User Research Presentation by Michael Margolis

I came across this really great presentation and explanation on how to quickly do user research in the context of the startup. The presenter, Michael Margolis, is a Google Ventures partner and has been doing this kind of work for more than twenty years. He works with the GV startups to help them understand their users and to figure out how they should build their products in order to meet the needs of their users.



One argument that sticks out from his lecture is the reason for observing users. He argues that the importance of observing users is to understand the 'why' of particular user actions. He compares observing users to looking at detailed website analytics. Analytics will reveal what people are doing, yet it won't reveal why they're doing what they're doing. Seeing the metrics of a certain website funnel, or being able to see the data of people dropping off at a certain page doesn't give insight into the problem that might be causing users to drop off. Discovering the 'why' behind a certain problem will then reveal the solution.

In The Local News!

I just found out that the work I did at the Franklin Institute just made it onto the local ABC news. The piece is about interactively visualizing the human nervous system. You can see the prototype in the following video towards the end of the 30 second clip.

Newsworks, a local news organization powered by WHYY, also covered it in this article.

When the exhibit finally opens in 2014, you'll be seeing this piece to the entrance of the exhibit.

PLObject: Playful Living Object - User Testing

A PLObject is an object that is aware of the child’s frustrations, engagements, excitements, and movements. Two semesters ago I prototyped and developed applications for the Emotiv headset, and one such application was a toy and a game for children. The goal was to provide an external representation of the child's frustration in the form of towers that rebuild themselves. When the child became too frustrated, the towers rebuilt. A demonstration explaining the inner workings is here. Check out some of the videos of users testing the plobject.

UArts Edge Magazine - Electrofolksonomy

Some work from two semester's ago has made it into the UArts Edge Magazine, check it out!

It was the result of a project Slavko and I did together, Electrofolksonomy, which was also demo'd at the Museum and the Web conference in 2011. You can read the article in full screen here.

Internship at the Franklin Institute

While at the Franklin Institute, I worked on prototyping an interactive to teach children and adults about change blindness by having them experience it. There's a popular youtube video by Daniel Simons that served as inspiration for this project. Watch the video for a demo and enjoy the pictures.

Changing the Mall Experience

Building on last semester’s studio project, I’m exploring creative and alternative uses for retail spaces. Specifically, I will bring attention to vacancies within malls by intelligently attracting people to stop and engage with a space they are normally diverted from. An underlying goal is to prove that foot traffic can be retained near vacant store fronts with the addition of interactive displays.

Collabritique Version 2

Having studied our first prototype in the context of Museums and the Web conference, Dominic, Nic and I have been at it again. We've utilized the Microsoft Kinect in developing our second prototype. A pilot run is set for the end of this month with the possibility of continuation with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

We've also put together a website dedicated to Collabritique. Enjoy the video of our first user testing experience.

Demo @ Artists and Instigators! from collabritique on Vimeo.

And spread the word, Collabritique is here.