Snow?

Last night was our first legitimate snowfall in Cambridge, laying a couple of inches of that foreign, white, slippery stuff on the ground. Apparently after two years of living in the desert, 23 years of hard-earned Pennsylvania winter knowledge completely left my brain. I don't know what I used to do during winter, but I'm learning now how much more important products and clothing are for functioning in daily life. Time to start searching for some boots, iPhone friendly gloves, and a serious coat.

Hello Boston & IDEO

I have some rather big updates that I have been sitting on for a while now. October 4th was my first day working for IDEO in their Boston (actually Cambridge) office as a Human Factors Specialist. It has been a surreal experience to be on the inside of a company I've watched for so long from the outside. I'm happy to report that the company lives up to their reputation, so far.

To be honest, a big part of why I started this blog was to get my thoughts out to potential employers. Now that I'm done job hunting, I'm going to switch gears and make this blog more personal and more frequently updated. I'll include tidbits from my new life in a new city, personal projects, work culture stories, and whatever I can legally share from my work with IDEO.

Also: if you know any cool folks in Boston, let me know!

Need Finding vs. Potential Finding

I've been thinking about the concept of "need finding" for a while now. Design research often frames "the problem" in terms of needs that can be "filled." I've always felt this approach was a bit symptomatic, negative, and misleading—though I'm completely guilty of it. Thus, I was excited to read the above quote on the Participle website, referring to their Southwark Circle project.

Through their research on the aging population, they found that the this group didn't really have many needs (and didn't like people referring to them as needs), but they had skills that could benefit the community. This perspective shifts problem framing to include human potential (as well as needs) and zooms out from the "target user" to the entire community, creating a more holistic view of the "human space" of problems.

I like to think of design as being in the role of creating concepts that support and transform peoples' lives. Essentially, helping them to be better, to do their job better, to live happier, to attain their goals, etc. When we frame things as needs, we frame them in negative terms. Aaron Sklar and David Gilmore of IDEO wrote an article for Interactions Magazine (about 5 years ago) that challenged the usability testing field to be inspired by the positive psychology movement, and reframe testing in positive terms. Design is an optimistic process, and therefore it might be beneficial to approach projects in a positive light, from the earliest phases of research and project framing. Let's call it potential finding.

The answer often lies in the way you ask the question, so here are some questions that I am going to begin asking at the beginning of projects from now on:
– What are participants good at?
– What do they enjoy the most about this experience?
– What could they contribute to this experience?
– How could society/community benefit from this person?
– How can we empower this person?

Of course, there are questions about how much profit can be made from "helping people help themselves."

Update: Getting Serious

Thus far, this website has been a bit of an experiment and work in progress. I'm now trying to turn it in to a better compendium of my work and thoughts. It will likely continue being a work in progress, but I have updated the site with a (slightly) refreshed look and uploaded a lot more work. Obviously the primary impetus for all of this is my desire for a design research/strategy position.

Here is a guide to the update:
Portfolio: A brief PDF portfolio that has a few project case studies and describes the breadth of my experience has been uploaded.
Thesis: I've uploaded a 48 page PDF and web synopsis of my thesis. If you are looking for the actual text document of my thesis, shoot me an e-mail.
Oral Cancer Screening: I've linked to M3 Design's case study of an oral cancer screening device that I did research for during my summer internship.
TiVo Sustainability Strategy: This was a project for a class in sustainability and enterprise. I've uploaded the presentation and final report I wrote for class.
Stroke Therapy Research: I have uploaded both a brief case study (which can also be found in my also brief portfolio) as well as the full PDF research document.
Durable Product Relationships: The research document for this participatory photo/storytelling project has been posted as a PDF and Issuu web book.

Phew

Yesterday I successfully defended my Master's thesis. I have a few revisions to do before it is officially done, but the document is pretty close now. I'll be working on a shorter, more visual book about it over the next two weeks, and will post it here when I finish.

Only 19 days until Obama sends me off into the real world, again.

The trouble with communicating research

Lately I've been simultaneously working on my primary thesis research and a book to communicate it. In the past, some researchers have been guilty of handing over purely abstracted analysis. As we've realized the value of narrative and empathy, more and more of the actual field stories have leaked into publication. This aligns with a lot of what has happened in the social sciences, where interpretation has been gaining a larger role in places like narrative and performance ethnography.

I initially thought about taking this idea to the extreme and telling every single participant's story in depth before doing any abstract analysis of it. But a research communication tool isn't worth much if it bores someone to death—it needs to tell an evocative story. So I'm trying to come to a happy medium.

So the real question becomes: What is the best way to weave the explicit abstract analysis together while still communicating in a way that informs the reader's tacit, imponderable knowledge?

Exposed: A Design Research Exchange

The website Design Research event we have been working on at ASU has finally gone live! We've been working hard for months, and it is good to see it finally out in the public. We still have a lot of work to do, but it is shaping up to be a sweet event. Details below:

http://www.exposed09.com

Dates: March 8th-10th
Location: Tempe, Arizona
Description:
What mysteries lie beneath the surface of Design Research practice?
What catalyzing forces will shift future paradigms of Design Research?
Exposed: a Design Research Exchange will be an event dedicated to exploring these questions through a highly interactive agenda including workshops, panels, invited guests, and participant-generated content. Seasoned professionals to aspiring students are invited to join in this exploration of the current state and future of design research while filling their toolboxes, making contacts, and traversing disciplinary boundaries.

March 6th and 7th these students, professionals and academics will engage with Exposed participants from organizations such as Intel, Smart Design, Herman Miller, frog design, Gravity Tank, Brooks Stevens Inc, Adaptive Path, Flamingo International, ReD Associates, Arizona State University and more!

The Inauguration

My thoughts are usually organized in analog form, so I may have some growing pains

Of my blog, that is.

Here is a breakdown of what you can expect to find here:
– Updates from me about what is going on in my life
– Notices of new updates on my portfolio website
– Posts of things that pique my interest and inspire me
– Ongoing findings from my thesis research about the experience of repairing consumer products