UX conference presentations aplenty

Undaunted, conferences moved online in this year of 10,000 Zooms. Our staff continued to lead talks for our far-flung colleagues—here are reports on three presentations this spring.

In March, Andreas Orphanides facilitated a Fail4Lib pre-conference entitled "Fail4Lib 2021: The one after 2020." Orphanides has now facilitated events at all nine Fail4Libs. “Three years alongside Jason Casden, and then a year with Bret [Davidson], then on my own for the remainder."

Orphanides’ event description is about software development, but the prose is also generally telling of the year: “Everyone experiences failure in their professional lives, but no one likes to talk about it. When we see failure approaching, we distance ourselves, avert our eyes, or—if we're in its path—brace for the worst. But failure has intrinsic value and is an essential step on the path to professional and organizational success. And since it’s inevitable, we ought to learn how to look back on our failures to derive value from them, and how to look ahead so that our past failures can inform our future successes.”

In February, Robin Davis and Silvia Sheffield presented “Emails Are UX, Too: How to Make Better Overdue Notices & Other Communications” at the Designing for Digital 2021 conference.

Davis and Sheffield make the case for what might be dismissed as mundane library messaging being as much a part of a library’s UX as physical spaces or the website: “Emails might be overdue notices, billing emails, hold notices, and so on. All of those emails should reflect the character of the library. For some library users, like those who don’t drop by the reference desk or attend events or use your website very much, those automated emails might be the only voice of the library.”

They report on improving patron experience by updating the Libraries’ automated emails. Their entire slideshow is available at the link.

Of a kind with Davis and Sheffield’s talk, Katharine Frazier presented “Say What You Mean!: Improving Communication about Research Services with UX Writing” at Designing for Digital 2021 as well.

Frazier’s presentation dealt with making web pages about research services welcoming and user-friendly by stripping out jargon and simply reducing the quantity of text. She also discussed the why and how of writing for researchers.