How, Why, and with Whom Do User Experience (UX) Practitioners Communicate? Implications for HCI Education
Full Paper
MacDonald, C. M., Rose, E. J., and Putnam, C. (2022).
While being a good communicator is a key skill for user experience (UX) practitioners, human-computer interaction (HCI) education typically prioritizes the creation of tangible project deliverables, e.g., wireframes, over providing students with a more complete set of communication skills. In this paper, we draw from an analysis of 60 interviews with experienced UX professionals to argue that a nuanced understanding of communication strategies should be explicitly included in HCI education. Specifically, we identify five goals that shape communications between UX practitioners and four distinct audiences and show that they select specific methods (techniques, artifacts, and tools) to achieve these goals. Drawing on theories of situated and authentic learning, we discuss three key implications for HCI educators: embracing rhetorical complexity, simulating real-world communication challenges, and highlighting the performative elements of communication. Educators must embrace these challenges to help students become more effective communicators and prepare them for UX careers.
A Framework for Assessing Organizational User Experience (UX) Capacity
Full Paper
MacDonald, C. M., Sosebee J. & Srp, A. (2022).
Organizations across every industry are seeking to adopt effective User Experience (UX) practices, but they often struggle through an expensive process of trial and error because there is no standard methodology or approach for doing so. To address this challenge, we present the UX Capacity Assessment Framework (UXCAF) as a comprehensive tool for helping organizations understand the strengths and limitations of their current UX practices and identify targeted improvement strategies. Developed through a literature review and interviews with UX professionals, the UXCAF includes 21 concepts split into six dimensions of UX capacity: people, resources, practices and processes, organizational literacy, organizational decision-making, and benefits. We apply the UXCAF to three organizations in different sectors to show how organizations of any type and size can learn how to improve their internal UX practices and stay competitive in an increasingly digital world.
EduCHI 2021: 3rd Annual Symposium on HCI Education
Workshop/Symposium
MacDonald, C. M., St-Cyr, O., Gray, C. M., Potter, L. E., Vasilchenko, A., Sin, J., & Churchill, E. F. (2021).
The HCI Education Community of Practice (CoP) has grown considerably over the past few years, starting with the HCI Living Curriculum workshop at CHI 2018 and continuing through to the EduCHI symposia at both CHI 2019 and CHI 2020. Central to the growth of the CoP has been two parallel efforts: creating channels to discuss issues pertinent to HCI education and providing a platform for sharing HCI curricula and teaching experiences. To continue this progress, we are organizing EduCHI 2021, the 3rd Annual Symposium on HCI Education. EduCHI 2021 will be held virtually and will feature interactive discussions about HCI education trends, curricula, pedagogies, teaching practices, and current and future challenges facing HCI educators.
Evaluating the Usability of Museum APIs
Report
Villaespesa, E., Nadel, K., Estigarribia, A., Tankha, M. and Korshakova, E. (2021).
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are becoming increasingly more common for museums as a way to share their data and collections with the public. However, standards for documentation and presentation for museum APIs are loosely defined or non-existent. This study aims to explore how museums can design, build, and display their APIs to a wide range of audiences with varying degrees of technical and museum related experience. Additionally, this study concludes with recommendations to improve the implementation of API documentation in the museum sector.
Working together: Using student-driven UX projects to improve library websites
Full Paper
Dease, N., Villaespesa, E., & MacDonald, C. M. (2021).
Web design standards have evolved considerably since the introduction of smartphones and tablets, but many academic library websites have fallen behind, perhaps due to a lack of internal user experience (UX) research and design practices. This article presents a discussion of various UX research and design methods undertaken by the Pratt Institute Libraries via collaboration with courses in Pratt’s School of Information. Projects discussed include web analytics, user testing, online surveys, personas definition, card sorting, and prototyping. The insights gained from this study may be of assistance to other academic libraries planning to redesign and improve their online experience.
Preparing Future UX Professionals: Human Skills, Technical Skills, and Dispositions
Full Paper
Rose, E. J., Putnam, C., & MacDonald, C. M. (2020).
The field of user experience (UX) is growing and rapidly evolving. As instructors who teach in and help design UX programs for students in higher education, we are interested in developing compelling and relevant educational experiences for our students who aim to work as UX professionals. To gain a better understanding of the current expectations for working in the UX industry, we conducted 64 interviews with 71 senior UX industry professionals to learn about their current practices and their expectations of what skills new employees need to be successful working in UX. In this paper, we present a subset of findings from the study that focus on desired skills (both human and technical) and dispositions of UX employees. We discuss the implications of this research for teachers and students and a call for future work.
EduCHI 2020: 2nd Annual Symposium on HCI Education
Workshop/Symposium
St-Cyr, O., MacDonald, C.M., Gray, C. M., Potter, L. E., Vasilchenko, A., Sin, J., & Churchill, E. F. (2020).
The past few years has seen steady growth for the HCI Education Community of Practice (CoP), driven primarily by the “HCI Living Curriculum” workshop at CHI 2018 and the inaugural EduCHI symposium at CHI 2019. In discussions among HCI educators over the past two years, two themes have stood out: creating channels for discussions related to HCI education and providing a platform for sharing HCI curricula and teaching experiences. To that end, we are organizing EduCHI 2020: The 2nd Annual Symposium on HCI Education. Similar to last year’s symposium, EduCHI 2020 will again feature paper presentations about HCI education trends, curricula, pedagogies, teaching practices, and diverse and inclusive HCI education. In addition, we will also be adding more opportunities for discussions among and between members of the HCI education community, particularly around solving current and future challenges facing HCI educators.
Museum Collections and Online Users: Development of a Segmentation Model for the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Full Paper
Villaespesa, E. (2019).
This article presents a segmentation of users who visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s online collection. The six segments defined in this study are professional researcher, personal interest information-seeker, student researcher, inspiration-seeker, casual browser, and visit planner. The study combines web analytics with more traditional survey methods to show how digital research tools can be incorporated into visitor studies in the emerging domain of online product evaluation. The results of this user research advance the understanding of museum website audiences, with detailed data and descriptions of each segment. The article argues that it is important for museums to create multiple kinds of online experiences to reflect the varying motivations, art background, context, and online behavior of website users. Moreover, the article provides a discussion on the implications of this user diversity for evaluating the impact and value of online museum collections. The evaluation framework needs to include metrics to measure the user experience by considering the online collection from three perspectives: as a resource for research and learning, as a source of inspiration, and as a tool for planning a visit to the museum.
User Experience (UX) Capacity-Building: A Conceptual Model and Research Agenda
Full Paper
MacDonald, C. M. (2019).
Many User Experience (UX) practitioners face organizational barriers that limit their ability to influence product decisions. Unfortunately, there is little concrete knowledge about how to systematically overcome these barriers to optimize UX work and foster a stronger organizational UX culture. This paper introduces the concept of User Experience Capacity-Building (UXCB) to describe the process of building, strengthening, and sustaining effective UX practices throughout an organization. Through an integrated literature review of relevant HCI and capacity-building research, this paper defines UXCB and proposes a conceptual model that outlines the conditions, strategies, and outcomes that define a UXCB initiative. Five areas of future research are presented that aim to deepen our understanding of UXCB as both a practice and an area of scholarship.
EduCHI 2019 Symposium: Global Perspectives on HCI Education
Workshop/Symposium
St-Cyr, O., MacDonald, C. M., & Churchill, E. F. (2019).
At CHI 2018, a workshop on developing a community of practice to support global HCI education was held, building on six years of research and collaboration in the area of HCI education. Many themes emerged from the workshop activities and discussions. Two particularly stood out: creating channels for discussions related to HCI education and providing a platform for sharing HCI curricula and teaching experiences. To that end, we are organizing a CHI 2019 symposium dedicated exclusively to HCI education: EduCHI 2019: Global Perspectives on HCI Education. The symposium will focus on the canons of HCI education in 2019 and beyond. It will offer a venue for HCI educators across disciplinary and geographical borders to discuss, dissect, and debate HCI teaching and learning. Through keynote addresses, paper presentations, and a panel discussion, we aim to discuss current and future HCI education trends, curricula, pedagogies, teaching practices, and diverse and inclusive HCI education. Post-symposium initiatives will aim to document and publish the discussions from the symposium.