Add Field Research to your skill set

I want to let list members know about a new course we are offering at UCSC
Extension at our Cupertino campus this spring. It is a hands-on course
designed to give participants practical experience with field methods as
well as relevant readings. It is oriented towards applying field research to
design problems. 
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Title: Field Research for User-Centered Web Design


Course Description:
Have you wondered what people actually do on the sites you design when they
are surfing the Web at home or at work? Conducting field research wherever
they use your site is a way to find out. In recent years, leading companies
have increasingly used ethnographic field research methods to improve the
design of their Web Sites and Web-based products. These research techniques
provide powerful insights which can be used to increase effectiveness,
improve ease of use, and identify opportunities for innovation.

Through lectures, hands on exercises, projects, and discussion, you will
learn practical, field-based methods for investigating and understanding how
people use your Website and show you ways to integrate these findings into
your designs. We will compare field research with other user research
methods and provide examples of how field research is used in the Web
industry. We will discuss how and when to incorporate field research into
the design and development process. We will introduce you to many types of
field research including: interviews, natural observations, contextual
inquiry, longitudinal studies, and in-home usability. We will provide
templates and materials that will help you learn how to plan for and conduct
a field research study. We will demonstrate how to analyze the data and use
techniques such as affinity diagramming, storyboarding, and personas as
methods for bringing findings into the design process.

This course is intended for researchers, designers, and others who are
interested in improving their Websites and for user experience professionals
who have some experience with usability or user research but want to add
field research methodologies to their repertoire.

Thursdays 6:30PM to 9:30PM
Apr 30, 2009 to Jun 11, 2009

Instructors:   KRISELA RIVERA, M.S., DONNA LEACOCK, Ph.D.

For more information and to register:
http://www.ucsc-extension.edu/webdesign.


Best, 
--Lillian Svec  
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