- 1. The Story of Story: Using Narrative Elements in the Service
of Usability. John C. Thomas Usability Professionals Association
June 15, 2006 [email_address] www.watson.ibm.com/knowsoc/
www.truthtable.com
2. Agenda
- What makes for a good story?
- How can stories be useful in promoting useful and usable
systems?
- How do you elicit or create stories?
- The Walking People(Oral history of the Iroquois) :BOTH Story
AND Pattern Language
- Some Socio-technical Patterns from the Iroquois
3. Why an interest in stories?
- Returned to IBM to work in Knowledge Management in 1998
- Knowledge management is simply getting the right information to
the right person at the right time.
- Human beings are not just information processors;
alsoenergyprocessors media matters, presentation matters
- Guernica, Lincoln Memorial, Flight
- Observe people: you can tell when they are sharing stories:
body language and voice animation
4. Stories are memorable and motivating
- Can communicate a huge amount of tacit knowledge to those who
have the requisite background experiences; e.g.,Harvey Penicks
Little Red Book : Lessons And Teachings From A Lifetime In
Golf
- Once experienced, a huge complex of knowledge may now be
referenced easily; e.g., Robin Williams inAladdin
5. 6. 7. Stories tend to focus on the edges of human experience
8. Though experienced sequentially, story has hierarchical
structure 9. Stories can be viewed as three-dimensional: 10.
Character versus Characterization
- Character is revealed by choices under pressure; it is what the
person is essentially
- Often confused with mere characterization the surface aspects
of a person: male/female; age; plays the flute; works at IBM; has a
white beard; talks with a Dublin accent, etc.
- Develop empathy for the hero from the outside in
11. Revealing tension between character and characterization 12.
13. 14. 15. 16. 17. Stories feed on CONFLICT
- With the larger society or physical world
- The most interesting stories have all three; e.g.The Sound of
Music, Casablanca
18. What makes for a good story?
- A hero who wants something passionately; many obstacles;
willing to go to the end of the line (Romeo & Juliet)
- Three main dimensions: Character, Plot, Setting
- Conflict: External World, Interpersonal, Intra-psychic (e.g.,
Sound of Music)
- Action: In every scene a value should change from good to bad
or vice versa
- An emotional roller coaster. A story arc.
-
- Cf. success stories on a website
19. Story strength elements:
- a protagonist with whom we can empathize and sympathize
- something important at stake (customer shaved 5% off costs vs.
stay in business and 1000 jobs saved in a small town)
- rising action and complication; mounting risk
- formidable antagonist (Superman: identity, kryptonite, loves
friends)
- harmonious emotional sequence
- use of audience superior position or suspense
- new twist on universal theme
- meaning -- an underlying theme
20. Work from the outside in to engage empathy:
21. Work from the outside in to engage empathy:
- Jack felt the sting of the sleet.
- Blast it!Suzi doesnt really need this medicine!
- Why do I always let her talk me into these hair-brained schemes
anyway?Why dont I fight back?
22. Mechanisms of Good Presentation:
- Active, specific verbs; try to avoid is went had
- Use periodic sentences: put critical information at the end:
Ill kill you with this gun if you dont hand over all your gold
right this minute. vs. Hand over your gold right now, or die.
- Turn exposition into ammunition
23. Text and Subtext:
- If the scene is about what the scene is about, you are dead in
the water
- Love Story 1: A couple goes out to a romantic, candlelit
dinner; soft music plays.He says, Oh, I love you.She says, Oh, I
love you too. The hold each others hands and stare lovingly into
each others eyes.
- Love Story 2: Man is having trouble changing a tire and a woman
stops to help. Hand me the wrench.
- Text/Subtext encourages deeper processing of material thereby
making itbothmore interesting and more memorable.
24. Use Specific Verbs
- "John went across the room."
- How?By tricycle?Levitation? Teleportation?Hit by Arnold
Schwartzenegger?Or, what?
25. Turn Exposition into Ammunition
- Avoid Feather Dusting dialogue.So, how long have we known each
other, Mike?35 years, eh? Yeah, ever since we were undergraduates
together at Case-Western.
- Geez, Mike!Look at you!When are you going to get a clue?Its
2006 but youre still wearing the same flower power shirts you wore
at our Phi Epsilon Pi parties at Case-Western in the 60s.
- Yeah, well, at least I dont wear the same dark suit and power
tie combo as every other robot in this city.
26. Emotional Sequencing
- The characters in the story need to follow a logical emotional
progression; e.g., fear -- > hate; Stockholm syndrome
- But, the READERS of the story generally have to follow an
emotional progression as well.
- Scene One ends with something totally disgusting
- Scene Two opens with erotic love ??
27. Agenda
- What makes for a good story?
- How can stories be useful in promoting useful and usable
systems?
- How do you elicit or create stories?
- The Walking People(Oral history of the Iroquois) :BOTH Story
AND Pattern Language
- Some Socio-technical Patterns from the Iroquois
28. Stories can be used to enhance usability.
- Stories can help us understand customer needs more deeply
- Stories can be used for knowledge creation and sharing within a
Community of Practice
- Scenarios can help concretize and communicate Requirements and
Design
- Stories can help users understand the system
- In some cases, the productisthe story (Pine & Gilmore,The
Experience Economy).
29. Understanding Customer Needs
- Surveys and self-reports often induce a should mode; e.g.,
people claim to readThe Wall Street JournalandThe New York Times---
notUSA TodayorThe National Enquirer.
- Stories may induce more of a what is mode.
- Stories can also induce fantasy and get people to go beyond
current context.
- Stories can induce deeper wants and needs that may transcend
current fashion or technological possibility.
30. How do story and usability relate?
- Useful usable Design depends on:
-
- Evolving Interaction over time
31. Usability and good story
- Good Usability (STORY) Design depends on:
-
- Evolving Interaction over time
- Major Problems: (MAJOR DEVICES):
- Gulf of Execution = (CANT ACHIEVE GOAL)
- Gulf of Evaluation = (SURPRISING RESULT)
32. We want protagonists who:
- Are willful...have a conscious goal -- will go to the end of
the line....want very much to get their task done may have a
contradictory unconscious goal
- Have a CHANCE of getting the goal
- Have strong antagonist(s)(the system?)
- Are resourcefuluse many strategies
- Cause us to empathize with them
33. Developersmaysee users as protagonists who:
- Arenotwillful... willnotgo to the end of the line....couldn't
care less.
- Instead of having a CHANCE of getting the goal,are either
hopeless or, if the developers are wildly successful MUST reach the
goal.
- Instead of strong antagonist(s), have trivial
difficulties.
- Instead of being resourceful, they have not even RTFM.
- Users are often not portrayed so as to cause developers
empathy.
-
- Emphasis is often put on characterization, not character ---
hence
-
- No-one really cares --- no empathy has been created
34. Empathy as Method
- Rat study in the 1930s compared Hulls theory and Tolmans theory
to predict behavior of rats in a number of situations....
35. A group of non-professionals asked to imagine what is was
like to be a rat and what would they do in this situation if they
were a rat. 36. Later, at IBM in the 1970s
- I asked individuals who were unfamiliar with business
processes, to imagine each of several roles involved in an
invoicing process and then to imagine what information they would
want to have on an invoice if they had that role.
- Each person was able to generate almost all of the information
actually required on an invoice
37. Heuristic Evaluation + Empathy
- Control Group and Experimental Group given equal amounts of
time to find potential problems with system and suggest
improvements
- Experimental Group asked to successively imagine the
perspectives of various people; e.g., cognitive psychologist,
behavior therapist, occupational therapist, worried mother,
Freudian analyst, etc.
- Experimental Group of Developers and Non-professionals found
significantly more usability issues and more suggestions than
Controls
- Desurvire, H. & Thomas, J. C. Enhancing the performance of
interface evaluators using non-empirical usability methods.
InProceedings of the HFS 37 thAnnual Meeting.HFES: Santa Clara, CA,
1993.
38. Story and Usability
- The Author (cf. "authority", "authentic") must KNOW
- Architect a sequence of events through space-time
- Possibly also a sequence of character changes,
- AND a presentation to the reader
39. Story and Usability
- The Usability Expert must KNOW
- The Context in which users operate
- Architect potential sequences of events through space-time
- Possibly also a sequence of changes in mental model,
- AND presentations to various stakeholders
40. Agenda
- What makes for a good story?
- How can stories be useful in promoting useful and usable
systems?
- How do you elicit or create stories?
- The Walking People(Oral history of the Iroquois) :BOTH Story
AND Pattern Language
- Some Socio-technical Patterns from the Iroquois
41. Story:
42. Social Dynamics of Storytelling
- Storytelling is a social act. Who tells stories to whom?
- Storytellers Exercise Power. How does storytelling impact
status? The "victors" write the history.
- Storytelling Involves Risk. What are the risks?Are there ways
to tell stories that mitigate risks?Tellinga story versusWritinga
story. Most people like totellstories; very few like
towritestories.
- Storytelling is Often Collaborative. Stories beget
stories.Comparing individual stories can lead to larger truths
accepted by a community or team.
43. Social Dynamics of Storytelling (Continued)
- Storytellers Try to Enhance Face. What are some of the methods
of doing this?How can we use this knowledge to contextualize the
story as told?
- Culture impacts Story. How do people from various cultures
modify stories?How can we learn about culture from story?
- Typically, it is best toobservestorytelling among peers;
however, sometimes, you need to elicit stories.
- Elicitor Guidelines.How can you effectively elicit stories from
others?
44. Observations and Conversations with Interviewers (by Deborah
Lawrence):
45. Guidelines for Eliciting Stories
- Provide a "warm-up" period.
- Tell something personal and revealing about yourself; perhaps
tell a story that is a model of the kind of story you're looking
for.
- Observe an implicit contract of trust.
- Provide a motivation for the story -- why it's important.
- Accept the storyteller's story and worldview.Don't resist the
story.
- Reveal who you are, how the story will be used, potential
audience and goals, answer questions.
- Use questions to probe.Sometimes, a totally "off the wall"
question can create space for story to emerge.
- Empower the storyteller -- they are the expert.
- Avoid threat; don't appear as an expert yourself.
- Listen with avid interest.
46. Techniques for morphing "Negative Stories Issue: We can
learn from others mistakes but How to do so in a corporate
environment?
- Projective spaces; e.g., British Navy Admiral cartoon
- "Trusted Source & registered anonymity" (e.g., Moose
Crossing)
- Re-framings: "I almost did X, but -- Deus Ex Machina -- hence,
goodness"
- "I had intra-psychic conflict; almost did X, but thankfully did
~X; hence, goodness" (airline seats)
- "As an experiment, on a small scale, we did X and discovered
badness; hence, ~X"
47. Creating Stories
- Take a "What if?" larger, smaller, prettier, uglier, stronger,
longer, grosser, etc.
- Focus on an action, a person, a thing, a quality and say:
- where did this come from ?
48. The best stories come from ...
- When were you most upset?
- When were you most frightened?
- When were you most amused?
- When were you most yourself?
- When were you forced to be least yourself?
- When were you most angry?
- When were you most earthy?
- When were you most spiritual?
- Can use your own experiences even if the setting and content of
the story you are creating is quite different.
49. The Walking People
- Oral history of one branch of the Iroquois transcribed into
English by Paula Underwood
- Includes additional material about the translation, the
relation of the narrated locations to modern geography and about
the process of using the story
- Less like a blog than a Pattern Language
50. The Walking Peopleis persistent
- However, some are especially selected and trained as
storytellers
- Listening is not passive but an active process that requires
deep processing
- An awareness of the possibility of error
51. The Walking Peopleis likely to be an accurate recounting
- Travels recounted and descriptions are consistent with
geography
- No story-arc inThe Walking People
- No deification inThe Walking People
- No retroactive fixing of erroneous decisions
- The events are physically and psychologically believable
- No we/good they/bad dichotomy
52. The Walking Peopleas Pattern Language
- Sole criterion for inclusion seems to be whether the incidents
recounted show new learning
- Each story includes context, detailed description, summary of
solution pattern and an analysis of forces illustrated by a
recounting of the arguments pro and con
- Taken together, the stories form a lattice of inter-related
solutions to a domain of problems
53. An Approach for knowledge creation and sharing: A Pattern
Language
- Architectural Patterns that capture recurring problems and
solutions
- Organized into a Pattern Language a lattice of inter-related
Patterns.
-
- Eccentric Town Center encourages commuter traffic to stop at
Town Center
-
- Gradient of Privacy in homes: porch, entry, living room,
dinning room, kitchen, bedroom
54. Some Socio-Technical Patterns
- Support Conversation at Boundaries
- Anonymized Stories for Organizational Learning
55. Elicit from Diversity
- Pp. 7-8:AND HOW MANY MIGHT DO WHAT FEW-ALONE COULD NOT EVEN
THOUGH EACH OF THE MANY HAS LESS STRENGTH.
- Pp. 11-12: WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ONE MAY BE POSSIBLE FOR
MANY
- P 44. IF THERE IS NOT ONE AMONG US WHO CONTAINS SUFFICIENT
WISDOM MANY PEOPLE TOGETHER MAY FIND A CLEAR PATH.
- P. 65: WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ONE MAY BE POSSIBLE FOR MANY
56. WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ONE MAY BE POSSIBLE FOR MANY
- which were long as well as thick
- and with which those who were struck by Ocean
- and washed from their footing
- might be restrained by others
57. Iroquois Rule of Six
- You are in a meeting room.Your calendar says the meeting is
supposed to start at 10 am.The clock on the wall says 10:15. John
is not here yet.You think: John doesnt really care about this
project.
- According to the Rule of Six you need to generate five
additional explanations for the current situation.
58. Iroquois Rule of Six
- Your calendar entry is wrong
- The clock on the wall is wrong
- John comes from a culture where 15 minutes is not late
- John was unavoidably delayed in traffic
- John was waylaid by the Vice-President and even now is talking
up the project
59. Seek to Understand the Heart of Others
- The Iroquois reflect on how giant tree sloths became extinct
and how even now bear and deer are more difficult to find; they
decide to understand more abouthow their four-footed brothers live
and ensure the world is arranged fortheirprosperity
- Later, when confronted with a war-like tribe with superior
weaponry, they see that this other tribe, unlike the Iroquois, has
a strict division of labor between men and women.The Iroquois use
this, first to learn the arts of war and then, when battle comes,
to freak out their opponents by sending five women to fight their
braves.
60. Small Successes Early Based on the story of Old Grandfather
who invented Clothing 61. Reality Check 62. Reality Check 63. Who
Speaks for Wolf? Visual by www.PDIimages.com 64. Where can you find
out more?
- www.research.ibm.com/knowsoc/
- Fog, K., Budtz, C., Yakaboylu, B. Storytelling: Branding in
practice. Berlin: Springer, 2005.
- Frey, J. How to Write a Damn Good Novel : A Step-by-Step No
Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling, New York: St. Martins
Press, 1987.
- De Geus, ArieThe living company: habits for survival in a
turbulent business environment.Boston: Harvard Business School
Press, 1997.
- Lawrence, D. and Thomas, J. Social Dynamics of Storytelling:
Implications for Story-Base Design.AAAI Workshop on Narrative
Intelligence, N. Falmouth, MA.November, 1999
65. Where can you find out more?
- McKee, R. Story.New York: Harper/Collins, 1997.
- Paulos, John Allen.Once upon a number: the hidden mathematical
logic of stories.New York: Basic books, 1998.
- Schank, R. C. Tell me a story: Narrative and intelligence.
Evanston: Northwestern University, 1990.
- Thomas, J. Narrative Technology in the New Millennium.
Knowledge Management Journal.July, 1999.
- Thomas, J. Stories, Storytelling and Human Computer
Interaction.Human Factors and Ergonomic Society Special Interest
Group on Computers Newsletter, July, 1999.
- Turner, M. The literary mind.New York: Oxford University Press,
1996.
66. Where can you find out more?
- Thomas, J.C.; Danis, C. M.; Lee A. Who Speaks for Wolf? Report
of the T.J. Watson Research Center. RC22644 (2002).
- Pine, J. B. II & Gilmore, J. H.The experience economy: work
is theatre and every business a stage.(1999).
- Desurvire, H. & Thomas, J. C. Enhancing the performance of
interface evaluators using non-empirical usability methods.
InProceedings of the HFS 37 thAnnual Meeting.HFES: Santa Clara, CA,
1993.
- Thomas, J. C., Kellogg, W. A. & Erickson, T. A. The
knowledge management puzzle: human and social factors in knowledge
management.IBM Systems Journal,40(4), 863-884, 2001.
67. Q & A?
- Comments, questions, suggestions?
- John C. Thomas[email_address]
- www.watson.ibm.com/knowsoc /
68. E.g. Washing Dishes
- Side by side confessional
- Team accomplishes the work
- High shared stimulus context
- Team or One prepares machine to accomplish the work
- Moderate shared stimulus context
69. Fixing Dinner
- High shared stimulus context (same meal)
- No negotiation required (separate meals)
- Conversation less likely (person who is ready first starts some
other activity)
70. Traditional Queue
- Some shared context; however
- Perceived as competition for limited resource (tickets may run
out)
- People in front are costing you time
- Face to Back of Head orientation
- Asynchronous movement reinforces individual identity (cf.
rowing)
71. Vibrating Pager Queue
- The obviousness of the competition has been greatly
reduced
- No requirement to face the same direction
- Face to face interaction possible
- Conversation is much more likely
72. Enhanced Telephone Help Desk Queue
- Many more people need help solving technical problem than
servers available
- ASR used to group similar problems
- People are bridged onto a conference call
- Synthesis announces to group their areas of overlapping
interest
- Group may be able to solve the individual problems
- When available, help first gives generic advice