The document outlines a class on understanding user perspectives in information architecture, emphasizing the importance of heuristic evaluations, active listening, and effective questioning techniques. It includes discussions on challenges faced during user research, with specific advice on forming unbiased, clear questions for interviews. Homework involves conducting user research and preparing findings for the next session.

1. Class 8:
Understanding
what it is like to
not understand
Instructor: Abby Covert

2. Last Class we...
– Talked about the use of heuristic evaluations in the
information architecture process
– Learned 10 actionable principles of heuristics to use in
our evaluations
– Got homework to heuristically evaluate a current system
involved in your project’s problem space
– Got homework to individually conduct some interview
based research
– Then we had a hurricane! Holy moly.
2

3. Heuristics Check-in!
• How did everyone’s evaluation go?
–Which principles were easy to understand?
–Which principles were NOT easy to understand?
–What was your biggest discovery?
3

4. Research Check-in!
• How did everyone’s research with users go?
–What questions were hard to ask?
–What questions were hard to get answered?
–What did you struggle with?
–What was easy?
–What would you do differently?
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5. I am an
information
architect
I intend to because I believe
make the unclear clear everything is complex
put the what architecture frames
before the how problems, design solves
them
facilitate understanding understanding is
organize meaning, always good but it is
create clarity and equally important to
establish truth not understand
support goals, makers clarity is a
and users prerequisite of truth
by: Abby Covert & Dan Klyn
5

6. When you speak to
someone, they don’t
understand the world the
same way that you do.
...Or you wouldn’t need to
talk to them.
You have to learn what it
is like to not understand
things the way you do
today. To see things
through their eyes.
Make that your goal.
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7. The key to
understanding
what it is like to
not understand
is to listen.
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8. How do you have a great
conversation?
Concepts courtesy of Richard Saul Wurman’s - Information Anxiety 2 “The Art of Listening”
Remember:
you have two ears and only one mouth
Listen twice as much as you speak.
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9. How do you have a great
conversation?
Concepts courtesy of Richard Saul Wurman’s - Information Anxiety 2 “The Art of Listening”
Remember:
Don’t formulate your answers while the
other person is speaking.
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10. How do you have a great
conversation?
Concepts courtesy of Richard Saul Wurman’s - Information Anxiety 2 “The Art of Listening”
Remember:
Don’t fill silence needlessly. A moment of
silence can be the most revealing part.
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11. How do you have a great
conversation?
Concepts courtesy of Richard Saul Wurman’s - Information Anxiety 2 “The Art of Listening”
Remember:
Don’t step on other people’s thoughts. the
person who starts the sentence should end it.
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12. How do you have a great
conversation?
Concepts courtesy of Richard Saul Wurman’s - Information Anxiety 2 “The Art of Listening”
Remember:
Spend equal energy listening and talking.
Most people spend more energy talking.
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13. How do you have ask the right
questions?
Examples courtesy of Purdue Online Writing Lab “Creating Good Interview and Survey Questions”
http://owl.english.purdue.edu
Don’t you agree that campus
parking is a problem?
Remember:
Avoid Biased Questions
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14. How do you have ask the right
questions?
Examples courtesy of Purdue Online Writing Lab “Creating Good Interview and Survey Questions”
http://owl.english.purdue.edu
There are many people that
agree that campus parking is an
issue. Are you one of them?
Remember:
Avoid Questions that assume what they ask.
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15. How do you have ask the right
questions?
Examples courtesy of Purdue Online Writing Lab “Creating Good Interview and Survey Questions”
http://owl.english.purdue.edu
Do you agree that campus parking
is a problem and that the
administration should be working
diligently on a solution?
Remember:
Avoid Double-Barreled questions.
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16. How do you have ask the right
questions?
Examples courtesy of Purdue Online Writing Lab “Creating Good Interview and Survey Questions”
http://owl.english.purdue.edu
What do you think about parking?
Remember:
Avoid Vague questions.
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17. How do you have ask the right
questions?
Examples courtesy of Purdue Online Writing Lab “Creating Good Interview and Survey Questions”
http://owl.english.purdue.edu
Do you believe that the parking
situation on campus is problematic
or difficult because of lack of
spaces and the walking distance
or do you believe that the
parking....
Remember:
Avoid Wordy questions.
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18. How do you have ask the right
questions?
Examples courtesy of Purdue Online Writing Lab “Creating Good Interview and Survey Questions”
http://owl.english.purdue.edu
Have you ever encountered
parking problems in the parking
garage on campus? Do you like the
bus system?
Remember:
Avoid Unrelated questions.
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19. Framing a great
conversation
✓ Position - Establish where this person sits in the
space you are exploring
✓ Convictions - Understand what they believe to be true
and why
✓ Doubts - Understand what they have a hard time
believing, what makes them nervous and why
✓ Color - Ask anything else that will help to color in
their responses to their previous questions
✓ Questions - Always let them ask you questions.
Sometimes the best stuff comes out from what they
ask you
Remember:
Write a well formulated guide when
interviewing. Question Flow is important.
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20. What time is it?
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21. Workshop!
–Write an interview guide for each of the interviews
you can conduct with people you have access to
–Write a survey to send out to people you have
access to
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22. Homework!
–Conduct research (conduct interviews, send out
surveys) and come to the next class ready to
formulate findings
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23. Questions?
CovertA@newschool.edu
@ Abby_The_IA
www.Abbytheia.com