User Experience, Mittens, and the Spotlight
May 24, 2010
The short article “Five User Experience Trends” identifies the likely rallying points for the UX crowd. I don’t know much about user experience beyond my own limited experience. The post caused me to think about the notion of UX in the context of search and content processing.
The point in the write up that caused some consternation was:
Are people moving away from a world of things to one that values experience more?
I have to admit that this sentence dredged up memories of a sociology class taught by one very unusual fellow. He was talking about the emergence of mittens versus gloves. The idea was that certain environments and their exigencies push hand covering innovation in certain ways. The mitten is ideal for cold climates and those who choose or find themselves living in a land of snow and ice. The five-fingered type of hand covering is a response to other cultural needs.
Now when I think about locating a precise item of information, what is the meaning of “user experience”? For me the statement quoted above applies to a video game type of presentation. I think about interface as a movie marquee, complete with flashing lights, words like “blockbuster” and the name of stars. I can envision spotlights illuminating clouds and lines of limousines disgorging glamorous movie goers.
The reality is that the UX may not have much substance. The razzle dazzle does not have a much, if anything, to do with the film.
The same applies to UX in search. Finding information within applications, applications, and / or repositories is a tricky business. Slapping up a single hit because a numerical recipe “calculates” is the “right one” does not appeal to me. Cluttered interfaces with hidden hot links that pop up with a click or when I hover like those annoying Radiant ads get in the way of my finding what I need.
My hunch is that the “world of things” is going to be around for a long time. The notion of valuing experience is an out growth of some cultural forces. Pictures instead of substance are appropriate for some information climates and not others. When I need data mittens, I want data mittens. When I want, data neoprene surgical gloves, that’s what I want. UX strikes me as a c oat of digital polyurethane over a fragile surface. Perhaps a search system needs more than gloss? When I hear “UX”, I think of a barrier that prevents me from getting to the substance. Do I need images in search results when I am looking for information about online translation of a source in Japanese to an output in English? Do I need pictures of an airport when I am looking for information about a medical condition? Do I need hot links to felines for books about Einstein when I am looking for an example of a quantum cat?
UX is for me one more aspect of information retrieval that has been pushed to center stage. Keep UX on stage but stage left rear, please.
Stephen E Arnold, May 24, 2010
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