[Sigia-l] Personas vs. Audience Analysis

[Dan Saffer]

On Aug 31, 2005, at 5:16 AM, Lada Gorlenko wrote:

> empathy should stay close to average for a normally
> functioning human being towards another human being, but nothing
> particularly empathic.

I came up with this little model:

research --> empathy --> understanding --> solutions

I think you need empathy--some regard for the person's situation-- 
before understanding and then solutions. But stopping at empathy  
worries me.


> Too much feeling muddles thinking, and as long
> as we are in the business of creating viable solutions, thinking is
> more important than feeling.

This was certainly Herb Simon's position, that emotion was an  
impediment to problem-solving. I'm not sure I agree with it. Some  
problems are emotional (take the Middle East for example (please)).  
Design solutions without emotional component are pretty lifeless.

Dan