1. The Story of Story: Using Narrative Elements in the Service of Usability. John C. Thomas Usability Professionals Association June 15, 2006 [email_address] www.watson.ibm.com/knowsoc/ www.truthtable.com

2. Agenda

Why story?

What makes for a good story?

How can stories be useful in promoting useful and usable systems?

How do you elicit or create stories?

The Walking People(Oral history of the Iroquois) :BOTH Story AND Pattern Language

Some Socio-technical Patterns from the Iroquois

Questions and comments?

3. Why an interest in stories?

Returned to IBM to work in Knowledge Management in 1998

Knowledge management is simply getting the right information to the right person at the right time.

The story of Dr. Maciw

Human beings are not just information processors; alsoenergyprocessors media matters, presentation matters

Guernica, Lincoln Memorial, Flight

Observe people: you can tell when they are sharing stories: body language and voice animation

4. Stories are memorable and motivating

Can communicate a huge amount of tacit knowledge to those who have the requisite background experiences; e.g.,Harvey Penicks Little Red Book : Lessons And Teachings From A Lifetime In Golf

Once experienced, a huge complex of knowledge may now be referenced easily; e.g., Robin Williams inAladdin

5. 6. 7. Stories tend to focus on the edges of human experience 8. Though experienced sequentially, story has hierarchical structure 9. Stories can be viewed as three-dimensional: 10. Character versus Characterization

Character is revealed by choices under pressure; it is what the person is essentially

Often confused with mere characterization the surface aspects of a person: male/female; age; plays the flute; works at IBM; has a white beard; talks with a Dublin accent, etc.

Develop empathy for the hero from the outside in

11. Revealing tension between character and characterization 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. Stories feed on CONFLICT

Intra-psychic

Inter-personal

With the larger society or physical world

The most interesting stories have all three; e.g.The Sound of Music, Casablanca

18. What makes for a good story?

A hero who wants something passionately; many obstacles; willing to go to the end of the line (Romeo & Juliet)

Three main dimensions: Character, Plot, Setting

Conflict: External World, Interpersonal, Intra-psychic (e.g., Sound of Music)

Action: In every scene a value should change from good to bad or vice versa

An emotional roller coaster. A story arc.

• Cf. success stories on a website

19. Story strength elements:

a protagonist with whom we can empathize and sympathize

time pressure

something important at stake (customer shaved 5% off costs vs. stay in business and 1000 jobs saved in a small town)

clear protagonist goal

rising action and complication; mounting risk

formidable antagonist (Superman: identity, kryptonite, loves friends)

peaks and valleys

harmonious emotional sequence

use of audience superior position or suspense

new twist on universal theme

meaning -- an underlying theme

20. Work from the outside in to engage empathy:

Objective Situation:

Sensation and Feeling:

Emotion:

Inner Conflict:

21. Work from the outside in to engage empathy:

The wind howled.

Jack felt the sting of the sleet.

Blast it!Suzi doesnt really need this medicine!

Why do I always let her talk me into these hair-brained schemes anyway?Why dont I fight back?

22. Mechanisms of Good Presentation:

Show, dont tell

Text and subtext

Active, specific verbs; try to avoid is went had

Use periodic sentences: put critical information at the end: Ill kill you with this gun if you dont hand over all your gold right this minute. vs. Hand over your gold right now, or die.

Turn exposition into ammunition

23. Text and Subtext:

If the scene is about what the scene is about, you are dead in the water

Love Story 1: A couple goes out to a romantic, candlelit dinner; soft music plays.He says, Oh, I love you.She says, Oh, I love you too. The hold each others hands and stare lovingly into each others eyes.

Love Story 2: Man is having trouble changing a tire and a woman stops to help. Hand me the wrench.

Text/Subtext encourages deeper processing of material thereby making itbothmore interesting and more memorable.

24. Use Specific Verbs

"John went across the room."

How?By tricycle?Levitation? Teleportation?Hit by Arnold Schwartzenegger?Or, what?

Ambled

Staggered

Crawled

Strode

Leapt

Floated

Cartwheeled

25. Turn Exposition into Ammunition

Avoid Feather Dusting dialogue.So, how long have we known each other, Mike?35 years, eh? Yeah, ever since we were undergraduates together at Case-Western.

Geez, Mike!Look at you!When are you going to get a clue?Its 2006 but youre still wearing the same flower power shirts you wore at our Phi Epsilon Pi parties at Case-Western in the 60s.

Yeah, well, at least I dont wear the same dark suit and power tie combo as every other robot in this city.

26. Emotional Sequencing

The characters in the story need to follow a logical emotional progression; e.g., fear -- > hate; Stockholm syndrome

But, the READERS of the story generally have to follow an emotional progression as well.

Scene One ends with something totally disgusting

Scene Two opens with erotic love ??

27. Agenda

Why story?

What makes for a good story?

How can stories be useful in promoting useful and usable systems?

How do you elicit or create stories?

The Walking People(Oral history of the Iroquois) :BOTH Story AND Pattern Language

Some Socio-technical Patterns from the Iroquois

Questions and comments?

28. Stories can be used to enhance usability.

Stories can help us understand customer needs more deeply

• FORTUNE, Feb.3 rd , 1997

Stories can be used for knowledge creation and sharing within a Community of Practice

Scenarios can help concretize and communicate Requirements and Design

Stories can help users understand the system

In some cases, the productisthe story (Pine & Gilmore,The Experience Economy).

29. Understanding Customer Needs

Surveys and self-reports often induce a should mode; e.g., people claim to readThe Wall Street JournalandThe New York Times--- notUSA TodayorThe National Enquirer.

Stories may induce more of a what is mode.

Stories can also induce fantasy and get people to go beyond current context.

Stories can induce deeper wants and needs that may transcend current fashion or technological possibility.

30. How do story and usability relate?

Useful usable Design depends on:

• User

• Context - Environment

• Task; Goals

• Evolving Interaction over time

Major Problems:

• Gulf of Execution

• Gulf of Evaluation

31. Usability and good story

Good Usability (STORY) Design depends on:

• User-- (PROTAGONIST)

• Context (ENVIRONMENT)

• Task --(GOALS)

• Evolving Interaction over time

Major Problems: (MAJOR DEVICES):

Gulf of Execution = (CANT ACHIEVE GOAL)

Gulf of Evaluation = (SURPRISING RESULT)

32. We want protagonists who:

Are willful...have a conscious goal -- will go to the end of the line....want very much to get their task done may have a contradictory unconscious goal

Have a CHANCE of getting the goal

Teachable

Have strong antagonist(s)(the system?)

Are resourcefuluse many strategies

Cause us to empathize with them

33. Developersmaysee users as protagonists who:

Arenotwillful... willnotgo to the end of the line....couldn't care less.

Instead of having a CHANCE of getting the goal,are either hopeless or, if the developers are wildly successful MUST reach the goal.

Instead of strong antagonist(s), have trivial difficulties.

Instead of being resourceful, they have not even RTFM.

Users are often not portrayed so as to cause developers empathy.

• Emphasis is often put on characterization, not character --- hence

• No-one really cares --- no empathy has been created

34. Empathy as Method

Rat study in the 1930s compared Hulls theory and Tolmans theory to predict behavior of rats in a number of situations....

And the winner was....

35. A group of non-professionals asked to imagine what is was like to be a rat and what would they do in this situation if they were a rat. 36. Later, at IBM in the 1970s

I asked individuals who were unfamiliar with business processes, to imagine each of several roles involved in an invoicing process and then to imagine what information they would want to have on an invoice if they had that role.

Each person was able to generate almost all of the information actually required on an invoice

37. Heuristic Evaluation + Empathy

Control Group and Experimental Group given equal amounts of time to find potential problems with system and suggest improvements

Experimental Group asked to successively imagine the perspectives of various people; e.g., cognitive psychologist, behavior therapist, occupational therapist, worried mother, Freudian analyst, etc.

Experimental Group of Developers and Non-professionals found significantly more usability issues and more suggestions than Controls

Desurvire, H. & Thomas, J. C. Enhancing the performance of interface evaluators using non-empirical usability methods. InProceedings of the HFS 37 thAnnual Meeting.HFES: Santa Clara, CA, 1993.

38. Story and Usability

The Author (cf. "authority", "authentic") must KNOW

The World of the story

The Characters

Architect a sequence of events through space-time

Possibly also a sequence of character changes,

and/or world changes

AND a presentation to the reader

presentation ~= events

text ~= subtext

39. Story and Usability

The Usability Expert must KNOW

The Context in which users operate

The Users

Architect potential sequences of events through space-time

Possibly also a sequence of changes in mental model,

and/or world changes

AND presentations to various stakeholders

presentation ~= events

text ~= subtext

40. Agenda

Why story?

What makes for a good story?

How can stories be useful in promoting useful and usable systems?

How do you elicit or create stories?

The Walking People(Oral history of the Iroquois) :BOTH Story AND Pattern Language

Some Socio-technical Patterns from the Iroquois

Questions and comments?

41. Story:

How to collect stories

How to morph stories

How to create stories

42. Social Dynamics of Storytelling

Storytelling is a social act. Who tells stories to whom?

Storytellers Exercise Power. How does storytelling impact status? The "victors" write the history.

Storytelling Involves Risk. What are the risks?Are there ways to tell stories that mitigate risks?Tellinga story versusWritinga story. Most people like totellstories; very few like towritestories.

Storytelling is Often Collaborative. Stories beget stories.Comparing individual stories can lead to larger truths accepted by a community or team.

43. Social Dynamics of Storytelling (Continued)

Storytellers Try to Enhance Face. What are some of the methods of doing this?How can we use this knowledge to contextualize the story as told?

Culture impacts Story. How do people from various cultures modify stories?How can we learn about culture from story?

Typically, it is best toobservestorytelling among peers; however, sometimes, you need to elicit stories.

Elicitor Guidelines.How can you effectively elicit stories from others?

44. Observations and Conversations with Interviewers (by Deborah Lawrence):

Reporters

Medical Record Takers

Police Investigators

Hot line volunteers

Therapists

45. Guidelines for Eliciting Stories

Provide a "warm-up" period.

Tell something personal and revealing about yourself; perhaps tell a story that is a model of the kind of story you're looking for.

Observe an implicit contract of trust.

Provide a motivation for the story -- why it's important.

Accept the storyteller's story and worldview.Don't resist the story.

Reveal who you are, how the story will be used, potential audience and goals, answer questions.

Use questions to probe.Sometimes, a totally "off the wall" question can create space for story to emerge.

Empower the storyteller -- they are the expert.

Avoid threat; don't appear as an expert yourself.

Listen with avid interest.

46. Techniques for morphing "Negative Stories Issue: We can learn from others mistakes but How to do so in a corporate environment?

Anonymity

Projective spaces; e.g., British Navy Admiral cartoon

"Trusted Source & registered anonymity" (e.g., Moose Crossing)

Re-framings: "I almost did X, but -- Deus Ex Machina -- hence, goodness"

"I had intra-psychic conflict; almost did X, but thankfully did ~X; hence, goodness" (airline seats)

"As an experiment, on a small scale, we did X and discovered badness; hence, ~X"

47. Creating Stories

Take a "What if?" larger, smaller, prettier, uglier, stronger, longer, grosser, etc.

Focus on an action, a person, a thing, a quality and say:

where did this come from ?

where is it going?

how did it get here?

when will it end?

who made this happen?

why is this here?

what will happen next?

48. The best stories come from ...

When were you most upset?

When were you most frightened?

When were you most amused?

When were you most yourself?

When were you forced to be least yourself?

When were you most angry?

When were you most earthy?

When were you most spiritual?

Can use your own experiences even if the setting and content of the story you are creating is quite different.

49. The Walking People

Oral history of one branch of the Iroquois transcribed into English by Paula Underwood

Includes additional material about the translation, the relation of the narrated locations to modern geography and about the process of using the story

Less like a blog than a Pattern Language

50. The Walking Peopleis persistent

Internal Redundancy

Songs repeated often

All learn the narrative

However, some are especially selected and trained as storytellers

Listening is not passive but an active process that requires deep processing

An awareness of the possibility of error

51. The Walking Peopleis likely to be an accurate recounting

Travels recounted and descriptions are consistent with geography

No story-arc inThe Walking People

No deification inThe Walking People

No retroactive fixing of erroneous decisions

The events are physically and psychologically believable

No we/good they/bad dichotomy

52. The Walking Peopleas Pattern Language

Sole criterion for inclusion seems to be whether the incidents recounted show new learning

Each story includes context, detailed description, summary of solution pattern and an analysis of forces illustrated by a recounting of the arguments pro and con

Taken together, the stories form a lattice of inter-related solutions to a domain of problems

53. An Approach for knowledge creation and sharing: A Pattern Language

Christopher Alexander

Architectural Patterns that capture recurring problems and solutions

Organized into a Pattern Language a lattice of inter-related Patterns.

Examples:

• Eccentric Town Center encourages commuter traffic to stop at Town Center

• European Pub

• Gradient of Privacy in homes: porch, entry, living room, dinning room, kitchen, bedroom

54. Some Socio-Technical Patterns

Elicit from Diversity

Rule of Six

Small Successes Early

Reality Check

Who Speaks for Wolf?

Support Conversation at Boundaries

Social Proxy

Context-setting Entry

Answer Garden

Registered Anonymity

Anonymized Stories for Organizational Learning

Mentoring Circle

Radical Co-location

Levels of Authority

Rites of Passage

55. Elicit from Diversity

Pp. 7-8:AND HOW MANY MIGHT DO WHAT FEW-ALONE COULD NOT EVEN THOUGH EACH OF THE MANY HAS LESS STRENGTH.

Pp. 11-12: WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ONE MAY BE POSSIBLE FOR MANY

P 44. IF THERE IS NOT ONE AMONG US WHO CONTAINS SUFFICIENT WISDOM MANY PEOPLE TOGETHER MAY FIND A CLEAR PATH.

P. 65: WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ONE MAY BE POSSIBLE FOR MANY

56. WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ONE MAY BE POSSIBLE FOR MANY

THINKING OF THIS,

They wove ropes

which were long as well as thick

and with which those who were struck by Ocean

and washed from their footing

might be restrained by others

who were more secure.

57. Iroquois Rule of Six

You are in a meeting room.Your calendar says the meeting is supposed to start at 10 am.The clock on the wall says 10:15. John is not here yet.You think: John doesnt really care about this project.

According to the Rule of Six you need to generate five additional explanations for the current situation.

58. Iroquois Rule of Six

Your calendar entry is wrong

The clock on the wall is wrong

John comes from a culture where 15 minutes is not late

John was unavoidably delayed in traffic

John was waylaid by the Vice-President and even now is talking up the project

59. Seek to Understand the Heart of Others

The Iroquois reflect on how giant tree sloths became extinct and how even now bear and deer are more difficult to find; they decide to understand more abouthow their four-footed brothers live and ensure the world is arranged fortheirprosperity

Later, when confronted with a war-like tribe with superior weaponry, they see that this other tribe, unlike the Iroquois, has a strict division of labor between men and women.The Iroquois use this, first to learn the arts of war and then, when battle comes, to freak out their opponents by sending five women to fight their braves.

60. Small Successes Early Based on the story of Old Grandfather who invented Clothing 61. Reality Check 62. Reality Check 63. Who Speaks for Wolf? Visual by www.PDIimages.com 64. Where can you find out more?

www.research.ibm.com/knowsoc/

Fog, K., Budtz, C., Yakaboylu, B. Storytelling: Branding in practice. Berlin: Springer, 2005.

Frey, J. How to Write a Damn Good Novel : A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling, New York: St. Martins Press, 1987.

De Geus, ArieThe living company: habits for survival in a turbulent business environment.Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1997.

Lawrence, D. and Thomas, J. Social Dynamics of Storytelling: Implications for Story-Base Design.AAAI Workshop on Narrative Intelligence, N. Falmouth, MA.November, 1999

65. Where can you find out more?

McKee, R. Story.New York: Harper/Collins, 1997.

Paulos, John Allen.Once upon a number: the hidden mathematical logic of stories.New York: Basic books, 1998.

Schank, R. C. Tell me a story: Narrative and intelligence. Evanston: Northwestern University, 1990.

Thomas, J. Narrative Technology in the New Millennium. Knowledge Management Journal.July, 1999.

Thomas, J. Stories, Storytelling and Human Computer Interaction.Human Factors and Ergonomic Society Special Interest Group on Computers Newsletter, July, 1999.

Turner, M. The literary mind.New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

66. Where can you find out more?

Thomas, J.C.; Danis, C. M.; Lee A. Who Speaks for Wolf? Report of the T.J. Watson Research Center. RC22644 (2002).

Pine, J. B. II & Gilmore, J. H.The experience economy: work is theatre and every business a stage.(1999).

Desurvire, H. & Thomas, J. C. Enhancing the performance of interface evaluators using non-empirical usability methods. InProceedings of the HFS 37 thAnnual Meeting.HFES: Santa Clara, CA, 1993.

Thomas, J. C., Kellogg, W. A. & Erickson, T. A. The knowledge management puzzle: human and social factors in knowledge management.IBM Systems Journal,40(4), 863-884, 2001.

67. Q & A?

Comments, questions, suggestions?

John C. Thomas[email_address]

www.watson.ibm.com/knowsoc /

www.truthtable.com

68. E.g. Washing Dishes

Hand Washing Duo

Rhythm required

Side by side confessional

Conversation OK

Team accomplishes the work

High shared stimulus context

Using Dishwasher

Rhythm not required

Unitary better

Conversation ?

Team or One prepares machine to accomplish the work

Moderate shared stimulus context

69. Fixing Dinner

Traditional cooking

Negotiation Required

High shared stimulus context (same meal)

Synchronous activity

Conversation likely

Microwave

No negotiation required (separate meals)

Asynchronous activity

Conversation less likely (person who is ready first starts some other activity)

70. Traditional Queue

Some shared context; however

Perceived as competition for limited resource (tickets may run out)

People in front are costing you time

Face to Back of Head orientation

Asynchronous movement reinforces individual identity (cf. rowing)

71. Vibrating Pager Queue

The obviousness of the competition has been greatly reduced

No requirement to face the same direction

Face to face interaction possible

Conversation is much more likely

72. Enhanced Telephone Help Desk Queue

Many more people need help solving technical problem than servers available

People describe problem

ASR used to group similar problems

People are bridged onto a conference call

Synthesis announces to group their areas of overlapping interest

Group may be able to solve the individual problems

When available, help first gives generic advice