Community Engagement through User Experience

Community Engagement
through User Experience
A M E R I C A N A S S O C I A T I O N O F S T A T E A N D L O C A L H I S T O R Y

Community Engagement through User Experience
S E P T E M B E R 6 , 2 0 1 7 / @ I N T E R A C T I V E M E C H
Today’s agenda
• What is user experience (UX)?
• Why does user experience matter?
• UX methodologies that engage audiences
• Relevant case studies
• Resources for further learning

Introduce yourself!
• Your name, role and organization
• What are you interested in learning today?
• Are you working on a project where this may apply?

About Interactive Mechanics
Interactive Mechanics is an award-winning interactive
design firm that partners with arts, culture, and
educational organizations on design, development,
user experience, and digital strategy.
We build interactive websites, mobile applications,
and in-gallery digital exhibits.

How do you define
user experience?
D I S C U S S I O N B R E A K

What is user experience?
User experience (UX) focuses on having a deep
understanding of users, what they need, what they value,
their business goals and objectives, their abilities, and
also their limitations.
Usability.gov

What is user experience?
User experience encompasses all aspects of the end-
user’s interaction with a company, its services, and its
products.
Nielsen Norman Group

What is UX, really?
User experience isn’t just testing or research or the tools
that we will talk about today. It is a mentality that your
users are the priority, and by understanding them (their
needs, goals, motivations, and expectations) you can
build successful experiences for them.

... so let’s have one together.

If you’re the participant
• Follow the instructions using the square paper to
attempt to build the origami crane.
• Speak aloud your thoughts,
frustrations, and feelings.
If you feel confused or have
questions, say them!
Start with a square heet of paper. Fold it in
half and then in half again.
1 Turn the paper over and repeat the
previous step.
6
Place your thumb under the top of the
sheet, pulling it to the right to form a
square. Crease the fold.
2
Fold right and left corners to center,
and crease. Turn the paper over and
repeat the step.
7
Fold the right flap to the left, turn the
paper over and, once again, fold the
right flap to the left.
8
Fold the two lower points up between
the two flaps on each side.
9
Swing the top tips out slightly, and crease.
Fold one tip downward to form the head.
10
Spread the wings and crease. Blow a little air
into the hole underneath to fill out the body.
11
origami crane
EASY FOLDING INSTRUCTIONS
Turn the paper over and repeat the last
step.
3
Fold the right and left corners to the
center line, crease the folds, and reopen.
4
Grasp the lower tip and pull up. Fold at
the top third of the diamond. Note that
the right and left corners will swing to
the center. Fold along creases.
5

If you’re the moderator
• Observe the participant as they complete the activity
and note their successes, failures, and areas where
you might make improvements.
• Do not answer questions or provide
help, but stay engaged as they
work through the exercise.

What did you learn,
observe, or feel?

What is a good user
experience?

What is a good experience
you’ve had lately?

Why does user experience
matter?

Why does it matter?
If people don’t enjoy their experience with what you
design (whether its an educational program, exhibit,
mobile app, or toaster), then the product/service wasn’t
successful. Bad user experience can ruin a brand or
company, and lose customers.

Why does it matter?
People remember bad experiences. Think about the last
time you ate at a bad restaurant—perhaps they messed
up your order or the service was bad, or the dinner was
simply unmemorable. Will you go back? Probably not.

Qualitative
Heuristic evaluation
Content audit
User stories
Persona development
Surveying
Analytics review
A/B Testing
Interviews
Card sorting
Usability testing
Contextual inquiry
Focus groups
Design studiosJourney mapping
LowEngagement
HighEngagement
Quanitative

We’ll focus on...
• Interviews & contextual inquiries
• Design studios (or participatory design)
• Card sorting
• User/usability testing

Can UX be used in museum
exhibition development?

Split into groups of 4-5

Today’s mock project
AASLH has tasked us with conceptualizing an exhibit on
barbecue. This exhibit will be on display at the exhibitor
hall during the annual meeting, and we are responsible
for building an exhibit that is interesting, engaging, and
user-centered.

Define our audience groups
On post-it notes, identify the major audiences that will
experience our exhibit. There are a number of different
ways to break down our audiences: profession,
title, type of attendance, amount of experience or
knowledge of the topic, level of education.
All of these are valid ways to categorize our users.

Interviews
Interviewing users allows you to engage in a dialogue
with current or prospective audiences to better
understand their attitudes, desires, or experiences. It can
be a useful tool for developing your understanding of
who your users are. Interviews avoid the group dynamics
(herd mentality, bias) that can occur in focus groups.

Interview tips
Explain what you’re doing.
Be transparent and open about what you’re looking to
accomplish and how the interview will work. Be clear
how the interview could lead to something that benefits
the participant.

Interview tips
Make your interviewee feel comfortable.
Get to know them to start and treat the interview like
a casual conversation, as much as possible. Offer
refreshments, something to do while they wait (if they
need to wait), and be thankful.

Interview tips
Try to reach your participants where they are.
If you’re targeting existing museum patrons, conduct
your interviews at the museum. If you’re trying to develop
programming with communities not attending your
museum, go to where they are going. Make it as easy as
possible for people to take part in the interview.

Interview drawbacks
Interviewing is great for understanding what a user thinks
or feels, but are not always accurate to what users will
actually do (this is where contextual interviews come in).
It is also hard for participants to invent their ideal exhibit
or suggest improvements (leave the brainstorming for
later, we’ll come back to that).

Interview topics
• Background (individual, demographic)
• The user’s familiarity with museums (or this museum)
• The user’s familiarity with the topic
• The user’s experience with technology (if needed)
• The user’s main objectives, motivations, needs
• The user’s pain points

After interviews
Use this and other data (like market research, analytics,
evaluation data from past exhibits, surveys) to compile
personas—a tool to help you identify, understand, and
summarize your user groups into well-defined individuals.

Interview your group
Since we’re the audience for the exhibit, use the
provided interview script as a starting guide to conduct
your own interviews (feel free to add your own
questions or modify the script for your group).
Alternate conducting your interviews five minutes each,
taking turns between facilitating and note-taking.

Contextual inquiry
Sometimes called “contextual interviews”, the process
of observing individuals as they interact with a system
to witness natural behaviors, frustrations, constraints, or
interactions they may have with other people or systems.
Contextual inquiry allows you to witness how users
behave first-hand paired with interview questions during
or after the evaluation.

Contextual inquiry
The user is in charge during a contextual inquiry.
Consider that this is your opportunity to learn all you can
about how they behave—your objective is to observe
and probe them (when appropriate, ask questions like
“why did you do that”).

What to look for...
• What environment are they in? Using what devices?
• What challenges, interruptions, or issues exist?
• What workarounds do users find?
• What triggers or events occur?

Interviewing Users:
How to Uncover
Compelling Insights
Steve Portigal

Design studio
Sometimes called “participatory design”. A design studio
is an opportunity to engage your audiences directly in
the design process, allowing you to co-create with your
audiences and invite new perspectives.

Design studio tips
Start by introducing the challenge
Make sure that everyone involved is on the same page
about the challenge you’re trying to solve. Introduce the
idea of the session and format.

Design studio tips
Combine individual and group brainstorming
Some people work well in groups, while some people
work better individually. To get a variety of ideas, use
a combination of individual and group brainstorming
activities so everyone can have a voice.

Design studio tips
Explore different participant’s ideas
Use activities that promote collaboration and include
opportunities to provide feedback on each other’s ideas.

Design studio tips
Set up the design studio in a rest area
If you want to involve people as they go through your
museum, set up your studio in an rest area (nearby the
cafe or common seating areas) to attract people that
need a place to relax and sit.

Conduct a design studio
Using the provided topic and prompt, conduct a short
design studio in your group to develop ideas. You will
have ten minutes to generate ideas—explore a range
of concepts to communicate your prompt (think outside
the box)! At the end of ten minutes, take turns as a
group reviewing the ideas and discuss together.

Gamestorming
Dave Gray, Sunni
Brown, James
Macanufo

Card sorting
An activity that allows users to organize or classify
items into logical groupings, most useful for information
architecture (like website structure or navigation) or
workflows (exhibit flow, interactive content). It can be
completed individually or collaboratively in small groups.

Card sorting tips
Create your content cards in advance
Using index cards, write out your content (which can
include terms, phrases, or functions). Aim for somewhere
between 30 to 50 cards in a single sort.

Card sorting tips
Determine which type of card sort
Choose between an open card sort (you predetermine
the content, and users define those categories and
order) or a closed card sort (you provide the categories
and order, and users determine what content fits in those
buckets).

User testing
User testing is the key to ensure we’re building
something people will enjoy and actually use.
User testing doesn’t need to be expensive or time-
consuming: small batches of regular testing are better
than conducting one large, expensive test.

User testing tips
Explain what you’re doing
Be transparent about what you’re testing, the testing
process, and what you’re trying to accomplish.

User testing tips
Make your user tester feel comfortable
Be sure to explain that user testing isn’t testing them—it’s
testing what you built. Offer refreshments, be thankful.

The testing process
“We’re not testing you, we’re
testing the system.”
— U S E F U L P H R A S E —

The testing process
“There are no right right or wrong
answers.”

The testing process
testing what you built. Offer refreshments, be thankful.“There is no ego involved here,
we want to hear both positive and
negative comments.”

User testing tips
Stage engaged!
Acknowledge and provide feedback to your participants
as they ask questions or give feedback throughout the
test.

The testing process
Stage engaged!
Acknowledge and provide feedback to your participants
as they ask questions or give feedback throughout the
test. “Mmhmm. Interesting!
Okay. Right.”

User testing tips
Ask for clarification.
If you need to know more, ask the participant. Remember
that this is your time to get answers to your questions!

The testing process
“Talk me through what happened
or why you did that.”

The testing process
“If you have to give this a letter
grade, what would you rate it?”

The testing process

“How many participants?”

“What do I need to prepare?”
• How much time will it take? When? Where?
• Why are you doing the test?
• What are your trying to answer?
• Who do you represent?
• What are you offering participants?
• Is this anonymous? Will you use the information?

“How do I recruit people?”
• Start with what is easy and scale up as needed.
• Utilize people already in your space.
• Work with marketing to recruit specific types of
users, if you need to work within a certain audience.

“Do I need a consent form?”
• Best practice is to have one, even if as just a means
to explain the tests.
• If you have a consent form, explain it and have the
participant fill it out with you. Provide them with a
copy to take home and one for you to keep.
• If you’re recording video, audio, or taking photos, be
clear about how you will use those materials.

“What kind of incentives?”
• Do you need an incentive or gift?
• Give something that is easy to cash in on, especially
if you can give it out on the spot (like a gift card to
your cafe, a return ticket to the museum, or a small
gift from the gift shop).

“Remote vs. in-person testing?”
• Being present is always better than remote.
• But there are really good user testing tools out there
for conducting testing remotely or without being
present.
• Skype, Google Hangouts, or GoToMeeting
• http://zurb.com/notable
• http://www.userzoom.com/

“But... what do I test?”
• Usability, bugs, or other issues
• Competitive or comparative testing
• Preference
• Validation

Free webinars
• Interactive Mechanics
http://www.interactivemechanics.com/workshops
• UX Professionals Association
https://uxpa.org/event/webinars

Online training
• Lynda.com on User Experience
http://lynda.com
• Susan Weinschenk’s Online Courses
http://courses.theteamw.com
• Interaction Design Foundation
https://interaction-design.org

Books
• Just Enough Research by Erika Hall
• User Experience Team of One by Leah Buley
• 100 Things Every Designer... by Susan Weinschenk
• Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles... by Jeff Gothelf
• Designing for Emotion by Aarron Walter
• Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug

Thank you!
M I K E @ I N T E R A C T I V E M E C H A N I C S . C O M

Community Engagement through User Experience

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