TAO Assignment

From Alisan Atvur:

Assignment 1: The TAO Journal

Friday, July 1, 2011 at 7:28AM

Background

• In 2010, I introduced the term "The Tao of Experience Design" in my behavior analysis tool "Experience Thresholds" 
• "TAO" is an acronym for "Trends, Anomalies and Observations."
• More specifically, I encourage User Experience Designers and Information Architects to consider what they see in design and behavior by asking "What are the trends, anomalies and [general] observations that I am noticing when I compare multiple designs of multiple behaviors?"

Activity

• In this activity, you will create a public blog (if you haven't already). A free blog can be created by visiting Blogger. 
• Once you have created the blog, you will be responsible for posting one article per week with the following
  • What are 3 trends that you have noticed in how people "interact" with information?
    • A trend is a behavior, event or decision that occurs repeatedly.
    • For this exercise, you must be the first-hand observer of the trend (i.e. I noticed that mothers of grade school children read school the "school updates" poster at the front door of Henderson Mill Elementary School).
    • You must cite 
      • the locations where you noticed this trend (i.e. I noticed that this behavior occurs outside of the front door within 3-4 feet of the poster)
      • when you noticed this trend (i.e. I noticed that this behavior occurs in the afternoons around 3.30 pm when mothers are picking up their children) 
      • in whom you noticed this trend (i.e. This behavior was noticed in 8 females and two males [presumably parents or family members of the students])
      • For how long you noticed this trend (i.e. I've noticed the behavior on 3 occasions, and each occasion lasts approximately 30 seconds).
      • You must also indicate your belief as to why that trend is occurring. (i.e. I believe the individuals are interacting with the data because they are interested in learning more about the daily lives of their children. I suspect they are parents, and I suspect that they are interested in protecting and assessing the welfare of their children.)
  • What are 3 anomalies that you have noticed in how people "interact" with information?
    • An anomaly is a behavior or design-decision that occurs once is is markedly different than the behavior or design-decision that is typically made. (i.e. Although many people appear to read this poster, individuals in large, multi-person vans never read this poster) 
    • For this exercise, you must be the first-hand observer of the anomaly.
    • You must cite the locations where you noticed this anomaly, when you noticed this anomaly, with whom you noticed this anomaly, and for how long you noticed this anomaly.
    • You must also indicate your belief as to why that anomaly occurred. (i.e. Because drivers of multi-person vans are often focused on picking up multiple individuals, those individuals may not have the time to focus on reading the poster. Additionally, these drivers may be paid drivers and not parents, and parents may be more interested in school affairs that drivers.)
  • What are 3 general observations you have made about "experiences" this week?
    • These observations can be personal, emotional, anything.
    • Unlike trends, these observations can occur just once.

Activity Duration and Due Date

• You will start this activity on July 14th, 2011. This blog will be reviewed periodically and without warning. However, all entries must be submitted to your blob by September 8th.
• Each week, you will be responsible for adding 3 trends, 3 anomalies and 3 observations to your blog.
• After 9 weeks, you will be responsible for documenting at least 27 trends, 27 anomalies and 27observations.
• I will periodically call on you during class to present your TAOs. Failure to share your work will result in a lower grade.
• I will regularly check your blog to assess your work.
• Your blog should have "Comments enabled" so that I can provide feedback to your work.