mindcanvas- reimagine what online user research can be
DESCRIPTION
My presentation at BarCampDelhi in March06TRANSCRIPT
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MindCanvas Reimagine what online user research can be..
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MindCanvas is a research service that empowers designers to make product
design decisions quickly & convincingly…
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MindCanvas is..
– web based research solution– for high quality research– uses gamelike methods for collecting design
feedback from users– packs the findings into intuitive visualizations– rapid turnaround times
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Death by HTML…..
HTML surveys – mainstay of online research worldwide
HTML – boring, cumbersome, ‘click & wait’
Product design based on data from bored users clicking through HTML surveys like mechanical robots
Why use HTML in the age of GoogleMaps, Flikr & Ipods
Feature Prioritization Study
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Why we built MindCanvas..
• Qualitative research is great, takes a lot of time
• Online tools suck, get used anyway
• Business stakeholders respond to quantitative analysis & large sample sizes
• Deliverables do not cater to designers
• Research findings remain locked up with analyst
Design Research Process
Data Collection
Analysis
Reports/Findings
Inefficiencies
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Guiding principles…
• Online data collection• users should enjoy giving design feedback• simple, intuitive research methods • ability to collect data even from non tech-savvy users
• Analysis– designers should not need to know any statistics
• Findings– present to business stakeholders via user-friendly, intuitive deliverables
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MindCanvas Research
GameLike Elicitation Methods
Data Mining & Statistical Analysis
Interactive Visualizations
- mix of proprietary, off- the-shelf & open
source APIs and algorithms
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GameLike Elicitation Methods (GEMs)
• GameLike Elicitation Methods
– online surveys do not engage people
– games are fun! everybody loves to play games
– frame questions into gamelike tasks; use tasks rather than simple self-report
– allows you to ask complex questions & get complex answers
– gamelike elements - interactive animations, visuals, screen build up, graphics, sounds
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MindCanvas focuses on the mind
• Inspiration from cognitive anthropology, psychology, market research
• Capture users’ thoughts & feelings by use of associative methods
• Explore the subjective, the implicit & the unconscious
• Users ‘do’ instead of ‘tell’ ; bridges gap between what people say & what they do
Mental Models
Preferences
Language
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• Another demo for Gamelike Elicitation Methods
• ClosedSort– Categorize items in a
predetermined hierarchy– Used extensively in
information architecture
Typical ClosedSort Interface
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Rich Interactive Visualizations
• Large datasets need statistical analysis & data mining
• Visualizations-to-go– say goodbye to pie-charts, bar graphs etc– interactive visualizations based on contemporary designs
• adjust with slides & knobs !!!– get ‘helicopter view’ as also allow ‘deep dive’– visualization-to-go (self-contained .swf files can be emailed,
shared, embedded into PowerPoint )
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Technology powering MindCanvas…
• Rich Internet Application – “Enterprise-Level” Flash – 1000s of lines of ActionScript code
• AJAX UI for Client tools – Still under development
• Server: XML over HTTP– Xml, java, SQL
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Where MindCanvas could help…
• Web Product Development– prioritizing features / outcomes users care about– initial understanding of domain from user’s perspective &
vocabulary
• Information Architecture– understanding how people think for information design– design, test & validate information architecture
• Product & Brand Positioning- understanding how people think about your product & brand
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MindCanvas - current & future….
• Current Research Methods– OpenSort : Dendogram, VocabularyBrowzer, SimilarityBrowzer
– TreeSort : ClusterBrowzer, SimilarityBrowzer
– Divide-the-Dollar : WeightMap
– FreeList : ListMap
– Utility Questions : MultipleChoice, EssayType
• Upcoming Methods– address every stage of the design cycle– MenuTrace, MindMontage, LikertSort, ImageAnnotate, ClickPath
• Upcoming Visualizations – OnionMap, CategoryMatrix, MDS
• Also looking at the mobile space
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• usability & user experience professionals• information designers, interaction designers• user interface designers• product/brand managers
Who could use MindCanvas…
