In this presentation for the Symposium on Communicating Complex Information (http://workshop.design4complexity.com/home.php), we present an argument for "design workflow virtualization." This is a fancy term for processes for including globally dispersed and culturally diverse stakeholders within UX design projects.

1. DESIGNING
GLOBALLY, THINKING
LOCALLY: AN
ARGUMENT FOR
DESIGN WORKFLOW
VIRTUALIZATION
Guiseppe Getto
gettog@ecu.edu
Kirk St.Amant
stamantk@ecu.edu
East Carolina
University

2. WHAT WE’LL COVER
 The State of Global UX Research
 What Is “Design Workflow Virtualization?”
 From Global Users to Local Stakeholders
 Implications

3. STATE OF GLOBAL UX RESEARCH
 User-Centered Design (UCD)
 “To maximize the usability of a product, the user should be involved
from the product’s inception.” – Courage and Baxter
 Design as requirements gathering followed by iteration
 UCD paradigm does not go far enough towards including users
within actual design processes – Sharon, Buley, Getto
 User Experience Design (UX) as contextual, participatory design
 Persona (or archetypal user) development
 Design process is built from “user’s own goals and measures” –
http://uxdesign.com

4. STATE OF GLOBAL UX RESEARCH, 2
 Problems when addressing international users
 The problem of “factoid-based” design – Axtel
 The issue of context of use and adaptive technology – van Reijswold
 Not localization but transcreation – Schaeler
 Designing with internati onal users
 Requires a new set of considerations – Ghemawat; Quesenbery&Szu; Sun; Rau,
Plocher, &Choong
 Many (most?) large-scale product deployments in the West rely on solely Western
user bases
 Designers should thus “localize” their research methodologies – Sun
 Response of UX designers in the West to localization is persona development
 But does this process rely on a Westernized notion of individuality (an individual
represents the whole)? When does persona development stop?

5. “DESIGN WORKFLOW
VIRTUALIZATION?”
 “Workflow virtualization”: distributed work of any kind in a
virtual environment (e.g. outsourcing)
 Tax prep work
 Medical records processing
 Basic legal brief processing
 “Design workflow virtualization”: distributed design work in a
virtual environment (e.g. code, interface design, user research,
user testing, etc.)
 Examples
 Github
 Usertesting.com
 Treejack

6. “DESIGN WORKFLOW
VIRTUALIZATION?”, 2
http://www.optimalworkshop.com/treejack.htm

7. “DESIGN WORKFLOW
VIRTUALIZATION?”, 2
 What is the need?
 International online access
 Global deregulation of professions/services
 Offshoring markets (cheaper, faster, and better?)
 International online markets and storefronts
 On-site transcreationand more . . .

8. FROM GLOBAL USERS TO LOCAL
STAKEHOLDERS
 “Design locally, think globally” becomes “design
globally, think locally”
 Cultural issues: what are the assumptions, values, and practices
that international users bring with them into online environments?
 Technological issues: what tools, skills, resources, and preferences
do users bring with them?
 Global issues: what large-scale contexts, environments, and
architectures are users accustomed to operating in?
 Local issues: what micro-level contexts, environments, and
interfaces are users accustomed to?

9. IMPLICATIONS
(Getto 2014)

10. FROM GLOBAL USERS TO LOCAL
STAKEHOLDERS, 2
 Question from before: when does persona development stop?
 Qi, the busy international student enrolled in an accelerated summer
writing course, version 1
 Cultural issues: truly valued and wanted to learn digital technologies; unafraid of
trying them out; from a province in China that had successfully blocked access to
most social media platforms
 Technological issues: very proficient in Standard Edited American English; also
proficient in several digital technologies (e.g. QQ, HTML, etc.); preferred to
communicate in SEAE in school settings
 Global issues: used to dealing with multiple digital platforms at once; multi -tasker
 Local issues: very outspoken student in class; seemed trusted by other students;
was often the first to present problems others were having; taking multiple
accelerated classes at once

11. FROM GLOBAL USERS TO LOCAL
STAKEHOLDERS, 3
 Question from before: when does persona development stop?
 Qi, the team leader, version X
 Cultural issues: was an early adopter of all technologies I introduced;
very critical of attempts to block citizen access to technology
 Technological issues: introduced QQ as a way for student teams in the
class to collaborate in a bi-lingual and networked space
 Global issues: helpful with improving overall class workflow
 Local issues: became a kind of student representative for
technological and linguistic issues his peers were having

12. FROM GLOBAL USERS TO LOCAL
STAKEHOLDERS. 4
 Answer: persona development should never stop
 Fold international users into UX processes when they are potential
end-users
 UX methods are messy, but that’s okay – Sharon
 Personas as “archetypal users” (i.e. subject positions) – Turner,
Quesenbery, Foucault
 UX strategy vs. simple iteration
 Discussion guide (collection of personas) OR other deliverables as
living documents/containers of an ongoing investigation

13. IMPLICATIONS
 Achieving cheaper, faster, and better with UX methods (airfare
vs. using an ICT)
 Accessing international co -workers and clients successfully
 Increasing global participation in markets
 Expanding education on an international (and bi -directional)
level
 Avoiding (hopefully) international legal issues

14. THINGS FOR DISCUSSION
 Topics for future research
 Opportunities in education
 Roles of different fields/professions
 Skills for addressing situations