[IxDA Discuss] UX Methodologies 2.0

[Peter Boersma]

Alok Jain said:
> [..] Web 2.0 fundamentally
> changes how everything functions in web space, so why not ux
> methodologies.

"Fundamentally" may be a bit strong, but I agree that we could have another
look at what we should focus in in our ways of working.

Last year, when I looked at this in preparation for the Design Engaged
conference, I came up with a diagram that maps some of the Web2.0 principles
to the phases of a UX design process. It roughly uses elements of the
ancient oriental philosophy of aesthetics called wabi-sabi as an umbrella.

"Wabi-sabi as a user-experience design approach for Web2.0"
http://tinyurl.com/bn4hm
(or, for the URL in full:
http://www.peterboersma.com/blog/2005/11/my-design-engaged-mini-presentation.html)
> I have several Ideas on this, but one main seems to strike greater
> confidence. Am calling this *"Tag Sorting" *- (as in a variation of
> traditional card sorting)
> [..]
> a) Taking a set of Index cards and asking users to provide tags for
> each card.

And that is where the users' input ends?

> b) Generate a Tag cloud based on above exercise

Why?

> c) Organize Tag clouds into 4 levels of popularity

Why 4?

> d) Evaluate classification scheme being applied - mental model

Could you elaborate on this step?

> e) Finalize Clustering - define navigation

This does away with your earlier statement that users will become
information architects who define the navigation system; or is this about
defining *user-selectable ways* to navigate through the user-determined
navigation space?

> f) Re-label to map to user vocabulary

Which user? The whole idea of tagging is that each user has his/her own
vocabulary.

> I do have the same article up on my blog - http://iprincipia.com/ - so
> feel free to leave a comment there if you want to.

After reading that, it became clear to me that this is definitely an example
where the shift is NOT fundamental: you still end up with a fixed navigation
scheme that cannot be influenced (again) by end users. That's not very
Web2.0, if you ask me.

Peter
-- 
Peter Boersma | Senior Experience Designer | Info.nl
Sint Antoniesbreestraat 16 | 1011 HB | Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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mailto:peter at peterboersma.com | http://www.peterboersma.com/blog
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