[MUSIC] Welcome to introduction to user experience design. In this lesson, we will cover some important aspects of engaging with users. User interaction is an essential part of the user experience design process. Every time you interact with a user, you have access to precious information. We can only design useful and usable systems if we have good understanding of the individuals, and how they currently complete a given task. We gather this data during the user interaction sessions. In this lesson, we will review a process for interacting with users that will lead to maximizing the data we collect. Thereby getting information that will lead to better design. Before you interact with users, practice the interaction with someone else. This practice session will give you an initial sense of whether the questions you have outlined make sense. Also, if you need to alter the interaction session to stay within a given timeline. Dress for success. Your personal hygiene, grooming habit and apparel signal that you are professional and that you are serious about the interaction. Dress codes are slightly different in industry and in academia. Be mindful of what they are and dress appropriately. Personal style is important, but make sure that it is in line with what is expected in your sector. The user engagement process has three parts, the introduction, the interaction and the closing. We will go over each in turn. First, you want to provide a brief overview. Let the user know what the goals are for the session. Ask them for their frank opinion. Let them know that there are no right or wrong answers and they should simply give you whatever feedback comes to mind. Explain that the interaction is confidential. You will not refer to any personal information they provide. During the introduction, explain to the user that their participation is completely voluntary. That they are free to stop participating at any time. If they wish to stop participating, this will not negatively affect their relationship with your company or institution. This part is important to let the user feel at ease and unconstrained about the fact that you may be representing an entity that has a high profile in their community. This goes back to to that user experience and to that group or that society layer. During the introduction, you should keep the tone relaxed, but professional. This will signal to the user that you mean business and that you want to accomplish the goals that you set out in the introduction. During the interaction, it is also important for you to provide neutral feedback. Your demeanor should be positive, but in no way encourage or sensor the information that is being provided. During the introduction, if the format permits, encourage elaboration of unexpected or interesting information. During the session, keep control of the interaction. If the user has gone on a tangent or if you have gotten enough information on a given topic, steer the conversation back on track. Maintaining a respectful tone tells them that this was very helpful and that there are other items to cover during the time that you have left. At the end of the session, remind them about the goals of the interaction and what you plan to do with their data. Ask if they have anything else to add. This part of the interaction is also called the debriefing and is just as important, as the rest of the engagement process. It allows you to get any last minute thoughts the user might have or answer any questions. It is also a final opportunity for you to build rapport with them and establish a sense that you are a professional. This is paramount, because you are an ambassador not just for the company or institution you represent, but also for the field. It is a case that if they had a positive experience that will influence the likelihood, that they will participate in another design activity or refer someone else. In this lesson, we went over a process for interacting with users that is not the same as conducting user research. In the United States, research is defined as a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation. That's designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge. If you are conducting research, you are collecting information with users with the goal of reporting the findings in a conference. That is a workshop, poster session, demo session, etc. Or publication or any other professional venue. Conducting research requires that you use different protocols in that these protocols are approved by ethics review boards. In this lesson, you've learned about the process to follow when interacting with users. I hope you can join me for the next lesson. [MUSIC]
