Talk given at Rosenfeld's Advancing Research 2023 Conference looking at what can be learned from how Emmy Noether helped solve a problem with Einstein's Theory of General Relativity and how those lessons can be applied by User Experience Researchers today.

1. 1
What would Emmy
Noether do?
Math, models and mulling in UX Research
Advancing Research 2023
Jennifer Fraser
Image Source:
https://insidetheperimeter.ca/forces-of-nature-great-women-who-changed-science/

2. 2
Emily Noether - The Most Important Mathematician You’ve Never Heard Of
by Helaine Becker and Kari Rust

3. 3
Emily Noether - The Most Important Mathematician You’ve Never Heard Of
by Helaine Becker and Kari Rust

4. 4
Emily Noether - The Most Important Mathematician You’ve Never Heard Of
by Helaine Becker and Kari Rust

5. 5

6. IMPORTANCE OF STEPPING BACK
6
What is the system?

7. IMPORTANCE OF STEPPING BACK
7
What is the system? What are the ways of looking?

8. IMPORTANCE OF STEPPING BACK
8
What is the system? What are the ways of looking? What’s the bridge?

9. 9
Remember, always, that everything you know, and
everything everyone knows, is only a model.
Get your model out there where it can be viewed.
Invite others to challenge your assumptions and
add their own.
DONELLA MEADOWS
“

10. 10

11. 11
What is an ecosystem map?

12. Abstract Object
IMPORTANCE OF STEPPING BACK
12
Central Object
People
Abstract Object
Abstract Object
People
Physical Object

13. Abstract Object
IMPORTANCE OF STEPPING BACK
13
Central Object
People
Abstract Object
Abstract Object
People
Physical Object

14. Abstract Object
IMPORTANCE OF STEPPING BACK
14
Central Object
People
Abstract Object
Abstract Object
People
Physical Object

15. Abstract Object
IMPORTANCE OF STEPPING BACK
15
Central Object
People
Abstract Object
Abstract Object
People
Physical Object

16. Abstract Object
IMPORTANCE OF STEPPING BACK
16
Central Object
People
Abstract Object
Abstract Object
People
Physical Object

17. 17
But, wait…..
Isn’t that what a Journey Map or Service Design Blueprint does?of
IMPORTANCE OF STEPPING BACK

18. This is where ecosystem mapping can be used as a tool to
model the products and services on which we are working
so it can be viewed and co-created with others.
18
IMPORTANCE OF STEPPING BACK

19. 19
Emily Noether - The Most Important Mathematician You’ve Never Heard Of
by Helaine Becker and Kari Rust

20. 20
Remember, always, that everything you know, and
everything everyone knows, is only a model.
Get your model out there where it can be viewed.
Invite others to challenge your assumptions and
add their own.
DONELLA MEADOWS
“

21. BRIDGING BETWEEN DISCIPLINES
21
How we understand a problem
DATA MODEL
REAL WORLD
(SYSTEM)
Predict , Insights
Analyze and Synthesize
Choose and Extract

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BRIDGING BETWEEN DISCIPLINES

23. TWO LESSONS
1. Step back and look at the broader system
2. Bridge between disciplines
23

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How does this apply?

25. 25
CASE STUDY
Client

26. 26
Client
Existing Program
CASE STUDY

27. CASE STUDY
27
Youth Entrepreneur
Client
Existing Program
Technology
Business
$

28. 28
Youth Entrepreneur
Client
Existing Program
Technology
Funding Partners
$$$
Business
$
Support Network
Social Media &
Communications
Platform
CASE STUDY

29. CASE STUDY
29

30. 30
Youth Entrepreneur
Client
Existing Program
Technology
Funding Partners
$$$
Business
$
Support Network
Social Media &
Communications
Platform
CASE STUDY

31. 31
Youth Entrepreneur
Client
Existing Program
Technology
Funding Partners
$$$
Business
$
Support Network
Social Media &
Communications
Platform
Mentor
CASE STUDY

32. 32
Youth Entrepreneur
Client
Existing Program
Technology
Funding Partners
$$$
Business
$
Support Network
Social Media &
Communications
Platform
Mentor
CASE STUDY

33. 33
Where does this leave us?

34. 34

35. TWO LESSONS
1. Step back and look at the broader system
2. Bridge between disciplines
35

36. 36
ASK YOURSELF
WWEND?
Image Source:
https://insidetheperimeter.ca/forces-of-nature-great-women-who-changed-science/

37. REFERENCES
37
Calling Bullshit - The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World
Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West
Emily Noether - The Most Important Mathematician You’ve Never Heard Of
Helaine Becker and Kari Rust
Proving it Her Way - Emmy Noether, A Life in Mathematics
David Rowe and Mechthild Koreuber
The Signal and Noise
Nate Silver
The Model Thinker
Scott Page
Thinking in Systems
Donella Meadows
Thank you.

38. REFERENCES
38
Calling Bullshit - The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World
Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West
Emily Noether - The Most Important Mathematician You’ve Never Heard Of
Helaine Becker and Kari Rust
Proving it Her Way - Emmy Noether, A Life in Mathematics
David Rowe and Mechthild Koreuber
The Signal and Noise
Nate Silver
The Model Thinker
Scott Page
Thinking in Systems
Donella Meadows
Thank you.
#opentowork
#lookingforanewleadershiprole

39. 39
Appendix

40. 40
What is an ecosystem map?:
An ecosystem map is a depiction of the relationships
(connections) between animate (people, animals, plants)
objects and/or physical or abstract objects, that exist
within a system (business context).
The objects might be people, technology or tools, and the
relationships (connection) represent some type of value
exchange, such as sharing information or data.
IMPORTANCE OF STEPPING BACK

41. 41
But, wait…..
Isn’t that what a Journey Map or Service Design Blueprint
does?
The difference between ecosystem maps and those two
tools is the difference between looking at relationships
within a system (ecosystem mapping) and flows within
parts of that system (journey maps and service
blueprints).
Journey Maps and Service Blueprints are complementary
and overlapping visualizations of aspects of an ecosystem.
IMPORTANCE OF STEPPING BACK

42. 42
Ecosystem mapping enables us to get our model out
there where it can be viewed. We can Invite others to
challenge our assumptions and add their own.
It supports conversations to gain alignment among
stakeholders and colleagues, provides insights into
weaknesses and strengths in the ecosystem, and identifies
opportunities for improvement, collaboration and
innovation, in both the current state, and in an imagined
future state ecosystem.
BRIDGING BETWEEN DISCIPLINES