User Experience in Science: the new kid on the block
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The new kid on the block Flickr: Lars Ploughmann Paula de Matos User Experience in Science
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EcoViz (Ecology visualisation ) workshop where I was asked to introduce User Experience and how it could be applied in science. I used an example of a previous bioinformatics project I had done.
Transcript of User Experience in Science: the new kid on the block
The new kid on the block
Flickr: Lars Ploughmann Paula de Matos
User Experience in Science
My name is Paula de Matos
I live in Cambridge, UK
I am an FreelanceUser
Experience Analyst
I tweet @Paula_deMatos
I am South African & Portuguese
I specialise in the application of UX in complex scientific domains
Flickr: Stefson
Peter Morville: UX Honecomb
What is User Experience (UX)
Where does UX come from?
Dan Schaffer
A good UX example: The whole package
What happens when you don’t consider UX?
Flickr: Adam Frame
UX in complex environments
• highly inter-connected• has depth (big picture and high level of
granularity important)• high volume, big scale• unfamiliar since it is a ‘niche’/’expert’ field
(niche vocab.)• needing security/ privacy/ authentication• real time-critical
Complex environments have data that is/ may be…
People in complex environments…• May have geographically separated team• People (always complex but added
complications may be…)• Not aware of UX (“fluffy stuff”)• Do not know who users are/ not interested
in the user• Think they know their user but are making
assumptions
Bioinformatics research/services is a complex environment
EMBL-EBI EuroHub for Bioinformatics in Hinxton
• Part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory
• International, non-profit research institute
• 540 people work at EMBL-EBI, 48 nations represented
• Average age: 37 yrs
• At the heart of modern biology research• Science of storing, retrieving and
analysing biological information• An interdisciplinary science involving
biologists, biochemists, computer scientists and mathematicians
What is bioinformatics?
L-O-A-D-S of data
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UX and Bioinformatics: Enzyme Portal
I can’t find anything?
We have over 10 databases dealing with enzymes
Data is loosely linked and mismatched
I can’t see anything?
Enzyme Portal: the workflow
• Understand stakeholders and requirements• UCD buy-in strategy • Incentives?
Love thy stakeholders
Personaes used to mitigate ‘self-as-user’ outlook
• Preferably in their own lab• Observe and understand context • Ask questions, learn and validate
We interviewed users
We modeled their user stories
Created using yWorks yEd Graph Editor
What is important to you?
What do you want?
What happens if you ask?
Establish priorities and Information Architecture
Stimulates discussion esp. dot vote to get consensus
Engaging IA ‘head scratcher’ for target users (experts)Canvas Sort:
Canvas Sort Result #1: Relative priorities of data items and actions
Result #2: Model of the information architecture for the portal
Sketching
Created using Balsamiq Mockups (http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups)
Wireframes provided a visual specification
Quick and easy prototyping
• Things going wrong on release day
• Data that does not exist• Stakeholder posturing
Be flexible – it’s complex, things will go wrong!
Challenges with UX in Science
Sweet spot?
Jakob Nielsen, Usability Engineering 1993
Diverse users
‘Dry’ and ‘wet’ scientists use the same software
We don’t sell stuff…
Flickr: Kristian Niemi
Finding the people can be difficult
Complexities of policy and funding
Flickr: 401 (K) 2013
Managing data
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Useful referencesComplex UX• Chilana, P.K. et al (2010) Understanding usability practices in
complex domains. CHI 2010 Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2337-2346
Personae• Baron-Cohen, S. et al (2003) The systemizing quotient: an
investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism, and normal sex differences. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London 358: 361-74
• William Hudson (2009) Reduced Empathizing Skills Increase Challenges for User-Centered Design CHI 2009 April 3–9, Boston, MA, USA
Gamestorming• Gray D, Brown S, Macanufo J (2010) Game storming: A Playbook
for Innovators, Rulebreakers and Changemakers. California: O’Reilly Media.
2012
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Recent papers: UX and Bioinformatics (open access)
EMBL-EBI staff, Genome Campus, Cambridge
Thanks for listening!
Questions?
