hFIDO Blog

“One of the biggest challenges and top frustration causes for UX research and usability practitioners lies in getting buy-in for research from stakeholders. People have trouble persuading stakeholders to conduct UX research to begin with. They have difficulties in getting sponsorship and budget for fieldwork. They experience hostility when they try to get their stakeholders to act upon research results. This workshop provides strategies and tools for getting stakeholder buy-in for UX research. During the workshop we will learn tried and tested techniques, hear success and failure stories, practice and role play, and share insights with other workshop attendees.”

The half-day interactive workshop is conducted by Tomer Sharon, User Experience Researcher at Google Search and HFID graduate, at the Smith Academic Technology Center in Room 223 on Saturday, May 12 from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM. Registration is only $25 for students.

“The purpose of [Stanford's] Persuasive Technology Lab is to create insight into how computing products – from websites to mobile phone software – can be designed to change people’s beliefs and behaviors. [M]ajor projects include technology for creating health habits, mobile persuasion, and the psychology of Facebook. The Persuasive Tech Lab has a variety of resources compiled here to help you get started.” Read more.

“Recent advances in neuroscience and behavioral economics, cognitive psychology and anthropology are helping us better understand how our brains work and how decision-making takes place. A core finding of this work is that we are not primarily the products of our conscious thinking; we are instead the products of thinking that happens below the level of awareness. Reason, it turns out, is highly dependent on emotional value judgments and therefore is highly susceptible to bias.”

Read the full white paper from Artefact Group.

“Every website needs an audience. And every audience needs a goal. Advocating for end-user needs is the very foundation of the user experience disciplines. We make websites for real people. Those real people are able to do real things. Everyone is happy.

But, it’s not really that easy, is it?

The issue, of course, is that we cannot advocate for those whom we do not know—or, even worse, those whom we assume we know. So we go to the source: we interview, we learn, and we determine who, exactly, these mystery users are. In doing so, we answer the two most important questions of the discovery stage: who are our audiences, and what do they want from our website?

Then—and only then—can we begin the process toward better content.”

Read the full article on A List Apart.