• Class: How to run your own DIY usability tests with Loop11 and usertesting.com Apr 12, 2013Looks like a cool online class for using usertesting.com and Loop11 by Eddie James who is located in Orlando but of course that doesn’t matter. Class is free and really what the heck might as well. Check out the info on Meetup.com.
• Holy Shit WebRTC Hits Mobile Feb 15, 2013For any fellow remote mobile research nerds, this is huge news. The upcoming spec for WebRTC that allows peer-to-peer video and eventually screen-sharing is working on Android and iOS in development versions of FireFox. What this means is that in the near future apps like, ahem, ethnio, will be able to easily allow for webcam ...
• How I recruited 150 users in 24 hours by Virginia Cagwin Feb 1, 2013Pretty awesome and detailed write-up on the process of recruiting and interviewing 15 participants using Skype and Ethn.io. Thanks Virginia for the kind words and so glad remote methods worked well for you.
• A Practical Guide: How to Interview and Observe Customers Remotely Nov 5, 2012 Attempting to gather customer feedback remotely can be scary (Halloween is over, I know). Thankfully, there are many tools out there that make remote user experience research simple and less intimidating to both the company looking for feedback and the customers giving the feedback. These tools can be found on the Tools section of RemoteResear.ch. Today we ...
• Brand = Experience Oct 23, 2012We love the recent article, “UX: The New Brand Leaders” on JohnnyHolland by Andrew Heaton. It’s true that brands are more and more influenced by the experience users feel when using a product or service. The success of companies or products no longer are dependent solely on the direct outcomes of using a product or service. Not to say ...
• Rad… Rapid User Research: 400 responses, 10 interviews, 3 days, and $525 Sep 21, 2012Michael Margolis, UX Research Partner at Google Ventures wrote a lovely article recently about a recent project he worked on. His goal was seemingly simple: interview users of a new product and gather interesting and detailed data. This was all to be done within a few days. His 3-step strategy was to first look at product reviews, and existing ...
• The Anatomy of a Recruiting Tweet (for User Research) Aug 29, 2012Turns out there are more and more ways to recruit research participants from Twitter, and when you @reply someone, there is a real art to making sure they don’t think you are a spammer and click through to your totally legit research link. Here is an image from my presentation at UX Week 2012 that ...
• Moderator Script: UX phone interview Jul 31, 2012When preparing to conduct a remote UX study, we all know there’s a lot of planning that needs to take place before actually speaking with a participant. Here, we provide and example of a Moderator script template that can be used when conducting remote UX sessions with participants. The importance of having a thoroughly thought ...
• Webvisions Barcelona Jul 5, 2012Holy crap Barcelona is a beautiful city. Excited to be here for Webvisions Barcelona. For attendees and any random folks stumbling on this post somehow, here are both the slides and Remote Research workshop binder. If you’re taking the workshop, the binder is especially important. The Workshop Binder (all excercises) (300kb PDF) Slides from the whole workshop (Speakerdeck)
• Goals and Objectives Jun 28, 2012Communication between client and researcher and/or designer is extremely important for any remote or in-person research project. This “Kick-off Agenda” as we call it, is a simple layout that touches on certain aspects of initial communication and understanding that is key to the launching point of a project. Specifically, the Goals & Objectives section is ...
• UX Lisbon 2012 Workshop May 16, 2012Excited to be at the impeccably planned UX Lisbon, and for the attendees and any random folks stumbling on this post somehow, here are both the slides and workshop binder. If you’re taking the workshop, the binder is especially important. The Workshop Binder (all excercises) (300kb PDF) Slides from the whole workshop (Speakerdeck)
• Combining In-Person & Remote Research on UX Mag May 8, 2012The fine folks at UX Magazine have posted this article  on combining in-person methods with remote research methods by Sabine Idler of our friends at Usabilla. Hello there our favorite topic! The summary of the article is that you get benefits to each method by combining, but I’d argue that the real benefits come from combining moderated ...
• Excel Timecode Engine May 3, 2012When recording remote sessions, it can sometimes be tricky to keep track of all those juicy findings, synch them up to your video, and keep everything in context. There’s nothing worse than not being able to locate that one great thing you remember your user saying! So to help you along with that, we’re sharing ...
• Woah! Remote Usability Recording on iOS Devices. With an SDK. Apr 30, 2012The long-awaited remote recording of app interactions on iOS devices may be getting closer. A Y Combinator(?) company, delight.io (site’s down as of Apr 30th), released this video which shows a recording using their SDK. Now it’s important to explain what this means is that you have to build their SDK into your app to ...
• Tablet remote usability testing at Mozilla Apr 27, 2012Our friend Diane Loviglio over at Mozilla posted this pretty helpful guide to how they test tablets over there. They offer up some cool variations on the hugging technique that MailChimp uses, so check out the full article over on Mozilla’s blog.  
• Irvine, California Remote Testing Meetup April 24th Apr 13, 2012On Tuesday, April 24th, there is a free meetup by the Orange County User Experience group called “Remote Testing Methods, Tools & Best Practices.” It’s put on by a number of different folks, some of whom make UserZoom. Like with any of these talks, including our own, it’s always a good idea to keep in ...
• Mobile Remote Testing with Reflection Mar 29, 2012There is a new app called Reflection that lets you easily mirror from a 4S or iPad 2+ to an OSX computer. That’s a big deal because 1) it’s gorgeous 2) it’s wireless, and 3) you can screen record. Using this in conjunction with GoToMeeting or Skype, as long as you have a participant with ...
• IA Summit ’12 Workshop Mar 21, 2012Thanks to everyone who is attending my workshop at the Information Architecture Summit in New Orleans. You’ll want to do two things as an attendee: 1. Download the binder with excercises 2. Reference the slides (below) if you like    
• Six Benefits of Remote Usability Testing Mar 5, 2012The folks over at Normal Modes have posted this handy quick summary of, well, you guessed it. Six benefits of remote usability testing. Here’s the quick list and click on through to the article for the details: Ease of recruiting & convenience for participants Geographic diversity in participants Lower no-show rate Lower overall costs  All the access of traditional testing A ...
• Why AirPlay Mirroring is the Biggest Thing to Happen to User Research in 2011 Nov 5, 2011The problem with doing any mobile device observation is there is no way to see what’s on-screen without an awkward camera or physically looking at the device’s screen. That sucks because there is usually a participant who is right there trying to use their phone or device. And it also means they can’t walk around ...