[Sigia-l] Off Topic Posts

[Jared M. Spool]

At 11:15 PM 3/11/2006, Eric Scheid wrote:
>When I look at usability, in comparison to IA, I can see that there has been
>fruit from that specialisation (especially coming from Jared Spool's UIE).

<blush> Gee golly, thank you. :) </blush>

>I believe we haven't plumbed the depths of IA yet, that there are many more
>things we can discover that will enhance our understanding of IA ... but
>going down the path to being generalists won't be helpful to that end.
>
>Generalists are great for getting things done, and more power to them, but
>they're lousy (IMHO) for advancing a field. Are we happy with the extent of
>our collective knowledge of IA, or do we suspect we've only scratched the
>surface?

I don't think this is an issue about generalists.

This is an issue about dedicating resources to applied research. We're 
making progress in the usability space *because* we've been making the 
investments. (UIE alone invests about $1.5m every year. Jakob is making his 
own investment, as is Wichita State, Tom Tullis's group at Fidelity, Ben 
Bederson's team at UM/CP, and too many others to name.)

While we've done some work that has touched on IA related topics, there 
could be a lot more investment. UX as a whole (including interaction 
design, visual design, design management, content management, user 
research, and about 30 other areas of discipline) could use 20-30 times the 
investments currently available and we'd still just be hitting the tip of 
the iceberg.

Generalists play an important role in product/service development, as do 
specialists. (Our most current thinking is the need for specialists vs. 
generalists is actually a function of local economics more than anything 
else. This is part of my talk at the IA Summit, so I'll have more to say on 
this in a couple of weeks.)

Applied research is a completely different side of the process. While 
generalists/specialists work to produce designs, applied research works to 
produce foundational knowledge. The goal is to provide the information 
necessary to prevent "inventing the wheel" on every project.

Theoretical research is a more advanced research practice, which looks past 
foundational knowledge and attempts to create longitudinal frameworks and 
underlying models to explain, in a theoretical sense, the composition of 
the field and its universe.

In nascent fields, you have to start with the practitioners. They pave the 
way for the applied researchers, who then pave the way for the theoretical 
researchers. In medicine, you have practicing doctors (both general 
practitioners and specialists), applied medical researchers (developing 
state-of-the-art protocols and medicines), and theoretical medical 
researchers (such as those trying to understand the essence of cancer, 
auto-immune deficiencies, or mapping the human genome).

The question isn't about being happy with our collective knowledge. The 
question is: how are we going to fund the necessary research?

Jared


Jared M. Spool, Founding Principal, User Interface Engineering
4 Lookout Lane, Unit 4d, Middleton, MA 01949
978 777-9123   jspool at uie.com  http://www.uie.com
Blog: http://www.uie.com/brainsparks