UX Research and Project Management
Improving The Federal Telehealth Website
The federal Telehealth website launched as a response to Covid-19 pandemic in order to provide medical practitioners and patients best practices for how to take advantage of telemedicine. I was brought into the site’s operations team in September of 2022, and I was able to design, pitch, and execute 13 qualitative UX research studies that produced artifacts like user personas and user journeys to help designers and developers understand user needs and patterns, while also testing design prototypes and refining issues uncovered through the monitoring of site analytics. The insights I produced were essential to the redesign of event calendars, best practice guides, and research archives, but my most impactful contribution was helping redesign the information architecture for the site’s patient facing content.
Understanding anonymous users: Web Design and User Experiences
I use natural language processing and graphing libraries to transform discussion threads and user interactions into user personas that help structure qualitative analysis. I present this research in my dissertation project as simple and intuitive visualizations to propose more transparent and accessible platform design standards. See a published version of my research by clicking below.
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For 7-years, users in the thread Search for the last Big Secret: Mysteries of Shadow of the Colossus discussed how to find a videogame easter egg that never really existed. I wanted to know why they did so for so long; I hypothesized the vertical design of the PlayStation forum thread was at fault. I used open-source text processing libraries in Python to transform a massive discussion thread into a data set to study how users communicated with each other.
Outcome : By graphing thousands of user interactions I was able to see how the intake of new users in the thread drowned out the discussion of its most constant participants. These users figured out the secret, but the design of the thread didn’t allow them to productively let others know. My findings were peer-reviewed and published in the journal Communication+1.
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In 2015, a protest started by a Facebook group forced the corrupt president of Guatemala to resign. Since then, the group has failed to maintain momentum, and I wanted to know why. I used open-source web-scraping libraries in Python to transform the Guatemalan Facebook-based #JusticiaYa activist group into a data-set to study how social media platform design educated its political strategy.
Outcome : Using graphing libraries to facilitate qualitative analysis, I found that the group’s attempts to promote political engagement were undermined by Facebook’s own definition of user engagement. #JusticiaYa had to address its audience in the terms dictated by Facebook’s suggestion algorithm, and did so at the expense of its goals.
Understanding pain points in registration processes: The Chicago Humanities Initiative
The Northwestern Center of Civic Engagement developed a practical training program to help students in academia get training outside of the classroom. Despite solving a critical problem, the program did not receive the number of applications it expected. I was tasked with understanding the problem, and generating tangible solutions.
Overall Outcome: By developing a better understanding of recurring user pain points in the program registration process through qualitative research, the CCE was able to adjust the process and succesfully increase the conversation rate of students interested and registered to the program. A brief account of my research methods are below.
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First, I reviewed the department’s catalogue of exit interviews to better understand how previous programs had met the needs of different student segments. I used this to develop user-personas to guide my research and expand the student segments the program aimed to target.
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I sat in during information sessions to take notes of recurring questions and problems that came organically as students discussed the program and their ability to register. Coding the data and organizing it through affinity diagram workshops with stakeholders, I produced an FAQ page for the program and identified possible paint points to explore in further research
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Recruiting students that had demonstrated interest in the program but had not completed their application, I used a TEDW format to develop interview questions that would help flesh out our understanding of pain points in the registration process. Users got some coffee, I got some insight on key issues: 1. Departmental permissions differ by major, so the registration process was too variable. 2. International students were unsure of their work permission while attending university. 3. Information sessions took too long for already hectic graduate student schedules.
The 2021 International Rhetoric Workshop
I was the lead administrator of this international academic workshop aimed at strengthening the networks and reach of early-career non-Western scholars. Held remotely and in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, our program offered professional development and mentorship opportunities to scholars across the world. I managed the organization’s finances, procured our international partners, designed our graphic materials, and developed the 2021 programming.
The Global Rhetoric Podcast
I worked as producer and co-host of this podcast series that aims to amplify the work and networks of underrepresented rhetoricians around the globe. I wrote and produced the theme song and soundtrack, wrote scripts and hosted episodes, and produced and published episodes across its first season.