Mixed Methods and the Unknown Unknowns of UX @ UXCE15

On June 21, I gave a talk at the UX barcamp in Berlin on "Mixed Methods and the Unknown Unknowns of UX".

by @Granat_On

I called for combining qualitative and quantitative methods to tap into new knowledge. My talk described different modes of knowledge and why and how we might use mixed methods to generate knowledge. I introduced three cases in which researchers took advantage of mixed methods. Finally, I presented five take-aways for making use of mixed methods research designs.

Here's my full presentation of my talk:

Mixed methods and the unknown unknowns of ux uxce15 from Judith Mühlenhoff

Type of Knowns and Unknwons

Different mixed methods research designs

 

The Role of Intermediaries in Culture-Driven Innovation

Culture has overtaken technology as a driver of innovation, especially in consumer goods. I’m convinced that cultural resources are critical to product development and future orientation in these companies, and my PhD research is focused on exploring these processes.

Socio-cultural developments and trends often emerge in certain small communities, subcultures, or (avant-garde) art circles, where it’s difficult for them to be directly observed or integrated by corporations. I'm focusing on the role of intermediaries, e.g. communication agencies, in brokering and interpreting these cultural resources.

Therefore, I'm looking for any cases where artists or other cultural actors have been helpful in fostering innovation at organizations, in which I could conduct interviews to learn more about these collaborations.

My PhD project: The Role of Intermediaries in Culture-Driven Innovation

Companies increasingly open up towards external sources to inspire and frame innovation. We find that technology as a driver of innovation loses importance in favor of culture, e.g. where lifestyle aspects dominate over the technological features in a product’s appearance. Lifestyles and other socio-cultural developments and trends often emerge at the fringes of society in communities and sub-cultures like avant garde circles of artists. Detecting and translating upcoming socio-cultural developments as a source for innovation is difficult because this belongs to so-called tacit knowledge - knowledge that is hard to grasp and cannot simply be written down. Therefore, intermediaries play a significant role for companies to make use of socio-cultural resources in their early innovation process (the front end of innovation), gaining competitive advantage in increasingly dynamic market environments.

Read more 

Introducing my project on "Culture-Driven Innovation"

Culture-driven innovation is not only the name of my blog, it's a project I'm investing a lot of time because I want to understand it better. That's why I'm doing research on it for my PhD. It's about how firms translate socio-cultural sources into innovation with the help of intermediaries.

So far - here's an introduction into my project in German:

Kultur gewinnt als Quelle von Innovationen zunehmend an Bedeutung. Kulturen und Gemeinschaften, die heute noch an den Rändern unserer Gesellschaft vorzufinden sind, bieten uns ein Repertoire an Bedeutungen, Symboliken und Lebensstilen, das morgen schon für eine größere Anzahl an Menschen relevant sein kann. Firmen, die sich solchen sozio-kulturellen Trends und Strömungen frühzeitig öffnen, können diese erfolgreich in Produkte umsetzen, die einem neuen Zeitgeist entsprechen und neue Märkte erschließen.

Doch dieses Wissen einzufangen und in
Produkte zu übersetzen ist schwer. Daher
geht meine Doktorarbeit der Frage nach,
wie Unternehmen erfolgreich soziokulturelle Quellen in der Produktentwicklung eingesetzt haben.
Von besonderem Interesse sind hierbei
die Schnittstellen zu den Quellen, die
Firmen mit Hilfe von Mittelsleuten, wie
z.B. Designern, herstellen. Anders als
beispielsweise Wissen über technische
Entwicklungen, lassen sich soziokulturelle
Trends nicht einfach durch schriftliche Berichte vermitteln, sondern erfordern einen intensiven Austausch zwischen Mittelsleuten und der Firma.

Diesem Austausch will meine Doktorarbeit auf den Grund gehen. Möglichst konkret
anhand abgeschlossener oder aktueller Produktentwicklungen soll nachvollzogen
werden, wie sozio-kulturelle Quellen erfolgreich Einfluss auf Innovationen genommen haben, z.B. durch eine für die Branche neuartige Formgebung oder Materialverwendung.

Hierzu möchte ich Interviews mit den Personen durchführen, die an dem Austausch zwischen dem Unternehmen und den sozio-kulturellen Quellen beteiligt waren. Mich interessiert z.B. aus welchen Anlässen und wie ein Austausch stattfand, was Inhalt von Gesprächen war und wie mit diesen Informationen umgegangen wurde.

photo: @tabor-roeder

Pimp your notebook

I've got a passion for stationery and notebooks. From age 11 till 20 I nearly wrote down every day what happened in my life. Although I'm optimizing my to do-lists and notes digitally (without Zotero I would have been lost), I still stick to pen and paper during meetings and creative writing. The haptic of a pen and paper, the agnostic style of some notebooks are motivating me (yes, call this "symbolic value" of products). I also love the possibility of physical notebooks to be customized. After my workshop in bookbinding with lovely Ulrike at www.plakinn.de, I felt ready to change the cover of my notebook.

That's how it works:
Choose your favorite design/wrapping paper and get some tape for protecting the book corners. E.g. at Modulor in Berlin Kreuzberg (U Moritzplatz) they have special material for this.

The "naked" notebook.

Then fix the book corners.

Cut the paper for both sides with bended corners (so you can still see the book corners).

Glue the paper to the notebook. It's best to use white glue. Then you have to make sure the glue is drying properly. So cover the notebook with blank paper on both sides and put heavy weights on for several hours.

Et voilà!

Wonderful water color layer for maps

This water color layer from http://maps.stamen.com/ uses OpenStreetMap data. Try it out with your district!

I found this presentation about creative youth and product "hacking" very interesting:

Absorbing knowledge from creative youth

View more PowerPoint from Ian McCarthy