Experience with Technology: Dynamics of User Experience with Mobile Media Devices PDF
Preview Experience with Technology: Dynamics of User Experience with Mobile Media Devices
SPRINGER BRIEFS IN COMPUTER SCIENCE Ali al-Azzawi Experience with Technology Dynamics of User Experience with Mobile Media Devices SpringerBriefs in Computer Science Series Editors Stan Zdonik Peng Ning Shashi Shekhar Jonathan Katz Xindong Wu Lakhmi C. Jain David Padua Xuemin Shen Borko Furht V. S. Subrahmanian Martial Hebert Katsushi Ikeuchi Bruno Siciliano For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/10028 Ali al-Azzawi Experience with Technology Dynamics of User Experience with Mobile Media Devices 1 3 Ali al-Azzawi Digital World Research Centre University of Surrey Guildford, Surrey UK ISSN 2191-5768 ISSN 2191-5776 (electronic) ISBN 978-1-4471-5396-2 ISBN 978-1-4471-5397-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4471-5397-9 Springer London Heidelberg New York Dordrecht Library of Congress Control Number: 2013944515 © The Author(s) 2014 This work is subject to copyright. 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Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) For Mama, Baba, Rachel and my daughters, Hannah, Amaani, Leila and Mariam Foreword Experience with Technology reports the Ph.D. work of Ali al-Azzawi while based at Digital World Research Centre and the Department of Psychology, University of Surrey. This context is important to the intellectual orientation of the enquiry, since Digital World is focussed on the design of new media systems while the Department of Psychology is concerned with the fundamental understanding of internal psychological processes. Bringing together these perspectives, through Ali’s creativity and enthusiasm was an exciting process for us all and the results, reported in this book, are a novel and theoretically grounded insight into the way people make sense of everyday technology. Within this context, Ali chose to examine the psychology of experience with digital media technology and its relation to various design attributes of MP3 music players of the Ph.D. period (2005–2010). His findings are therefore relevant both to the design of digital media devices and to the relationships we have with many similar ‘gadgets’ in our lives, especially as they unfold and deepen over time and use. In fact, the dynamic and changing nature of those relationships and their sen- sitivity to different layers of design turns out to be one of the main discoveries and insights of the work. The theoretical lens chosen to examine experience with technology is that of the personal construct. This notion was introduced by George Kelly in his 1955 book entitled ‘The psychology of personal constructs’. According to Kelly, per- sonal constructs are the concepts we use to categorise things in the world and make sense of our experience with them. He illustrates and embodies this insight in a simple ‘repertory grid’ technique of asking people to sort three objects into two groups showing what is the same and different about them. If you try this now for any three objects in your field of view, you will find that the criterion you use to do this sorting is important to the way you think about the objects, and quite specific to you personally. In this book, Ali uses a variation of the repertory grid technique to get people sorting different kinds of MP3 players, at different stages of use. By talking to them about the criteria they use and analysing pat- terns of sorting across groups of participants, it is possible to expose a secret world of perceptions (constructs) not available by interview alone. Surprisingly, this has seldom been applied to interactive products before, and never with a view to developing personal construct theory in this domain. Ali does both these things to vii viii Foreword reveal a variety of new findings regarding the perception of digital devices, as well as developing a new model of user experience based on the evolution of personal constructs over time. Three studies reported in the book unfold to provide a unique insight into peo- ple’s experiences with technology and potentially with the other objects we choose to interact with. In the first study, a structured sorting task provides access to the constructs people employ to make initial judgements about MP3 players and the way they shape their views of ‘beauty’. These constructs are then used to produce a new questionnaire for measuring user experience. In the second study, this ques- tionnaire is used by 16 participants to rate four canonical MP3 designs, before and after interaction with them. The findings reveal a number of ‘super constructs’ describing users’ changing experience with the devices, including novelty, usa- bility, complexity, aesthetics and physicality. A concise set of constructs are pro- vided in the form of a UX-Scale in Appendix D, and can now be freely used to create a UX profile for any interactive product, based on these super constructs. The third study goes on to provide innovative links between theories of cycles of consumption and those of changing experience over time, and turn to exam- ine how people’s relationships with and expectations of technology change from purchase through use to replacement. Following eight users through real time, the final study provides an insight into their thoughts and feelings around the devices they actually bought. In the closing chapters, the book brings together the various streams of theory and empirical results to form an integrative theory of experience. The book integrates diverse literatures on user experience and presents new findings and concepts. It should therefore be of value to both academics and researchers seeking to understand the area in greater depth and to practitioners seeking to shape our experience with new products and services in a more custom- ised and personal way. University of Surrey, June 2013 Prof. David Frohlich Dr. Margaret Wilson Endorsement Experience with Technology provides some missing DNA to the world of HCI. I am impressed with how Dr. al-Azzawi brings in literatures that are often neglected by mainline user researchers, e.g. social theory, categorization, and brand. He does so in a thoughtful and compelling manner. The scholarship is thorough and top- notch, especially in the synthesis of it all in his ICE model. This book straddles the line that is often hard to manage; it serves as a solid foundation for academic coursework as well as an impetus for practical application of theory. In it all, his writing is lucid and pithy; there is not a wasted word. I strongly recommend this to HCI practitioners who believe there is nothing new in the field. There is, and it is within the pages of this book. Robert Schumacher ix Preface While working as a physicist and an engineer, installing, supporting and servicing MRI scanners around the world, I became acutely aware of how some machines, in comparison with others, seemed easier to run, maintain and fix. The difference appeared to be linked to features such as the small LEDs that indicate whether a hardware module is on, off, or on standby. Such basic aspects of the implied user interface seemed to have escaped the attention of the designers of these high quality machines, manufactured to high technical standards. Somehow, it felt as though they had not always considered the user, even another technical user. These kinds of frustrations were the seeds that led eventually to my desire to investigate how people experience technology and to learn more about ways to improve the user experience. So, after many years of running a web development company, I eventually embarked on a research project at the University of Surrey which I envisaged would help me to better understand how people experience technology, with the hope also that the project would contribute to the vast body of knowledge across the fields of design, psychology, and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). This book brings together a summary of some of the key ideas, thoughts and approaches from within the HCI, design, marketing and psychology literature, as well as the main insights from my research at Surrey. These findings were made possible with the help of nearly 250 participants and with the support of many academics and fellow researchers at the Digital World Research Centre and the School of Psychology to whom I am very grateful. I am also indebted to my academic supervisors, mentors and cheerleaders, Professor David Frohlich and Dr. Margaret Wilson, whose patience and positive attitude towards their craft has truly been a great inspiration. During this project, I found myself in the unique position of being able to draw on a range of experiences, including my early technical training and many years of involvement in design, development and business, which, in combina- tion with my research findings, have allowed me to formulate concurrent views on the three main elements of user experience (UX): technology, business and users. Though still involved in academia, I have therefore returned to industry as a UX researcher and designer with the intention of making a positive, practical, and insightful contribution to this expanding commercial field. Consequently, I have attempted to keep this book focused on these main elements, remaining grounded xi xii Preface in the realities of industry, whilst still maintaining an academic interest. The book is therefore aimed at both academic researchers and industrial practitioners alike, who are interested in exploring the theoretical understandings of how people expe- rience technology in ways that offer an alignment of theory with practical meth- ods. I hope you find it both useful and enjoyable. Dubai, May 2013 Dr. Ali al-Azzawi
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