Reading all the Signs
I remember feeling like my first semiotics class was eye opening. I had never considered that there could be an order to language or that that there was a science to understanding this order. Now, all this is a bit of an aside, but I bring it up because there is a parallel with usability …
Listening and Hearing
Talking is my occupation. Teaching is in a manner of speaking about talking and talking and talking. Or, I should say that teaching is about attempting to communicate an idea in multiple ways. Some of those ways are about your voice, others are about the hearing the voice of others, and sometimes its about reiterating …
Quantitative and Qualitative Data
Testing and scholarly research are sort of similar. You have a problem, and you want to understand why that problem is occurring, for example. Both use quantitative and qualitative data. But, in research, you want to be conclusive, exhaustive, and categorical. In testing, you just want to make the problem better. So, in that way, …
Tasks, Tasks, Tasks
You might have a problem and a desire to solve that problem but where do you go next. Imagine being in a situation where your museum app is opened regularly but then no other features are accessed, as assessed through analytics. You know that you need to figure out why this is happening. What is …
Formative vs. Summative
Do you have that sweet or salty conversation with people? For your information, I am salty. If you actually know me, this is not a surprise. I reading about formative testing versus summative testing, I have been trying to really understand when each is best. Is this more personal preference on the part of the …
User Testing vs Research
When I think of the term ivory tower, I have a very clear mental image. A glistening white tower, rectilinear in its aspect, is poised atop a rocky outcropping, on a lonely island. The beach, an access point to the tower, has a pier on it. Museums are like that beach. There are in the …