Complex UX: Attending to the Human Parts of Information Systems

Camp Digital March 2014ComplexUXAttending to the human parts of information systems

David Kreps

background❖ self taught web developer for (nearly) 20 years

❖ Tamworth Arts Centre website 1995❖ fourquarters 2000 - present

❖ Lecturer in Information Systems 2004 - present❖ Sociology of Information Society ❖ Philosophy of Virtuality

intro

❖ usability / UX❖ complicated / complex❖ irreversibility❖ KTP

usability : computing❖ traditional usability

❖ numbers of clicks❖ errors❖ task execution times

❖ computer science departments❖ hardware❖ software engineering❖ ‘users’

http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/upa_publications/upa_voice/volumes/2005/february/low_cost_usability.html

user experience : information systems

❖ multi-disciplinary approach❖ usability, yes, but also❖ sociology❖ psychology

❖ information systems❖ human beings parts of the

systems

http://www.theeyecareblog.com/tag/computer-glasses

❖ IS not the IT and formal processes, or the people, but what emerges from the usage and adaptation of the IT and formal and informal processes by all its users (Ray Paul EJIS 2007)

bridging the old divide❖ W3C retreat from XHTML,

paving the cowpaths to HTML5❖ Continental philosophy (distributed, de-centred,

multiplicity) vs Anglo-American (analytical, instrumental, reductionist)

❖ Old certainties of 20th cent giving way ❖ ‘Life isn’t like that’

❖ Biology, environmental science, computational modelling of living systems

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Fugle%2C_ørnsø_073.jpg/1600px-Fugle%2C_ørnsø_073.jpg

complicated systems❖ predictable,

mechanical, certain equilibrium systems ❖ complicated❖ restricted to our

machines

http://thefourthrevolution.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/watch.jpg

complex systems❖ complexity theory❖ dissipative structures❖ open systems

interacting with environment

❖ living systems ❖ spontaneous order in

far-from-equilibrium conditions

❖ bifurcation - irreducibly random elements

http://thenatureofbusiness.org/2012/08/15/superorganisations-learning-from-natures-networks/

information systems❖ IS departments in Business Schools❖ Business drivers away from simple usability towards UX❖ recognition: human parts of information systems cannot

be understood by mere usability alone❖ web 2.0 user generated content❖ web 3.0 internet of things around us, our information,

our needs❖ Pre-existing conditions cannot be used to predict

outcomeshttp://glass-apps.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/google-glass1.jpg

irreversibility❖ mechanical,

mathematical, analytical approach is reversible

❖ more experiential ‘living’ systems are NOT reversible: a customer’s anger at an interface failure cannot be deleted

❖ impulse, above all, depends on a smooth and increasingly personalised experience

3 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 3

1 - 2 - 3

salford : sigma

❖ Knowledge Transfer Partnership - Govt scheme❖ See Paul Cihlar here for more information on

KTPs❖ David Kreps, Marie Griffiths, Maria Kutar from

SBS working with Sigma for two years❖ Research rigour and social science

methodologies for a better UX process and offering

salford : sigmacomplex ux

❖ RESEARCH <—> IMPLICATIONS❖ monitoring non-reversible experiences in

UX❖ studying what they are, how they unfold❖ implications for design

❖ site personalisation calculable on-the-fly by initial choices?

❖ conversation between developers and customers mediated by a learning system…

❖ more than just continual iterations…/… permanent beta…?

?

thanks❖ Dr David Kreps❖ d.g.kreps@salford.ac.uk❖ snipr.com/davidkreps ❖ Full academic paper, ‘The Time of Our Lives:

Understanding Irreversible Complex User Experiences,’ being delivered at Human Choice and Computers Conference (HCC11), Turku, Finland July 2014. www.hcc11.net . Proceedings to be published by Springer Verlag, Autumn 2014.

❖ Book ‘Bergson and Complexity Theory’ due to be published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2015