Appendices

Appendix: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in UX

As we have already discussed, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZAMM) [Pirsig, 1974] may seem like a strange text to use for a Computer Science based UX text; but it isn’t. In reality, I am not interested in you remembering anything much within the general narrative of ZAMM. But ZAMM is not really about Zen or indeed motorcycle maintenance, it’s about science, quality, and rhetoric. Actually it is much more than this and so I want to talk now about why the concepts contained within it are useful to cover in this text, and how theses relate to your understanding and practice of UX within a professional setting.

The Collision of Two Opposing Ideologies

In the past we characterised practical human computer interaction in terms of usability and interaction engineering (in some cases accessibility was included but mainly as an afterthought). In this case, we decided if an interface was usable and the interaction design was good, based on tangible, measurable metrics such as task completion time. These kinds of metrics enabled us to understand the interactive experience in terms of time, theorising that the least time spent using the interface, the better; and this may have been, in some ways correct, as most computers were used in work situations.

As time passed our concept of the computer and the interface evolved such that computers were no more tied down to the desk but could be mobile or ubiquitous, and the interface was not solely confined to software but may also include aspects of hardware, moving computers from the workplace and into the consumer product domain. Our ways of measuring and valuing the goodness of these interfaces however remained the same, task completion time, errors and error rates, correction times, Fitts Law pointing predictions, etc. Indeed this was the scientific or classic view of technology. At this point intangibles were seen as being soft science, unmeasurable and too open to incorrect interpretation. Other aspects, which might also affect how interfaces were experienced, but which could not be directly measured, and which relied more on subjective views of the user was seen as being, at best inconsequential, and at worst just plain old bad-science.

This clash of ideologies runs large through the whole of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, its main theme being how to unify both the scientific and the romantic; the classic and the aesthetic; the tangible and the intangible; the measurable and the experiential. ZAMM tries to rhetorically unite these two opposing ideologies via a quality framework, indeed this rhetorical attempt eventually sends the author insane; happily this is not the case with practical HCI.

UX is our attempt to unite classic HCI with modern ideas of experience and perception in which accessibility, usability, and interaction engineering (tangible, scientific, measurable) are combined with aesthetic, emotional, fun, affective, collaborative, and gameplay (intangible, humane, difficult to measure).

By understanding the clash of worlds as discussed at length in ZAMM we can also understand the more successful combination of these two – seemingly opposing – ideologies into a unified and cohesive whole as practically applied in UX. By understanding the nuances as discussed in ZAMM, we can better understand what issue we will need to overcome in future UX design, build, and evaluation and also begin to value – and better understand – the subjective qualitative views of the interactive experiences of our users.

Perception of the User Experience

One of the other major themes of ZAMM is that of perception, and the differences which lie between people and their experience of the world. At its most trivial this can be seen in the realisation that all Chris has been able to see for hundreds of miles is the back of his father – until he stands up – and that this is in someway responsible for Chris’ boredom and behaviour. However, more deeply the perception of reality for the different protagonists and how that reality is experienced is discussed in detail. This runs from how Chris experiences driving a car when his father is unable to function properly, through to the imposition of normality expected of the author by the society in which he lives, and culminating in the annihilation of his personality. Through to the perception of the authors friends in Bozeman who do not understand that the person they knew does not now exist.

These complicated experiences and perceptions of experience should be taken as warnings to anyone working in user experience. Our perceptions are complicated and incredibly difficult to categorise; what may seem to be obvious to one person, maybe obscure to another. User experience, as opposed to classical HCI, takes these different subjective perceptions into account in its desire to create practical pleasing experiences for each user.

Perception is something not normally measured or quantified in classic HCI and so only in the modern additions of emotion, fun and dynamic interaction can these intangibles be acknowledged. ZAMM shows us that experience can be massively divergent, and that outliers are as important as the general cases (if not more so). By intertwining stories of two different personalities in the same person, and understanding the perceptions – explicitly discussing these perceptions – of experience from different protagonists, ZAMM becomes a valuable teaching tool for UX. It could be though of as one large ‘Agile Scenario’.

The Discussion and Framing of Science in the User Experience

In its comparison of subjective and objective paradigms – the classical and the romantic – ZAMM does an excellent job of conveying the nature of the scientific method and the work that stems from it. Indeed, in its discussion of empiricism, ZAMM also discusses objectivity and the belief systems that arise around both objectivity and subjectivity.

The discussion of science and its limitations is also pursued, in this case we can see that most of Pirsig’s students share a common understanding of quality, in that they can tell quality when they see it, but quality is difficult to measure in any empirical or objective way; or describe with any degree of clarity. It seems in some ways an emergent property, or an umbrella term under which other more easily measured objective indicators can play a part. However, the richness of the description of quality is difficult to place only in such objective terms. So we can see that science cannot be the only measure of user experience, because science is mostly about generalisation, and because we do not have a full model of the universe; we therefore do not know all the variables which may arises to influence the user experience of a single individual. By nature we must conclude, in some regard, that objective, empirical science cannot give us all the answers at this time (until our model is complete), only the answer to testable questions.

This discussion of science is directly related to our discussions of the application of user experience, how we understand modern user experience, and how older styles of human computer interaction serve as an excellent base, but cannot provide the richness which is associated with the intangible, and often unquantifiable subjective, and emotional aspects which we would expect any user experience to comprise of.

We must, however, be cautious. By suggesting that subjective measures may not be testable means that we may be able to convince ourselves and others that a system is acceptable, and even assists or aids the user experience; while in reality there is no evidence, be it theoretical or experimental, which supports this argument. It may be that we are using rhetoric and argumentation to support subjective measures as a way of sidestepping the scientific process which may very well disprove our hypotheses as opposed to support it.

The Conceptualisation of Theoretical and Empirical User Experience

Notice, in the last section we discussed one fundamental of science, the fact that we can disprove or support a hypothesis, in empirical work we cannot prove one. We cannot prove a hypothesis because in the real world we are not able to test every single condition that may be applied to the hypothesis. In this case we can only say that our hypothesis is strong because we have tried to destroy it and have failed. But now notice that in ZAMM this is not the case.

Pirsig, is trained in rhetoric, in theoretical not empirical work, and so his conception of science is different to ours. In theoretical science (the science Pirsig is familiar with) it is quite possible to prove or disprove the hypothesis. This is because the model of the world is known in full, all tests can be applied, all answers can be evaluated. This is especially the case with regard to mathematics or theoretical physics whereby the mathematical principles are the way the world is modelled, and this theoretical world works on known principles. However this is not the case in user experience, and it is not the case in empirical science whereby we are observing phenomena in the real world and testing our theories using experiments, which may be tightly controlled, but are often as naturalistic as possible. In this case it is not possible to prove a hypothesis, because our model of the world is not complete, because we do not know the extent of the world, or all possible variables, in complex combination, which are able to affect the outcome.

In real-world empirical work we only need one negative result to disprove our hypothesis, but we need to have tested all possibilities to prove our hypothesis correct; we just don’t know when everything has been tested.

Rhetoric, Argumentation, and the User Experience

So, how can we satisfy ourselves that subjective, or intangible factors are taken into account in the design process and afterwards. ZAMM provides us with an answer in the form of rhetoric and argumentation. While we may not be able to measure the subjective outcomes or directly generalise them we are able to rationalise these aspects with logical argumentation; and rhetoric – the art of using language effectively so as to persuade or influence others – can obviously play a key role in this. However, you will notice that the problem with rhetoric is that while you may be able to persuade or influence others, especially with the aid of logical argumentation, your results and premise may still be incorrect. Indeed, these failures are also discussed within ZAMM whereby the author discusses rhetorical debates within his Chicago Ph.D. program, but which seem to have little concrete outcome even though the rhetoric is built upon seemingly solid logical and rhetorical foundation. Pirsig, at first fails to ‘win’ his rhetorical encounter with his supervisor - but then successfully argues the same point and does ‘win’; notice that the point is the same, win or loose. If you haven’t thought of or don’t predict the [counter]arguments that will be made, and have your own convincing counter arguments you’ll loose - you may be right, but if you are, your arguments and counter arguments should be complete; that’s the point of rhetoric and rhetorical debate.

Remember though, that with the user experience it is not our job to win an argument just for the sake of argumentation or rhetoric itself. We are not there to prove our eloquence, but we are there to support our inductive and deductive reasoning, and our own expertise (Pirsig calls this ‘feel’ when he refers to it in the context of mechanical repair) when it comes to understanding the user experience within the subjective or intangible.

Further, Pirsig elucidates ‘feel’ by telling us that ‘The difference between a good mechanic and a bad one, like the difference between a good mathematician and a bad one, is precisely this ability to select the good facts from the bad ones on the basis of quality. He has to care! This is an ability about which formal traditional scientific method has nothing to say.’

Values, and the Intangible Nature of the User Experience

ZAMM’s subtitle is ‘An Inquiry into Values’ and it is useful to remember this in the context of understanding the user experience. In reality, many of the intangibilities which arise in UX work stem from these often hidden values. Values which are expressed throughout the book, from when Pirsig describes his experiences with motorcycle mechanics who may be competent but do not seem to place a value on their work or their ability to fix, in this case, tappets, to Chris Sutherlands view of ‘shims’.

More interestingly however, Pirsig discusses the values which are related to the world-views of the people he is with; the Sutherland’s. Indeed he uses the Sutherland’s to play the counterpart to his mechanical, logical, functional view; the Sutherland’s being romantic, aesthetic, and emotional. Again, denoted by the discussion surrounding John’s view of the ‘shim’ created from a can as opposed to that created for the specific purpose and so therefore more aesthetically appealing.

The point here that Pirsig, and myself for that matter, are trying to make is that people bring their own values based on previous experience and their emotional state of equilibrium to any experience. These aspects are intangible and can be difficult to spot especially with regard to understanding the user experience. However, we can also use these values and world-views (if we have some idea of them) to positively influence users emotional response to an interface or interaction. Remember, we have already discussed that the expectation or perception of an experience, be it good or bad, will influence to a large degree the perception of that actual experience once enacted.

The ZAMM Narrative Enhances the User Experience

Finally, let us consider ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ in more broader terms. I would imagine that if you have read the book you would have immediately found the principles and concepts now that they’ve been pointed out to you more digestible than those within the main teaching text. It is often very difficult to make textbooks as engaging as a good story, especially when it’s overarching ideas and viewpoints you’re trying to convey.

Placing these ideas into a more digestible form (such as my use of ZAMM, or Pirsig’s use of Chautauquas) is like slipping broccoli into a big Mac, or a vitamin supplement into Coco-hoops. We already know that stories and narrative are a key aspect of usability or ‘efficient experience’ because they enhanced learnability. This said, key aspects may be lost in the general narrative if they’re not signposted or pointed out. This appendix does just that.

Appendix: Defining UX

There are many definitions for user experience1 below are a pool of definitions found from the literature and on the Web:

  1. All the aspects of how people use an interactive product: the way it feels in their hands, how well they understand how it works, how they feel about it while they’re using it, how well it serves their purposes, and how well it fits into the entire context in which they are using it – Alben (1996);
  2. All aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products. The first requirement for an exemplary user experience is to meet the exact needs of the customer, without fuss or bother. Next comes simplicity and elegance that produce products that are a joy to own, a joy to use. True user experience goes far beyond giving customers what they say they want, or providing checklist features. In order to achieve high-quality user experience in a company’s offerings there must be a seamless merging of the services of multiple disciplines, including engineering, marketing, graphical and industrial design, and interface design – Nielsen-Norman Group;
  3. The overall experience, in general or specifics, a user, customer, or audience member has with a product, service, or event. In the Usability field, this experience is usually defined in terms of ease-of-use. However, the experience encompasses more than merely function and flow, but the understanding compiled through all of the senses – Shedroff;
  4. Every aspect of the user’s interaction with a product, service, or company that make up the user’s perceptions of the whole. User experience design as a discipline is concerned with all the elements that together make up that interface, including layout, visual design, text, brand, sound, and interaction. UE works to coordinate these elements to allow for the best possible interaction by users – UPA;
  5. User eXperience (UX) is about how a person feels about using a system. User experience highlights the experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human-computer interaction (HCI) and product ownership, but it also covers a person’s perceptions of the practical aspects such as utility, ease of use and efficiency of the system. User experience is subjective in nature, because it is about an individual’s performance, feelings and thoughts about the system. User experience is dynamic, because it changes over time as the circumstances change – Wikipedia;
  6. The overall experience and satisfaction a user has when using a product or system – Old Wikipedia definition, still used e.g. at BitPipe.com.
  7. User Experience (abbreviated: UX) is the quality of experience a person has when interacting with a specific design – UXnet.org and Interaction-Design.org;
  8. A result of motivated action in a certain context. User’s previous experiences and expectations influence the present experience; this present experience leads to more experiences and modified expectations – Mäkelä & Fulton Suri (2001);
  9. A consequence of a user’s internal state (predispositions, expectations, needs, motivation, mood, etc.), the characteristics of the designed system (e.g. complexity, purpose, usability, functionality, etc.) and the context (or the environment) within which the interaction occurs (e.g. organisational/social setting, meaningfulness of the activity, voluntariness of use, etc.) – Hassenzahl & Tractinsky (2006);
  10. The value derived from interaction(s) [or anticipated interaction(s)] with a product or service and the supporting cast in the context of use (e.g., time, location, and user disposition) – Sward & MacArthur (2007).
  11. The user experience considers the wider relationship between the product and the user in order to investigate the individual’s personal experience of using it – McNamara & Kirakowski (2006);
  12. Users’ perceptions of interaction that constitute qualities of use – Colbert (2005);
  13. An activity of encounter by a computer user with the auditory and visual presentation of a collection of computer programs. It is important to note that this includes only what the user perceives and not all that is presented – Microsoft;
  14. An umbrella term used to describe all the factors that contribute to a site user’s overall perception of a system. Is it easy to use, attractive and appropriate? Does it meet user needs? – Public Life;
  15. The entire set of affects that is elicited by the interaction between a user and a product, including the degree to which all our senses are gratified (aesthetic experience), the meanings we attach to the product (experience of meaning), and the feelings and emotions that are elicited (emotional experience) – Hekkert (2006);
  16. UX is a momentary, primarily evaluative feeling (good-bad) while interacting with a product or service – Hassenzahl (2008);
  17. A person’s perceptions and responses that result from the use or anticipated use of a product, system or service – ISO 9241-210 (2010);
  18. A set of material rendered by a user agent which may be perceived by a user and with which interaction may be possible – W3C;
  19. Encompasses all aspects of a digital product that users experience directly-and perceive, learn, and use-including its form, behaviour, and content. Learnability, usability, usefulness, and aesthetic appeal are key factors in users’ experience of a product – UXmatters;
  20. The design of user interaction with a system, product or service considering the usability, the enjoyment and the fit to the way users think – TicToc;
  21. The user experience, mostly called `customer experience’ when referring to e-commerce websites; the totality of the experience of a user when visiting a website. Their impressions and feelings. Whether they’re successful. Whether they enjoy themselves. Whether they feel like coming back again. The extent to which they encounter problems, confusions, and bugs – UsabilityFirst.com;
  22. User experience = Convenience + Design – Cost. Convenience is the king. What makes a product convenient is quite often what makes it usable. It might also relate to the availability of the product. It might also have something to do with laziness and productivity. Defining `convenience’ is by no means an easy task. As is with everything else in this chart, convenience is subjective. Design is what makes a product liked and attractive, even before it has been used. Design is what makes you want the product. It is beauty, the touch of a famous designer, a likeable company, character-pretty much what brand value is thought to be – Nyman (2005);
  23. The user experience is the totality of end-users’ perceptions as they interact with a product or service. These perceptions include effectiveness (how good is the result?), efficiency (how fast or cheap is it?), emotional satisfaction (how good does it feel?), and the quality of the relationship with the entity that created the product or service (what expectations does it create for subsequent interactions?) – Kuniavsky (2010);
  24. The overall perception and comprehensive interaction an individual has with a company, service or product. A positive user experience is an end-user’s successful and streamlined completion of a desired task – Goto (2004);
  25. UX = the sum of a series of interactions User experience (UX) represents the perception left in someone’s mind following a series of interactions between people, devices, and events – or any combination thereof – Fatdux.com;
  26. User experience stands for the quality of a global experience as perceived by a person (user) interacting with a system – use-design.com; and
  27. Users’ judgement of product quality arising from their experience of interaction, and the product qualities which engender effective use and pleasure – Sutcliffe (2010).

Appendix: Defining Accessibility

There are many definitions for accessibility2. Below are a pool of definitions found from the literature and on the Web:

  1. Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web. More specifically, Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web. WAI / Thatcher, M. Burks, C. Heilmann, S. Henry, A. Kirkpatrick, P. Lauke, B. Law- son, B. Regan, R. Rutter, M. Urban, and C. Waddell. Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance, 2006. http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php.
  2. Technology is accessible if it can be used as effectively by people with disabilities as by those without. Jim Thatcher http://www.jimthatcher.com/webcourse1.htm.
  3. Individuals with disabilities, who are members of the public seeking information or services from a Federal agency, have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that provided to the public who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on the agency. Section 508 http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/standards.htm#Subpart_a.
  4. Accessibility is the word used to describe whether a product (for example, a website, mobile site, digital TV interface or application) can be used by people of all abilities and disabilities. BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/best_practice/what_is.shtml.
  5. Web accessibility is about making your website accessible to all Internet users (both disabled and non-disabled), regardless of what browsing technology they’re using. Webcredible http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-accessibility/basics.shtml.
  6. Web site accessibility is the ease with which people–all types of people–can use your site, regardless of situational or physical limitations. W3Access http://www.w3access.com/access.htm.
  7. Accessible web design is the practice of designing and developing websites that are usable by everyone. Knowbility http://wiki.knowbility.org/2010/03/02/web-accessibility-guidelines/.
  8. Web Accessibility is about the inclusion and participation of people with disabilities using the web. Imperial College http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/ict/services/teachingandresearchservices/elearning/webaccessibility.
  9. The principle that all web users should have access to information available on the internet. AccessibilIT http://www.accessibilit.com/public/content/glossary.html#W.
  10. Users with disabilities can only utilize a web site if it is designed to be compatible with the various assistive technologies. A web site that is sufficiently flexible to be used by all of these assistive technologies is called an accessible web site. Lazar et al. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2003.10.018.
  11. Universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extend possible, without the need for adaptation of specialised design. Universal design for Web applications by Chisholm and May
  12. The extend to which a product/website can be used by specified users with specified disabilities to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use. ISO 9241 - quoted from Petrie and Kheir http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1240624.1240688.
  13. The problem is that most websites have accessibility barriers that make it difficult or impossible for many people with disabilities to use them. Web accessibility is about removing those barriers so that people with disabilities can use and contribute to the web. Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design by Shawn Lawton Henry
  14. Accessible websites allow all users including elderly people and people with disabilities to use the Web content. Web content should be accessed by everyone regardless of disability. ‘What is Web accessibility’ by Ueki Makoto, Bulletin of the Japan Special Libraries Association, No: 218, pp 28-33 http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200618/000020061806A0638159.php.
  15. A Website is accessible if it deploys services and information so that they can be exploited with no discrimination also by disabled persons. Italian Parliament http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85200-1_9.
  16. A website is accessible if it it is effective, efficient and satisfactory for more people in more situations. J. Thatcher, C. Waddell, S. Henry, S. Swierenga, M. Urban, M. Burks, B. Regan, and P. Bohman. Constructing Accessible Web Sites. Glasshouse, 2002. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85200-1_9.
  17. The removal of all technical barriers to effective interaction. Simon Harper
  18. There are no accessible pages. There are pages that are accessible to a person, in an environment (physical and technical), carrying out a task. In fact that is the only way you can determine that something is “accessible” in the absolute. That same page may be in accessible to the same person in a different environment (physical or accessible).

Appendix: Ethics Annex

Each set of evaluation standards proposes a slightly different set of principles by which ethical evaluation is to be conducted. However, there are a number of commonalities which are covered throughout all of these standards. It is these commonalities that make up the seven specific principles which will be outlined in more detail in this section. These principles are mainly culled from the American Psychological Association’s ethical guidelines along with the ethical guidelines proposed by the Beaumont Report. This is mainly because they are repeated, and in some cases expanded upon, in other more recent work, however, the core principles remain the same.

You Must Be Competent

This first principle relates not so much to the methodology that will be used, or the direct ethical considerations of how that methodology will affect the participants. Rather, it relates directly to the competency of the UX specialist designing the evaluation and with those who will deliver that methodology and analyse the resultant data (in the case of double-blind trials). This places the onus on the UX specialist to make sure that they do not overstep the bounds of their competency, and indeed, that they understand the domains under which, and principles to which, they were trained. If there is an area for which you are not fully trained or that does not have recognised professional standards, you should exercise careful judgement and take appropriate precautions, in some cases be overly cautious, to protect the welfare of those with whom you work and the participants with whom you will be conducting the evaluation. You should also make sure that you maintain your knowledge of the relevant scientific evaluation area and information relating to your UX specialism. This may be through membership of professional and governing bodies; in the United Kingdom this may be through the British Computer Society (BCS), in the United States the Association of Computer Machinery (ACM) or the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), or in Europe via one of the chartered engineering Institutes. Indeed, each country and region normally have their own governing body for computer science; and human computer interaction as a sub discipline. However, in the absence of such a governing body guidance from one of the various experimental psychology associations, most notably the American Psychological Association, may be useful.

You Must Have Integrity

It is often easy in UX evaluations, or scientific work in general, to have a preconceived notion of the desired outcome. Indeed, I use the term ‘desired’ deliberately in this context, to show how easy it is to influence work in a way which supports the investigators preferred outcome (there should be no desired outcome). Removal of this desire is one of the main reasons why the `blind method’ is used when conducting trials. Blinding is a basic tool to prevent a UX’ers cognitive bias causing them to unconsciously influence the participants of an experiment. It is a significant threat to a study’s internal validity, and is therefore typically controlled using a double-blind experimental design. A double-blind trial describes an especially stringent way of conducting an experiment in an attempt to eliminate subjective bias on the part of both experimental subjects and the experimenters. This use of controls recognises two things: firstly, that there may be an implicit bias imposed by the UX specialist; but also, that the UX specialist, or indeed the company for which they work, may require a certain outcome. It is this final point which needs to be moderated with regard to the ethical procedures of the work, and this is why integrity is such an important part of the process; and a key component of ethically sound methodologies. Striving for personal evaluation integrity enables you to understand: (1) that you must not be concerned with the resultant outcome of the work; (2) that both a seemingly positive, or negative, outcome with regard to an evaluation is valid and tells us more about the interface or the system than we knew before; (3) that by trying to create a valid experiment, free of bias in all aspects of possible influence, enables your work to actually have meaning; and that (4) being driven only by an incorrect desire to validate a bad system or interface will, in the end, not address the needs of the user, or the long-term business case of the organisation conducting the trials.

Conform to Scientific Principles

Belief can alter observations; those with a particular belief will often see things as reinforcing their belief, even if to another observer they would appear not to do so. The scientific method is a body of techniques for investigation and knowledge acquisition which removes the need to believe through the application of empiricism. To be scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on the gathering of observable, empirical, measurable, and refutable evidence, and be subject to specific principles of reasoning. The essential elements of the scientific method are observations, definitions, and measurements of the subject of inquiry; theoretical, hypothetical explanations of observations and measurements of the subject; and reasoning including logical deduction from the hypothesis or theory; the principle means of validation for all of these elements is testing by experimentation which produces observable results. This means that by conforming to scientific principles the evaluation methodology can be validated within a well understood framework. The scientific principles discussed, ensure that the evaluation and testing of the interface and system is performed to maximise the validity and generalisability of the results. Without these safeguards, built into the scientific method, there can be no reliable test that the resultant outcomes represent a truthful understanding of the users interactive behaviour. Therefore, if you do not conduct your evaluations in a scientific manner then your results may be incorrect, and the stress, which you have placed your participants under, will have been for nothing.

Respect Your Participants

At all times you should show a high degree of respect for your human participants within the evaluation setting, including treating them with dignity and respecting their autonomous choices. You must not presume that you know better or try to elicit responses from your participants with which they do not agree. Not every participant will be capable of self-determination or self autonomy. They may exhibit a diminished capacity in some regard, for instance they may be very young, or have some cognitive or learning difficulties. In this case you should still treat them with the utmost respect. In addition, if you have any suggestion that your participant has some form of diminished autonomy, or that they do not fully understand any aspect of the study, or that they cannot give proper consent, you must look for other participants or the agreement of their guardian. As an UX specialist you must accord appropriate respect for the rights, dignity and worth, of all participants, this includes an individual’s right to privacy confidentiality self-determination and autonomy being mindful that legal and other obligations may lead to inconsistency and conflict within sight of these rights. You should also be aware of differences being age, gender, race, and ethnicity and be specifically aware of any cultural aspects which may influence, or affect a person’s dignity, or rights, or where culture may exert an implicit force when undertaking experimental evaluation. As part of this respect you should also make sure that your participants have an appropriate understanding of the purpose of the evaluation and why their participation is useful and beneficial. Additionally, you should make them aware of any monitoring or recording devices, within the experimental environment, and how the data collected from those devices will be used and stored. Finally, you should not apply any external force in the recruitment of participants and their participation within the study should be entirely voluntary. This means that at all times you must be more concerned with your participants welfare, and the welfare of the UX’ers undertaking the experimental work.

Maximise Benefits

The maximum for increasing benefits and reducing possible harms is that first proposed by the medical profession: ‘do no harm’. Further, the Hippocratic Oath requires physicians to benefit their patients according to their best judgement. Maximising benefits and minimising possible harms is one of the most important aspects of evaluation within the human sciences and more specifically within the UX domain. At all times the experimenter must keep in mind the possible harm’s that could occur within the experimental setting. In this case, most ethical committees require a risk assessment to be undertaken before the experiment can proceed. The main problem with understanding benefits is that they can seldom be estimated accurately in advance and in most evaluation the benefit is to science as opposed directly to the individual, or community from which they are drawn. Because the cost to participants and the benefits to science cannot easily be understood, especially at the outset of the evaluation, it falls upon the experimenter the designer of the evaluation study to take a morally responsible decision. Luckily, the evaluation ethics committee can also provide a secondary check regarding this, sometimes tricky, judgement. Finally, another factor to consider when assessing benefits and harms are not those as applied to the individual, but to the society or institution from which individuals are drawn. For example, with regard to studies involving some kinds of religious institutions; there is a very delicate balance between understanding the benefits to science, weighed against the harm that may come to the celebrants, of the religion, or the society which surrounds it, if through this evaluation the institution is diminished or destroyed.

Ensure Justice

Threats to justice often occur due to be inherent power differential between experimenter and evaluation participant. In this case, it is the duty of the experimenter (the UX specialist in this case) to make sure that this is not the case and that participant selection, proceeds were possible, within the populations or communities which will directly benefit from the proposed evaluation. As has been discussed previously, evaluation was often undertaken with participants who would not directly benefit from the results of that evaluation. This means that participants may undergo a number of experimental methodological procedures, but as either individuals or as a subgroup, would never be able to reap the benefits of the resultant understandings gained from those experiments. We have already seen that one of the guiding motivations behind empirical work with human subjects is that the work should do more good than harm, or that more people should benefit than suffer. There are a number of accepted just ways of disputing burdens or benefits: (1) to each person an equal share; (2) to each person according to individual need; (3) to each person according to individual effort; (4) to each person according to societal contribution; and (5) to each person according to merit. Of course these distributions of justice may be difficult in the real world especially when participant selection is by random probabilistic methods. On solution would be to bound the sample frame, or the population under investigation, such that the population from which the representative random sample is drawn receives the benefits and burdens equally. In addition, there should be appropriate procedures to ensure that experimenters, assistants, and participants alike have adequate access mechanisms to address any possible concerns regarding the evaluation itself. So then, in UX, the application of justice is markedly easier than in other subjects. This is mainly because the participants within the study are drawn directly from the population to which that study is applicable; there are normally, no invasive procedures, or procedures which might cause psychological distress or harm and therefore the benefits often outweigh the burdens. The only real burden within an UX evaluation is that of time and effort, and these could be suitably compensated with a financial incentive.

Maintain Trust

UX’ers must maintain a high degree of trust between themselves, the participants, and the experimenters who will be enacting the experimentation. This trust is based upon the agreement about what will, or will not, be involved within the experimentation, and how the data collected from that experiment will, or will not, be used. Aspects of confidentiality and privacy should be addressed from the outset and this should include the anonymising of individual user data and the protection of the identity of the participants. This protection must also be applied over data which may, in combination, be used to identify of the participant. For instance, data which suggests a male, over 85, being treated for a heart condition at Manchester Royal Infirmary, first admitted in June 2006, may enable the identity of that user to be derived. While some UX specialists may not see the importance of maintaining privacy and confidentiality within the user data itself it is important to understand that the use to which this data may be put, by unscrupulous individuals, is often not self-evident. As well as privacy and confidentiality, trust must be maintained throughout the process so that the participants fully understand their roles and responsibilities and those of the experimenter. This enables them to feel safe and comfortable within the evaluation setting so that a more accurate experiment can be undertaken. We have already seen that we need to minimise the number of confounding variables if you wish to create an accurate study. If a certain level of trust is not maintained then the participant may become agitated or stressed and these two factors may become a confounding variable within the experimental evaluation.

Social Responsibility

Social responsibility is final principle discussed here and in some respects is not directly relevant to the practice of human computer interaction. However, the UX specially should be aware of the professional and scientific responsibilities to both the community, and the society, in which they work and live. This includes not just the local organisation or institution of which they belong, but the wider population within the area and also the more distributed community of practice of which they are part. Indeed, if the UX practitioner brings disrepute onto the UX community by unethical conduct, then the cause of UX, in general, is diminished. As we have already seen, professional ethics, competency, and integrity is key to the practice of UX, and such is its importance that the professional bodies representing the UX specialist take professional conduct very seriously. More importantly we have, as UX specialists, a responsibility to the society in which we live and work. Again, when undertaking scientific evaluation we must strive to advance human welfare and the science of human computer interaction, we must strive to avoid the misuse of our work, or the misunderstanding of the results of that work, we must comply with the law, if the moral and ethical compass of the practitioner agrees. And we must encourage the development of the law and social policies that serve the interests of humans interacting with computers from a software, systems, or ergonomic perspective.

Thanks…

Thanks for proof reading this text, catching typos, suggesting changes, and the like, go to:

  • Nima Ara;
  • Sean Bechhofer;
  • Arina Belova;
  • Natasha Birch;
  • Andrew Brown;
  • Daniel Buckle;
  • Georgia Cawley;
  • Adam Cook;
  • Tabitha Day;
  • Christopher Densham;
  • Nic Garner;
  • Phoebe Harris;
  • Veselin Karaganev;
  • Dylan Lewis;
  • Aitor Apaolaza Llorente;
  • Tom Macpherson-Pope;
  • Bijan Parsia;
  • Kaiser Péter;
  • Daskiran Phagura;
  • James Rowlands;
  • Isabella Shaw;
  • Martin Smolko;
  • Ibrahim Sowunmi;
  • Jake Thornton;
  • Simeon Tsvetankov;
  • Lifeng Qiu Lin;
  • Markel Vigo; and
  • Countless COMP33511 (and COMP33512) students who didn’t provide their name.

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Glossary of Terms

Ted Nelson: Coined the term ‘hypertext.’ He is also seen as something of a radical figure, opposing authority and tradition. He has been called `one of the most influential contrarians in the history of the information age.’ — iBiblio.

Vannevar Bush: Consider by many to be the Godfather of the World Wide Web, often making reference to his 1945 essay, ‘As We May Think.’ — iBiblio.

Doug Englebart: Wanted to use technology to augment human intellect. He saw technology, especially computers, as the answers to the problem of dealing with the ever more complex modern world and has dedicated his life to the pursuit of developing technology to augment human intellect — iBiblio.

User Experience: An umbrella term used to describe all the factors that contribute to the quality of experience a person has when interacting with a specific software artefact, or system. It focuses on the practice of user centred: design, creation, and testing, whereby the outcomes can be qualitatively tested using small numbers of users.

User Experience Engineer: We use the term ‘engineer’ to imply a software engineering type role, whereby the UX specialist is also required to contribute code, or at least build working software interface prototypes.

Skunkworks: A skunkworks project is one typically developed by a small and loosely structured group of people who research and develop a project primarily for the sake of radical innovation. The term typically refers to technology projects, and originated with Skunk Works, an official alias for the Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Programs (formerly Lockheed Advanced Development Projects). The reference is to the comic strip Li’l Abner and the job no one wanted: to be the inside man at the Skunk Works. — Wikipedia.

Cognetic: Raskin expanded the meaning of the term cognetics in his book The Humane Interface to mean ‘the ergonomics of the mind’. Raskin discouraged using the informal term intuitive in user interface design, claiming that easy to use interfaces are often due to exposure to previous, similar systems, thus the term ‘familiar’ should be preferred. Aiming for ‘intuitive’ interfaces (based on reusing existing skills with interaction systems) could lead designers to discard a better design solution only because it would require a novel approach — Various Sources.

Jef Raskin: Raskin was an American human-computer interface expert best known for starting the Macintosh project for Apple in the late 1970s. He left Apple in 1982 and formed Information Appliance, Inc. to implement the concepts of his original Macintosh concept. The first product was the SwyftCard, a firmware card for the Apple II containing an integrated application suite, also released on a disk as SwyftWare — Wikipedia.

Earcons: An Earcon is a brief, distinctive sound used to represent a specific event or convey other information. Taken as originally intended, Earcons are not a common feature of computer operating systems and applications, and while some include general systems error beeps etc, the original intention of Earcons is to convey more complex information such as that present in the graphic of an icon.

Reductionist: Reductionism can mean either (a) an approach to understanding the nature of complex things by reducing them to the interactions of their parts, or to simpler or more fundamental things or (b) a philosophical position that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts, and that an account of it can be reduced to accounts of individual constituents. This can be said of objects, phenomena, explanations, theories, and meanings. Reductionism strongly reflects a certain perspective on causality. In a reductionist framework, phenomena that can be explained completely in terms of relations between other more fundamental phenomena, are called epiphenomena. Often there is an implication that the epiphenomenon exerts no causal agency on the fundamental phenomena that explain it — Various Sources (including Wikipedia).

Affective Computing: Affective computing, coined by Rosalind Picard (circa 1995) is the study and development of systems and devices that can recognise, interpret, process, and simulate human emotional changes.

Coding: Coding is a process for both categorising qualitative data and for describing the implications and details of these categories. Initially one does open coding, considering the data in minute detail while developing some initial categories. Later, one moves to more selective coding where one systematically codes with respect to a core concept — Social Methods Knowledge Base.

Memoing: Memoing is a process for recording the thoughts and ideas of the researcher as they evolve throughout the study. You might think of memoing as extensive marginal notes and comments. Again, early in the process these memos tend to be very open while later on they tend to increasingly focus in on the core concept — Social Methods Knowledge Base.

Group-Think: Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within groups of people. It is the mode of thinking that happens when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives. Group members try to minimise conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative ideas or viewpoints. Antecedent factors such as group cohesiveness, structural faults, and situational context play into the likelihood of whether or not groupthink will impact the decision-making process. The primary socially negative cost of groupthink is the loss of individual creativity, uniqueness, and independent thinking — Wikipedia.

JAWS: ‘Job Access With Speech’ is a computer screen reader program in Microsoft Windows that allows blind and visually impaired users to read the screen either with a text-to-speech output or by a Refreshable Braille display. JAWS is produced by the Blind and Low Vision Group of Freedom Scientific, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. — Wikipedia.

PET: Positron emission tomography (PET) is nuclear medicine imaging technique that produces a three-dimensional image or picture of functional processes in the body. The system detects pairs of gamma rays emitted indirectly by a positron-emitting radionuclide (tracer), which is introduced into the body on a biologically active molecule. Three-dimensional images of tracer concentration within the body are then constructed by computer analysis. In modern scanners, three dimensional imaging is often accomplished with the aid of a CT X-ray scan performed on the patient during the same session, in the same machine — Wikipedia.

Screen Reader: A screen reader is a software application that attempts to identify and interpret what is being displayed on the screen (or, more accurately, sent to standard output, whether a video monitor is present or not). This interpretation is then re-presented to the user with text-to-speech, sound icons, or a Braille output device. Screen readers are a form of assistive technology (AT) potentially useful to people who are blind, visually impaired, illiterate or learning disabled, often in combination with other AT, such as screen magnifiers — Wikipedia.

Task Completion Time: (TCT) is a measure of the time it takes a user to perform a task (from start to finish). This is a typical metric in usability evaluation — Usability First.

PARC: Palo Alto Research Center, or Xerox PARC, was founded in 1970 as a division of Xerox Corporation, PARC has been responsible for such well known and important developments as laser printing, Ethernet, the modern personal computer, graphical user interface (GUI), object-oriented programming, ubiquitous computing, amorphous silicon (a-Si) applications, and advancing very-large-scale-integration (VLSI) for semiconductors. Xerox PARC (and now PARC) is a mecca human facing thinkers and included three Turing Award winners — Various Sources.

Eat Their Own Dog Food: More correctly ‘Eating your own dog food’, also called dogfooding, is when a company (usually, a software company) uses the products that it makes~—~Wikipedia.

Heuristics: Heuristics are strategies using readily accessible, though loosely applicable, information to control problem solving in human beings and machines. Heuristic (meaning to find or discover) refers to experience-based techniques for problem solving, learning, and discovery. Heuristic methods are used to speed up the process of finding a satisfactory solution, where an exhaustive search is impractical. Examples of this method include using a ‘rule of thumb’, an educated guess, an intuitive judgment, or common sense — Wikipedia.

Creatives: A creative person, a person whose job involves creative work; a person who carries out creative work on an advertising campaign say, esp. a copywriter, art director, or designer. (of a person) having good imagination or original ideas — OED.

Mechanical Turk: Was a fake chess-playing machine constructed in the late 18th century. From 1770 until its destruction by fire in 1854, it was exhibited by various owners as an automaton, though it was exposed in the early 1820s as an elaborate hoax — Wikipedia.

Sample Frame: In statistics, a sampling frame is the source material or device from which a sample is drawn. It is a list of all those within a population who can be sampled, and may include individuals, households or institutions — Wikipedia.

Probabilistic: Probability sampling is a sampling technique wherein the samples are gathered in a process that gives all the individuals in the population equal chances of being selected — http://www.experiment-resources.com.

Non-Probabilistic: Non-probability sampling is a sampling technique where the samples are gathered in a process that does not give all the individuals in the population equal chances of being selected — http://www.experiment-resources.com.

Internal Validity: The key question in internal validity is whether observed changes can be attributed to your changes (i.e., the cause) and not to other possible causes (sometimes described as `alternative explanations’ for the outcome) — http://www.socialresearchmethods.net.

External Validity: External validity refers to the approximate truth of conclusions the involve generalizations. Put in more pedestrian terms, external validity is the degree to which the conclusions in your study would hold for other persons in other places and at other times — http://www.socialresearchmethods.net.

Confounding Factors: Confounding variables (or factors) are variables that the researcher failed to control, or eliminate, damaging the internal validity of an experiment — http://www.experiment-resources.com.

Power Analysis: Power analysis allows us to make sure that we have looked hard enough to find it, if there is enough of it there to bother us. The size of the thing we are looking for is known as the `effect size’. Several methods exist for deciding what effect size we would be interested in. Different statistical tests have different effect sizes developed for them, however the general principle is the same — www.jeremymiles.co.uk.

Statistical Validity: In science and statistics, validity has no single agreed definition but generally refers to the extent to which a concept, conclusion or measurement is well-founded and corresponds accurately to the real world — Wikipedia.

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Appendix: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in UX