UX newsletter — June 2019
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Message from the Editor
A few years back it seemed that the only systems that allowed speech input were phone based, like telephone banking or a cinema booking line. But without realising it, I now have a car, a TV set, a phone, a computer and an Alexa that all want me to issue commands via speech. Some do a better job of others but even the best is a long way from speaking to a human. Why is speech recognition so difficult? It's a complex topic so I'm pleased that Philip Hodgson is on hand this month to explain it.
Philip's article is the first of a 2-part article on speech recognition. I've often wanted to publish longer-form essays at the Userfocus web site and this is my attempt of trying it out. Let me know your thoughts about this longer format by replying to this email.
— David Travis
Although the performance of today's speech recognition systems is impressive, the experience for many is still one of errors, corrections, frustration and abandoning speech in favour of alternative interaction methods. We take a closer look at speech and find out why speech recognition is so difficult. Read the article in full: Talking to computers (part 1): Why is speech recognition so difficult?
In an ideal survey, each respondent interprets the question in the way we intended. But in reality, survey questions are misunderstood. Participants may find the answers hard to recall, difficult to estimate, and struggle to map their answer to the choices we provide. The cognitive interview provides a useful method to evaluate survey questions and remove these problems. Read the article in full: Using the cognitive interview to improve your survey questions.
What we’re reading
Some interesting UX-related articles that got our attention over the last month:
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Upcoming UX training courses and talks
I'll be talking about "The future of UX research and how to stop it". More information: Behaviour and Design Conference.
In this fun and hands-on training course, you'll practice all the key areas of UX — from interviewing your users through to prototyping and usability testing your designs — while you prepare for and take the BCS Foundation Certificate exam. Last few places. View the full syllabus: Foundation Certificate in User Experience.
UX quotation of the month
"If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner." — Tallulah Bankhead.
Did I mention I've published a book?
It's titled Think Like a UX Researcher. Grab your copy here.
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