Curio Research Quarterly Vol. 9
Hello again. I hope you're doing okay and staying safe. The world has certainly changed since we last spoke. I'll try to keep this lighthearted, but a lot is going on, and a lot is not going on.
Business
Work
I had to stop a project for a client mid-way through because we were interviewing hospital C-level executives who became increasingly unavailable as the month progressed—that hurt. But stopping was the right thing to do, given the circumstances. Hopefully, we'll be able to restart the project in September, provided the pandemic comes under control.
The good news is that remote research is something I've been doing for years, and I'm currently available for projects. If you have a business or UX question in need of research expertise or know of anyone who could use a hand, let me know. You can even use Calendly to set up a meeting automatically.
Conferences
My talk at ConveyUX went well. A person who is deaf attended and provided a perspective I had not heard before. She didn't consider herself to be disabled. She looked at being deaf as more of a language barrier than a disability. It made me rethink how I discuss the classifications of disability create more space for how individuals choose to identify. I keep learning, and the talk evolves as I learn.
Steve Portigal, of Portigal Consulting and author of Interviewing Users and Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries, invited me to sit in on one of his Ask Us Anything sessions on April 8th. We advised a few young practitioners on finding effective mentorship, research ethics, and getting your first UX job and had a lot of fun conversations along the way.
I'm also organizing an all-day journey mapping virtual workshop on April 17th for the PNW chapter of the QRCA. There's still room if you or anyone on your team is interested in learning how to research and communicate customer and user journeys. And because it's online, you can join from anywhere.
The Puget Sound SIG CHI invited me to give a talk about conducting remote research from home based on a blog post I recently wrote. It's something I've been doing for years, but it may not be familiar to a lot of practitioners. I'll be giving the talk on April 30th at 6:30 pm Pacific online.
Publications
Being busy was great, but it made for little time for all of the writing I intended to do. I'm fixing that now.
The QRCA Views magazine recently published the article I wrote with accessibility expert, Glenda Sims, on making qualitative research inclusive to people with disabilities.
I've been writing a series of blog posts based on my talk on making research inclusive to people with disabilities. So far, I've covered reasons to involve people with disabilities in research and the different types of technical disabilities along with interaction etiquette. Next, I'll be writing about recruiting people with disabilities and accessible qualitative and quantitative research best practices.
I also wrote a post on how to conduct remote research from home. I noticed a lot of in-house researchers at a loss for how to continue with their research programs while social distancing. As someone who works from home and considers remote research to be the norm, I felt I could help. So I documented my process and what people should take into account when conducting their studies from home.
Personal
Travel
Um, well... Austin for the QRCA Conference was lovely. I was able to spend the weekend and see my friends while I was there. I ate a lot of excellent food, enjoyed a few beers, and walked a lot. I probably walked too much, considering I was coming down with the flu and took me almost a month to kick it entirely, but it felt like a shame not to enjoy myself while I was there. Mind you, this was before COVID-19 was something of imminent concern.
Since then, I haven't gone anywhere, and I have no plans to do so for the foreseeable future. Here's hoping this changes soon.
Media
Sure, everyone is obsessing over Tiger King and rightfully so. It's bonkers. But if you want to binge something that will give you an in-depth look into another side of popular culture, watch Hip Hop Evolution on Netflix. It covers the rise of hip hop from the Bronx, to the East-West feud, to the rise of Southern hip hop, and everything along the way. Shad does a great job interviewing the people who saw it and made it happen, and you'll walk away knowing so much more than when you first hit play.
Giving Back
I've been sitting in on a lot of panels on how professional researchers and companies can respond to the pandemic, and the overriding advice is to sit tight and be generous. This too shall pass, and people and companies who don't act like dicks will get their due. Because of my economic uncertainty, I can do very little in terms of monetary donations. I can support my local businesses and help them weather this storm as much as possible, and I can also offer research advice to people who need it. Research advice is my generosity. If you need it, please take advantage of my experience and expertise. I'm here to help.
