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Are Virtual Meetings Stressing You Out?

These days my workdays often consist of one online meeting after another. Sometimes I have long streams of back to back meetings with less than 30 seconds in between. Sound familiar?

So on a recent call with a client last week I asked if we could all change our meeting settings so that the default is a 50 minute meeting, not a 60 minute meeting. This would give us all time to refill the water bottle, grab a bite to eat, go to the restroom, get up and do some stretching…

I haven’t had any meeting requests for 50 minutes. They are all 30 minutes (and then back to back) or 60 minutes and back to back.

Anyone tried this? Does it work? Does it help? What other ideas have you tried to make these virtual meeting days less stressful and healthier for our mental and physical well being?

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Authors Karl Fast and Stephen Anderson on “Figure It Out”

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WOW, WOW, WOW.

If your job involves designing anything, or communicating information to others, then I think you need to read this book.

On this episode of Human Tech we interview Karl Fast and Stephen Anderson about their recently published book:  Figure It Out: Getting from Information to Understanding.

On the episode I act like a fan girl at the beginning, but really, the book impressed me that much. It may change the way you think about thinking and how people process information. It should change the way you present and share any kind of information, whether text, visual, digital or physical.

It’s not a “quick bites” type of read. It’s fairly substantial,  but it is so well written and with lots and lots of examples, that I recommend it to everyone involved in any kind of information design/communication.

The publisher,  Rosenfeld, has a coupon code for us:  Go to this webpage:

https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/figure-it-out/

and when you are checking out use this code: humantechfigure0820

for 20% off through October 31, 2020.

Figure It Out
Figure It Out


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Amy Bucher and Behavior Change Design on the Human Tech podcast

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Amy Bucher, Vice President of Behavior Change at MadPow, and author of Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change, joins us for this episode on Human Tech.

And if you are interested in purchasing the book the publisher,  Rosenfeld, has a coupon code for us:  Go to this webpage: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/engaged-designing-for-behavior-change/

and when you are checking out use this code: HumanTechEngaged0620 

for 20% off through August 15, 2020.

 

Engaged Cover


 

 

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Userlytics User Testing Tool Helped Us Get Through a Difficult Semester

I teach courses in user experience as an Adjunct Professor at a campus of University of Wisconsin (the campus in Stevens Point Wisconsin). Like campuses around the world we are shut down because of the Covid pandemic. We’re teaching remotely on Zoom and students are trying to finish their coursework while sheltering at home.

I’m used to working remotely and teaching remotely, but it doesn’t mean that students are used to learning this way.

I’m teaching a class this semester “Evaluating User Interfaces”. The class has been learning about heuristic evaluations, cognitive walkthroughs, and user testing. When the campus closed down we were in the middle of our unit on user testing. The students tried out conducing in person user tests first (using Zoom and doing the tests remotely for the most part).

Then they used Userlytics to run unmoderated tests. Userlytics arranged for the students in the class to have credits so that each student could run 3 tests. For most of the students this was their first experience at planning, conducting, and analyzing unmoderated remote tests.

Because they are all sheltering in place this was especially important to them. It allowed them to continue learning and to do their project even while staying at home.

So a big THANK YOU to Userlytics for providing this opportunity.

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2nd Edition of 100 Things Book

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When I wrote 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People I, of course, hoped people would like it (every author wants to be a “best seller”!). It has turned out to be even more popular than I had thought and hoped, and I am very grateful to all the readers who have read it and who have reached out to me about it since it was first published.

Over the last few months I’ve been working on a 2nd edition. I wanted to update some of the research and include some new ideas. So I’m happy to say that I’ve finished the 2nd edition and sent it off to the publisher for printing. The official date it will be available is June 30 (2020) but it is available for pre-order now at Amazon.

My publisher has also given me a promo code for 35% off if you pre-order it through their outlet. (good through June 30). The code is 100THINGS.

If your copy is dog-eared and you want a new one, or if you want to buy one for a friend or recommend it to others, try the 2nd edition.

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Grant Crowell on the Human Tech Podcast

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Grant Crowell with his new book.

In this episode of the Human Tech podcast we talk with Grant Crowell about communicating, using humor, marketing and about his new book.

You can reach Grant here:

info@onetwistedsquirrel and check out his instragram: onetwistedsquirrel. 

And here’s a link to the book: GRANTASMS: Creative twisted words for cool people!


 

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What About User Experience in Government Policy?

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In this episode of the Human Tech podcast we talk with Dana Chisnell about the role of user experience in government technology and public policy. Dana just started a new job as a partner/founder, Policy Design, with the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC). Can the government be user-centered? (Hint: Dana is an optimist and says “YES”).

To learn more about or get in touch with Dana, her website is danachisnell.com and her email is dana.chisnell@gmail.com


 

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Our Digital Lives After Death

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In this episode of the Human Tech podcast we talk with Elaine Kasket, author of All the Ghosts in the Machine about our digital lives after we die. Who owns our data and what happens to it after we’re gone?

To learn more about Elaine and the book: 

https://www.elainekasket.com/

 You can reach her at write@elainekasket.com