Brynn Marie Evans

Monthly Archives: April 2010

How many users for social design problems?

24 Apr 2010 – 20:01

I’ve been thinking a lot about research methods for social design problems. For example, how do you research what goes on on Facebook? How does Facebook do this currently? I believe they use metrics from their data team — which I do not believe really uncover social interaction design issues. How do you research how the unemployed [...]

By brynn | Posted in research, sxd | Tagged methods, qualitative data, research, social design, social interaction design, sxd, usability, user testing | Comments (2)

On why people ask questions on social networks

24 Apr 2010 – 19:05

Social search behavior is now generally agreed to be common enough that companies like Google are buying up companies like Aardvark, and academic researchers are asking good questions about the value of networks for question-answering (Q-A). I have done a bit of research in this area myself, and so I was quite pleased to read [...]

By brynn | Posted in research, social search, sxd | Tagged aardvark, google, microsoft, paper, research, search, social interaction design, social network sites, social networking, social search, sxd | Comments (1)

Enterprise social search: a design workshop in San Francisco

19 Apr 2010 – 8:07

This just in! Will Evans and I are putting on a design workshop in San Francisco around the theme of enterprise social search. The workshop will be an all-day affair on Friday May 7 at the Bolt | Peters offices, near the Civic Center. Detailed information and registration can be found here: http://socialsear.ch Why Enterprise [...]

By brynn | Posted in social search, sxd | Tagged design, design thinking, enterprise social search, social design, social networks, social search, sxd, workshop | Comments (2)

Leaving flatland: designing for holistic user experiences

9 Apr 2010 – 6:53

I sat in on a great workshop at IA Summit yesterday about Leaving Flatland: Designing Services and Systems Across Channels, by Jess McMullin (Center for Citizen Experience) and Samantha Starmer (Manager of User Experience at REI). These are my notes! If I could summarize the workshop in one sentence, it would be: “Don’t design for users’ needs [...]

By brynn | Posted in userexperience | Tagged design, iasummit, interacitondesign, systems, userexperience, workshop | Comments (2)

Please tell Congress to renew the flood insurance program

8 Apr 2010 – 17:40

This is a quick plea for your help and attention. My sister and her husband — first time homebuyers — are on the brink of losing the house they have a winning bid on and are totally on track to close on April 14. EXCEPT that they cannot get the flood insurance they need for the loan [...]