Collecting User Information On A Limited Budget

Monday, May 8

It is vitally important for us to know the end-users of our products (who are they? what do they expect? what do they want?). How do we obtain the answers to our questions, especially when the research budget is limited? There are many methods available, but how do we use them most effectively?

How can we recognize and take advantage of opportunities for collecting user information, such as at conferences and exhibitions? How represen- tative are the users who attend these events?The aim of this workshop is to investigate and propose methods for collecting user information without a large market research budget. We will brainstorm methods of collecting information and participate in an information-gathering exercise during the CHI '95 conference. The exercise will be the definition of user profiles for a hypothetical new product for usability professionals, and will take advantage of the large target market segment represented at CHI '95. The skills learned during the workshop will be valid for any product requiring information about end-users, not only computer products.

Special note: In addition to meeting on Monday, the workshop will reconvene on the last day of the conference at a time and place to be announced.

This one-day workshop is limited to 20 participants.

Contact:

Alison Popowicz
Network Usability Group
Grenoble Networks Division
Hewlett-Packard France
5 avenue Raymond Chanas, Eybens, 38053
Grenoble CEDEX 9 France
E-mail: alison_popowicz@grenoble.hp.com
Tel: +33 76 62 55 43 
Fax: +33 76 62 52 00 or +33 76 62 15 08