SIGIA-L Mail Archives: Re: SIGIA-L: empathy [was: What do IAs n
Re: SIGIA-L: empathy [was: What do IAs need to know?]
From: rebecca blood (rebecca_at_rebeccablood.net)
Date: Thu Feb 15 2001 - 13:31:34 EST
Adam Polansky wrote:
> Information Architecture involves the intrinsic attribute of "empathy"
the more I think about it, the more I wonder if this quality is being
overrated in the bag of IA's tricks. I would argue that with sufficient
user testing, an individual could operate quite effectively as an
information architect without a shred of empathy; probably *more*
effectively than the empathy-filled individual who does no user testing
at all. in _the design of everday things_, donald norman warns that
"even the best-trained and best-motivated designers can go wrong when
they listen to their instincts instead of testing their ideas on actual
users."
of the IAs I know, some are extraordinarily empathetic; others - at
least in their everyday interactions - are decidedly *umempathetic*. the
dictionary definition of empathy: "intellectual or imaginative
apprehension of another's condition or state of mind" (funk and wagnall)
certainly would apply to IA, particularly as regards interpreting the
"whys" of user testing results.
but since some of these "everyday empathy deprived" individuals I speak
of are quite successful in the field, I think perhaps narrowing the
quality of empathy to something more specific may provide a more
accurate template. the ability to effectively interpret user testing
results, whatever that involves, would seem to be of high importance.
the ability to approach a design from a naive user's perspective would
seem to me to be an invaluable skill for the IA, whether or not that
individual had a highly-developed empathic sense generally. a developed
ability to predict user behavior - whatever it was based on - would seem
to be more to the point.
best regards,
rcb
http://www.rebeccablood.net
--------
When it shall be said in any country in the world, 'My poor are happy;
neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are
empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the
taxes are not oppressive' -- when these things can be said, then may
that country boast of its constitution and government. -- Thomas Paine
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