[Sigia-l] Which box are u in?

[Lord, Ralph]

Ooh, I'll play along. How about:
Provide, Present and Produce

Provide the user with functionality/tools appropriate to their needs
Present the functionality/tools in a manner which makes sense to them
Produce the result they expected from using the functionality/tools

I agree with Paula, it's all about "them" (the users, not the ants).

Ralph Lord
System Analyst
Northrop Grumman Mission Systems
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
404.639.7382



> -----Original Message-----
> From: paula.thornton [mailto:paula.thornton at prodigy.net] 
> Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 12:34 PM
> To: ASIS
> Subject: [Sigia-l] Which box are u in?
> 
> 
> Dave Heller and I have been continuing our 'offline' debate 
> about CMS (at this point I'm still at the 'any vendor' not 
> 'getting it' as opposed to this being a CMS-specific issue). 
> Then David said something that totally put the locomotive 
> breaks on (hear headsplitting decibels of metal screeching 
> against metal).
> 
> Dave said:
> "I was in my car on my way to work today and I think thought 
> up what my 3 terms would be for what User Experience's goals 
> are about: Engage, Teach, Complete Engage the User Teach the 
> User (who can then) Complete the task
> 
> I quickly responded back to the effect of: No wonder! You're 
> inside the wrong box.
> 
> When designing things from the perspective of the 'recipient' 
> there is no possibility for "Engage" or "Teach". These are 
> terms associated with doing something "to" the recipient, not 
> doing something "for" the recipient (the latter being the 
> correct approach). And in reality, any approach can only be 
> judged 'correct' when tested from the 'recipient's voice'. 
> Would a 'recipient' ever say "user"; would they say, "I need 
> to engage myself?" or "I need to teach myself?".
> 
> In far more personal settings I have replaced the term 
> "teaching" with "learning". The change in focus results in 
> phenomenal differences. In a 'teaching teachers' course, I 
> ask them not to think of themselves as 'teachers' (doing 
> something 'to' someone) but as 'facilitators of learning' 
> (doing something 'with' someone).
> 
> None of us will make the progress possible to us until we 
> change this subtle perspective in what we do.
> 
> Paula Thornton
> Interaction Design Strategist
> www.iknovate.com
> 
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