UXPA Publications
User Experience Magazine: Volume 11, Issue 4, 2012
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Featured Articles: Trust and the User
Trusting Inaccurate Systems: Both Technological and Human
By Aisling O’Kane, Christian Detweiler, and Alina Pommeranz
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(PDF 576Kb)
Drawing parallels between human-to-machine and human-to-human relationships, those authors advocate for machine interfaces that admit they can be wrong – and thereby earn greater trust than when they pretend to be infallible – but aren’t. They use their research into the use of GPS systems to make the case.
Trust in Mobile Shopping: An Empirical Study
By Serena Hillman and Carman Neustaedter
Full text - members only (PDF 388Kb)
Still in its infancy, mobile commerce (m-commerce) is quickly creating an impact within North America and world economies. How does trust within m-commerce compare to its developed counterpart e-commerce? How can we better design the mobile experience to help promote trust?
Beyond Global: Exploring the Regional UX Opportunity
By Yu-Hsiu Li
Full text - members only (PDF 595Kb)
The impact of user experience practices is strongly related to the global business context, but geographic regions have their own politics and social systems, creating diverse business contexts. In discussing user experience development, it is impossible to generalize for all regions. This article suggests that to identify the regional UX development challenge, we start by looking at the regional business context. The article uses an overview of Taiwan’s UX development to suggest a way to advocate effectively for UX.
Gaining User Trust: Research and a Secret
By Chris Nodder
Full text - members only (PDF 2.65Mb)
Chris takes readers through the design-and-test iterations of his experience with XP Service Pack 2, a key element in Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Initiative. The lessons learned at each iteration add up to a “secret” -- a scoped, equitable, contextual, responsible, emotional and timely user experience for trust and privacy decisions.
QR Codes: Don't Hide the Magic
By Mick Winter
Full text - members only (PDF 1.63Mb)
Mick presents some impressive statistics proving the rapid adoption worldwide of Quick Response (QR) codes and looks closely at works and what doesn’t work. He presents two fundamental principles – tell users why they should scan the code and make sure the code takes users to a mobile-friendly site. He lists the many potential uses for the codes and several more principles on how to use them most effectively.
A Unique Approach to Software Usability: What's In It for Your Development Team
By Lynne Martin
Full text - members only (PDF 306Kb)
Looking at developers’ schedules, Martin began using the “down” time early in a project’s definition to get the team involved in users and usability from the start, thus avoiding the “no-time-for-usability” crunch at the end of the cycle. In addition to new skills and a more usable end result, her developers have gained a balanced workload and increased prestige in the organization.
“Do you trust me enough to answer this question?” Trust and Data Quality
By Caroline Jarrett
Full text - members only (PDF 2.07Mb)
A question isn’t just a question. It is part of a social exchange, a conversation that takes place within the context of what users expect from organizations and what they hope to achieve with that conversation. Those social exchanges are deeply affected by trust. If users trust your organization and your motives for asking, they will be much more willing to answer.
Should We Condut this Usability Study? Ethics Considerations in Evaluations
By Sarah J. Swierenga, Ph.D. and Graham L. Pierce
Full text - members only (PDF 556Kb)
What are the types of situations in which it is unethical to conduct a user experience evaluation? Every user experience professional is responsible for understanding and applying the principles of human research participant protection in their design and testing projects.
Departments
Reality Trumps Preconceptions
By Joe Bugental
Full text - members only (PDF 243Kb)
Experiencing Trust: Mother or Big Brother
By Kelly Bouas Henry
Full text - members only (PDF 698Kb)
The author, a social psychologist, details her study of cognitive dissonance in research, the phenomenon of study participants’ words and actions that don’t match each other. She also describes the difference between internal motivation (“because I want to”) and external motivation (“because I have to”). It all adds up to a recipe for how an online application can seem a lot more benevolent, evoking “Big Brother” a little less and “Big Mama” a lot more.
Full text - members only (PDF 2.18Mb)
Not So Strange, These Fictions
Make It So: Interaction Design Lessons from Science Fiction
By Nathan Shedroff & Christopher Noessel
Gerry Gaffney talks about “Make It So: Interaction Design Lessons from Science Fiction” by Nathan Shedroff and Christopher Noessel and its implications for the design of mechanical controls, visual interfaces, volumetric projection, and gesture – all brought to life through examples in the literature of science fiction.
Diagramming: Making the Invisible Visible
Designing Diagrams: Making Information Accessible through Design
By Jan Gauguin
Aaron Marcus reviews one recent and five classic books about information visualization, specifically, diagramming, the visual depiction of structures and processes that help us to understand and to interact with complex information about ourselves and the world in which we live.
Practical Guidance at Every Level
Usability Testing Essentials: Ready, Set . . .Test!
By Carol M. Barnum
Paul Linton describes his positive experience reading Carol M. Barnum’s “Usability Testing Essentials: Ready, Set . . .Test!” which provides practical guidance for UX professionals at every experience level. Topics covered include equipment, lab vs. field testing, remote testing; heuristic analysis, personas and user groups, testing protocols, analyzing results, and reporting the findings.