The User Experience (UX) book club was an initiative started by Steve Baty, Principal at Meld Consulting in Sydney Australia.

As Steve pointed out in a recent article on Boxes and Arrows the value in the book club is the opportunity to share experiences through face-to-face interactions with other UX professionals and enthusiasts:

UX Book Club is a fairly simple idea: get a group of people together, choose a book, and agree on meeting details. Go away and read the book. On the date set, come together and discuss the book. Talk about how you might use what you’ve read in your work; how your experiences run counter to the book; an example of how the book is spot on. Have a bloody good argument about it, then go have a drink and talk about it some more.

I started the Ottawa chapter of the UX Book Club a few weeks back and I hope this will provide an opportunity to share experiences and ideas with other professionals and organizations.

I brought about a dozen books to the initial meeting for others to review. The group decided on The Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam . Coincidentally, Mr. Roam was recently announced as the keynote speaker for the 2010 Information Architecture Summit in Phoenix, Arizona.

Our next meeting will be at the umi cafe at 6:00pm on Thursday, November 26th to discuss The Back of the Napkin. Whether you’re a veteran of the field or simply interested in learning more, I hope that you’ll join us!

Please sign up on the Wiki and follow us on Twitter @uxbookottawa.

This morning I had a two hour Skype conversation with the President of FatDUX in Copenhagen Denmark, Eric Reiss. I first saw Eric present at the 2008 IA Summit, in Miami.

The night before he handed out hundreds of small rubber ducks to attendees. The next day when people saw a poor user experience he insisted that people throw the ducks at the big screen where his slides were displayed, as a sign of disgust! It was one of the most memorable presentations I’ve seen in years.

At the end of this year’s IA Summit in Memphis, Eric and I had a passionate conversation about the current state of the user experience communities (IA, UX, IxD, HCI). We continued our discussion this morning focusing on solutions rather than the circular, and I might add completely useless, online discussions about defining each discipline.

In our chat I noted a quote from The Social Life of Information by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid:

Did the focus on process, perhaps overlook the increasing demand for knowledge in modern organizations? We suspect it did. Consequently, looking at reengineering in the light of knowledge…may help reveal both the strengths (often hidden behind catcalls) and the weaknesses (equally hidden behind cheerleading) of reengineering.

Process is about following a set of steps to get to a specific end state. In order to learn how to do anything we begin by engaging other subject matter experts (books, blogs, conference presentations, podcasts, tweets, lectures, etc) and learn from their years of experience.

After we’ve tapped into everything they have to offer, what’s next? Many professionals lock themselves into a process they understand and subsequently turn away from other disciplines from which they could learn.

The only way to truly think outside the box, is to step away from what you think you know to be the best process and learn about how others approach problems, and in turn, create solutions.

As Eric noted at this year’s IA Summit, ROI: Speaking the Language of Business, the greatest leaders in politics, religion, and science all have one thing in common: they were/are brilliant communicators. Gandhi, Mother Theresa, J.F.K., Obama, and Einstein all had/have the capacity to communicate complex ideas to anyone in a context they understand.

My recommendation to the UX community is to stop debating about a specific process to a specific problem and begin to focus on the clients for whom we are helping. Provide them with greater context to the solutions we offer by providing solutions based on their mental model – not yours.

Quoting again from the Social Life of Information:

…is the current approach to technology design leading in the right direction, or may it again be focusing too tightly on an idealized view of information and how it – and individuals – work?

Reading Josh Porter’s book last year Designing for the Social Web I learned only 20% of the world’s population has access to the World Wide Web.

Put another way, take ten random friends from around the world and line them up with numbers 1-10 written on signs in front of them.

Then ask a friend to pick two numbers at random from 1-10. Let’s say they pick numbers 4 and 9. Have those friends step forward.

The remaining eight friends won’t be reading this blog post. Several of those people left in line are also illiterate with little to no access to educational resources for learning.

Adaptive Path has been doing some remarkable research in some of the poorest areas of India where illiteracy is the norm; resulting in the need to completely re-think the design of mobile devices.

An estimated 40% of India’s rural population is unable to read text or numeric information.

I was talking with Chris Palle today @chrispalle about next steps for me and how I would like to evolve the UX Workshop.

In the short term, I’d like to interview people new to our respective industries of IA, UX, IxD, and capture their ideas. After all, communities of practice can’t evolve if they don’t continue to look to those entering the industry.

Over the longer term, I would love to travel the world to do similar research that Adaptive Path has completed and then share those experiences as a presenter at conferences like UX Week and Idea.

MobilGlyph: Making Data Tangible from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

Co-founder at IDEO, renowned world-wide for its innovative and user-centered approach to design, David Kelly gives a fascinating talk at the TED conference in May 2007 entitled, “The Future of Design is Human Centered”.

Something’s happened in the last 18 years since Richard has started TED…we’ve kind of…climbed Maslow’s hierarchy a little bit so we’re now focused more and more on Human Centered Design. That really involves designing behaviors and personality into products, and I think you’re starting to see that and it’s making our job even more enjoyable.

David shares several examples of the designs IDEO has created using this philosophy, and how ubiquitous technology has become in our everyday lives. My favorite project shown is how the team at IDEO attempted to make the cubicle “more human”.

If you’re interested in learning more about ubiquitous computing, Adam Greenfields’ book Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing is an excellent resource on the subject.

Several years ago I had the pleasure of working for an e-learning and publishing company where I managed the creation of a Microsoft Certified Training (MCT) program.

Along with managing the creation of the 5-day work shop, I authored the section on Adult Learning Theory. While researching several concepts, I came across the Experiential Learning Theory proposed by David Kolb:

Experiential learning theory defines learning as “the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience.”

In an essay from the book Managing as Designing entitled “Designing Learning”, co-author of the article Paul Eickmann notes:

“You know, for art students learning is not text driven.” This stood in dramatic contrast with management education, which is almost entirely organized around texts that deliver an authoritative scientific discourse. The scientific basis of the management curriculum was established in 1959 by an influential Carnegie Foundation report that sought to improve the intellectual respectability of management education by grounding it in three scientific disciplines: economics, mathematics, and behavioral science.

Education in the Arts focuses on approaches to learning as: Aesthetic, Demo-practice-production-critique, Recursive, Theory and Practice, Showing, Expression, Individualized, with a Diverse Faculty.

By comparison, Management Education focuses on the polar opposite elements: Scientific, Test driven, Discursive, Theory, Telling, Impression, Batched, with an Abstract Faculty.

Instead of holding stead-fast to our own perceptions, which have been formed largely through post-secondary and post-graudate curricula; perhaps we need to see the world through the eyes of those whose strengths have been shaped by the very educational institutions we hold in such high esteem.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Ginny Redish, author of Letting Go of the Words – Writing Web Content that Works.

To read more about Ginny’s Book, you can visit her site and you can also download two sample chapters from what I would consider a “must-have” resource for both business and government.

Along with great examples and stories relating to the importance of a content strategy, we also discuss:

* The importance of emotion when writing for the web
* Scenario writing when building Personas
* How important is the home page?
* Still trying to blast the myth of the fold
* When and when not to use PDF
* Pathway pages
* Eye-tracking analysis
* Creating content in an inverted pyramid style
* Push versus Pull
* The importance of a sans serif font and choosing the appropriate size of font
* The importance of providing proper context to the content being written

Ginny will be leading a session at the eLearning Guild Annual Gathering in Orlando March 11 – 13, where she’ll be speaking on March 13 on Writing eLearning Content that Works.

Ginny is also facilitating a webinar hosted by Rosenfeld Media on May 28 entitled Shifting Your Focus: Content as Conversation.

Congratulations to Andrew Boyd, Donna Spencer, Steve & Danielle Batty for organizing UX Australia taking place 25-27 August 2009 at the Hotel Realm, a new 5 star hotel in Barton.

Feedback from colleagues who attended Interactions ‘09 and Web Directions North were that both events were huge successes! Congratulations to event organizers from both conferences.

Chris Pallé and I continue to make good progress with the UX Workshop. Looking forward to more feedback from others around the world about tools and ideas that would be of greatest value – so please add your thoughts today!

Heading back to the IA Summit this year to Podcast for Boxes and Arrows. Looking to set a new personal record – over 50 presentations / conversations in a few days. Turn on the coffee and keep it comin’!

I came across this book a couple of months ago, In The Bubble – Designing in a Complex World by John Thackara.

There are a wealth of brilliant ideas found in this book that have been reinforced in nearly every conference I’ve attended this year; as well as discussions I’ve had with other professionals off line in the fields of IA, IxDA, and UX.

For example, in Jesse James Garrett’s presentation of Aurora this year at IDEA 2008, I found the concept of Fluid Time matched up perfectly with the new browser concept:

Fluid time works with the unpredictable nature of events, constantly updating users with the most recent, most accurate time information on the availability of services such as transportation, delivery, or health. Relevant, personalized information is an important characteristic of the service. Users should not have to search through dozens of train schedules if they are only interested in a single line. Similarly, they should receive truly personalized information about their doctor’s appointments, dry cleaning, and other services. As companies compete for the attention of their customers, they are discovering that more information is not necessarily better. People need information this is relevant to their unique situation.

John also discusses why relationships with other people, and not widgets, will always be at the heart of every valuable solution:

I have spent thousands of hours of my life in transport hubs and airports. I have visited countless high-tech offices and studios. I have had a beginner’s hands-on experience in the design of the building for knowledge-based institute. I have worked with the world’s most powerful cultural institution on an exhibition about workspace design. My conclusion? Gadgets and tools are of modest importance, at best. Creating community is only marginally about technology. What matters is the copresence through time of bodies and the emergence of shared meaning as we interact with each other in meaningful activities.

And a final favorite quote focuses on the importance of context:

The constantly changing flows of people and ideas that characterize a dynamic learning organization, and the quality of interactions with other people and communities and customers, are more important than the boxes we meet in, the chairs we sit in, or the keyboards we punch to communicate with. If innovation is a social process that involves complex interactions among individuals, communities of practice, and customers, then fostering these complex interactions – designing the context of innovation and learning – brings so-called soft aspects of workplace design to the fore. The word here is minds in the plural – and in particular the innovative capabilities of groups. Learning happens best when people participate in different communities of practice. The best collaboration environments provide the opportunity to meet, share ideas, discuss, and learn from another’s experiences. We need to interact in them, not pose in them.

We’ve lost sight of the fact that technologies are only a set of tools to help us connect with other people. When that connection starts to become blurred, or worse breaks, it’s time to step away from your lap top and make a concerted effort to re-establish that connection with other people.

I love books and ideas that get to the heart of issues around concepts central to my work as an Information Architect like search, and user experience. The Paradox of Choice – Why More is Less by Dr. Barry Schwartz has been a favorite of mine for years.

I’ve blogged about Dr. Schwartz’s work in the past, but based on recent lessons learned at conferences and educating clients in the field of Information Architecture and Information Management, I feel it’s worth mentioning again.

In this talk at TED, Dr. Schwartz gives an educational and entertaining talk about his research and how the infinite amount of choice in Western society has created a culture that prevents us from making intelligent choices.

All this choice has two negative effects on people. One effect, paradoxically, is that it produces paralysis rather than liberation. With so many options to choose from people find it very difficult to choose from at all!…The second effect is even if we manage to overcome the paralyis and make a choice, we end up less satisfied with the result of the choice then if we would be if we had fewer options to choose from.

Providing less choice, as the paradox goes, will actually increase satisfaction when we do make our selection. This can be seen in the creation of excellent web services, for example.

In creating designs that don’t overwhelm people with information, people are provided fewer choices, allowing them to quickly and easily find everything they need.

Daniel Goleman, respected Psychologist and author of many publications, including one of my favorites, Emotional Intelligence, gives a thought provoking talk about our innate human desire to care for others.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is ultimately the capacity to manage the emotions of self, others, or groups. EI has been identified by many experts as the key to success in life both personally and professionally.

As Don Norman and Peter Merholz illustrated in their discussion at UX Week, we are designing solutions for other people, not “users”. Don also pointed out during his keynote presentation that we need to stop using phrases like, “We need to make this idiot proof for our users”, implying our “users” are idiots; which of course, they are not.

All of which is to say, we need to be focusing on the emotional component of what inspires people, and spend less time worrying about whether business and government are aligning with the latest fad.

Understanding the social animals we are, and our inherent need to connect with other people, EI is a critical area of Psychology for all those in the fields of IA, IxDA, UX, and HCI to learn more about. Through a deeper understanding of how we think, learn, and behave, we can have more productive conversations with colleagues and clients, creating a corporate culture where innovation can thrive.

Daniel Goleman brought the notion of “EI” to prominence as an alternative to more traditional measures of IQ with his 1995 mega-best-seller Emotional Intelligence.

Since the publication of that book, conferences and academic institutes have sprung up dedicated to the idea. EI is taught in public schools, and corporate leaders have adopted it as a new way of thinking about success and leadership. EI, and one’s “EIQ,” can be an explanation of why some “average” people are incredibly successful, while “geniuses” sometimes fail to live up to their promise.

I had the pleasure of meeting Josh Porter, author of designing for the Social Web at the I.A. Summit earlier this year in Miami. In his book, Josh discusses how to design for collective intelligence, authentic conversations, sharing, and on-going participation, to name a few.

I’ve learned from research, project work, and interviewing subject-matter experts in the fields of IA, IxDA, HCI, and UX that content is merely a driver for face-to-face conversations that provide the highest level of understanding and clarity of thought.

You experience this all the time at conferences. The presentations may be incredible, but it’s the discussions you have with others between sessions that are of greatest value.

A sentiment that I’ve been talking to others in the public and private sector for years is that technology is simply not the foundational problem impacting an organizations’ capacity to deliver. People are your foundation, not the slick new piece of technology you just purchased or have created. Josh illustrates this idea beautifully here and throughout his book:

No matter how great the technology you’re using, it can’t solve what are fundamentally human social problems. Garnering interest, getting people excited and talking about your software: the thing we really want to take is real poeple making human-to-human contact. There is no way around it. So forget easy technological solutions. Technology might help you along the way, but it can’t have conversations for you and it’s no substitute for human interaction.

Podcasting for the IA Podcast and for Boxes and Arrows, I’ve come to realize that this medium actually models Josh’s idea that there is “…no substitute for human interaction.”

Podcasting extends the voice of others beyond the tidal wave of blog posts and white papers and gets to the heart of the matter; quickly and simply.

This is a major shift from traditional business philosophies about needing to control the message. The reality is information about any subject is available to anyone at anytime. Giving up control, as the paradox goes, actually allows you to garner more of it.

Don’t try and stop the conversation – join it!