We tend to impose yesterday’s forms on tomorrow’s platforms.

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OK, what is it with people anyway?

They seem kind of high maintenance

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Don’t make me think

Satisficing vs Optimizing

Our brains have limited processing power

Working (transient) memory is required to learn new things

If overloaded, frustration and task failure results

Design must minimize load

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Cognitive Barriers

Number of Steps

Length of Steps

Difficulty of Steps

Adapted from Jordan Julien in UXMag.com

Use

r Per

cept

ions

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Cognitive Load

Number of Choices

Thought Required

Clarity of Choice

Adapted from Jordan Julien in UXMag.com

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Red

Say the color of the text

BlueGreenRedBlueGreenBlack

Stroop Effect

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Conservation of complexity

Potential cognitive load in a system should be solved by developers, not exposed to users

40 hours x 1 developer = 40 hours

0.5 second x 5,000,000 users = 700 hours

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So, Heidegger…

Ready to Hand v.s. Present at Hand

When a technology is used intuitively and for a purpose, it becomes an extension of your own body. You see only the work, not the tool.

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The hammer

The canonical example

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The mouse

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Wired says

The malfunctioning mouse serves to “increase the participants' cognitive load, and lead(s) to decreased performance in some of the ongoing cognitive tasks.”

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Wired says

“…(It) could thusly be viewed as a discontinuity in our selves.”

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Connected tools

•Extended Physiologic Proprioception •Originated with the study of prosthetic limbs •Popularization of the mouse a turning point

One must deduce that a control system which is very much more efficient… is operating in the biological situation in order to reduce the load down to an acceptable level where the system can operate unconsciously. - D.C. Simpson (1974)

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Close your eyes

From an outstretched arm, touch your nose The Field Sobriety Test is a test of proprioception

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Mainframes

Gestures

Voice

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Gestures

Gestures

Voice

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How it matters

Older technologies were accommodated by users

Now tech is more personal and must do the accommodating

Users experience and intuit this shift

Design / UX is now a differentiator and an expectation

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Delight readers

EXPECTATIONSREALITY

Satisfaction =

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Don’t hit your users

As we remove mediating layers like the keyboard and mouse and control software directly with gesture and touch - disruptions become more painful

Punchcard Keyboard Mouse Touch Gesture Thought

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Forget the tech - worry about the audience

Heidegger again… Hermeneutic Circle

Users are not separate from their experiences

To understand one, you must understand the other

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How the industry thinks

Revenue Goals

Circulation Goals

Editorial Goals

Product}

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How readers think

Surprise me

Save me money

Connect me

Inform me

Entertain me

Save me time

Make it easy

News

Advertising

Subscription

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We need to rethink how we think

Problems before solutions Readers not products Servant leadership

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Empathy is required

Research Listen Validate Build Test Iterate

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Bottom line

Our technology is becoming increasingly ‘invisible’ Soon everything will have a chip and a screen Audiences will expect information services everywhere As the tech disappears it becomes an extension of ourselves That creates huge demands on design to reduce cognitive load and disruption There is no ‘fix’ except to listen to readers and build products to support them And iterate - quickly

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Thanks

Damon KiesowHead of Mobile Initiatives McClatchy Co dkiesow@mcclatchy.com @dkiesow