Keynote from 2012 Taxonomy Bootcamp in Washington DC.

1. improving
information
interactions
Taxonomy Boot Camp
October 16th, 2012
@samanthastarmer

2. taxonomies &
experience
design

3. first, thank you!

4. great excuse

5. me
NEW – VP Multichannel Commerce Experience - Razorfish
Director, Customer Experience - REI
Microsoft, Amazon
Teach at University of Washington
Master’s of Library and Information Science

6. show of hands…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ducdigital/3011652637

7. when you think
of design, how
many of you
think of this?

9. or this?

11. do you
think…

12. i do not wear black
turtlenecks;
therefore i am not
a designer?

13. all of you are
designers

14. you design information interactions…

15. “interaction is a kind of
action that occurs as
two or more objects
have an effect upon
one another.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interaction

16. “…communication of any sort”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/baggyjumper/6635779085

17. you all design
interactions &
experiences

18. but designing
good
experiences is
getting harder

19. “information is blurring the
lines between products and
services to create multi-
channel, cross-platform,
trans-media, physico-digital
user experiences”
Peter Morville

20. ????

21. let’s tell a story…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sugarpond/3016905349

22. july 19, 6am

23. it started as a good day

24. and then…

25. kaboom
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amishpatel/4803420473

26. my car

27. his car

28. and yes…

29. the cop car
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillygwailo/5617660719

30. oh crap

31. just don’t do it again
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rootology/2767323250/

32. need to get car out of road

33. so sad – collision repair
http://www.carstar.com/files/6uiyw73inwb3f999189vjwzsyjpv7o09.jpg

34. this is why I
have insurance

36. two hours later – ow.

37. good, they have an app

38. can’t get in

39. okay, trying the website

40. arrrrgh

41. damn, have to talk to a human

42. “go to Valley Medical Center”

43. we can’t help
you

44. “oops”

45. THIS Valley Medical Center
http://cdn.assets.sites.launchrocketship.com/7a019f65-a5c3-4d32-930
0640affd6f7b/files/de97003a-2719-4f24-bf02-3771bcfd0a72/zvm-east_exterior-afternoo

46. five days
later…

47. oh, that’s helpful

48. the paperwork begins

49. my friend, the fax machine

50. a flurry of mail

51. from all different people

52. confusing mail

53. over three months later

54. insurance was supposed
to pay this…

55. we can’t help

56. crap, i better pay

57. silence
silence

58. four months later

59. six months later

60. more
silence

61. march

62. since then,
only
silence

63. thanks a bunch.
Ta

64. talk about an
information
interaction
problem…

65. lesson?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pjern/2150873799

66. holistic
information
experience
interactions

68. digital & physical are colliding

69. even for luddites

70. technology is ubiquitous
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmh650/4519811399

71. for all ages – the young
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wickedboy007/5172798292

72. and the old

73. digital integrated in physical lives
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aleksiaaltonen/4791533886
k

74. track digital likes of item
Brazilian Fashion Designer C&A: http://zapp5.staticworld.net/images/article/2012/05/fashion20like-11356673.jpg

75. fridge alarm to social media
Virtual Fridge Lock: http://www.bangstyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/e06fc2b0a04a0b1f4c0ad1bc21bcf820-621x465.jpg

76. physical hug from a like
Like-a-Hug: http://www.melissakitchow.com/#Like-A-Hug

77. “…predictable pathways
of information are
changing: the physical
world itself is becoming
a type of information
system.”
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/The_Internet_of_Things_2538

78. just going to increase

80. “The future…belongs to
brands that create the
best customer
experiences across all
channels.”
Toys”R”Us Chairman and CEO Jerry Storch

82. (and here is our
opportunity)

83. ‘integrated
experiences
are
few and far
between’
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino
http://www.slideshare.net/designswarm/creating-the-internet-of-things

84. people notice lack of integration
This experience has been so stupid.
There is no way to explain the huge gap
between operations in the store and
online. I will never be shopping at
either again. I do not understand how
you can want and advertise 100%
customer satisfaction when I know I am
0% satisfied.
REI customer comment

85. at home desktop
consumers need to research,
interact, and communicate
seamlessly between all channels,
laptop
fax
devices, and environments.
in the office
phone in the car

86. Andrew Hinton
http://www.slideshare.net/andrewhinton/linkosophy2-ebai

87. we need to design seamless
experiences

88. that integrate digital & physical
http://www.petapixel.com/2010/05/24/museum-of-london-releases-augmented-reality-app-for-historical-photos/

89. what does this
mean?

90. idly flipping – oh, cheap TV

91. can I buy it locally?

92. gotta buy something for me

93. cool

94. all set

95. here we are

96. picking up in store…

97. oh god, Christmas

98. but I have my list!

99. and it tells me where!

100. a little hard to see…

101. but it worked!

102. seamless
experiences
and
interactions
don’t happen
by magic

103. information is the
foundation
http://www.flickr.com/photos/saroy/34554645

104. “we can see now that
information is what our
world runs on: the blood
and the fuel, the vital
principle."
James Gleick
The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood

105. it drives our interactions
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cargill/2831504796

106. across brands
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chadmagiera/6831610910; http://www.flickr.com/photos/24778615@N08/4904858624/

107. across companies

108. through space and time

109. and with each other
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kamshots/1411535817

110. but it isn’t easy…

111. shh…
I’m going to
show you

112. organizational underpants
http://www.flickr.com/photos/practicalowl/1423935574

113. ad: volkl rtm 84/ipt wide ride

114. let’s look on the site

115. search volkl rtm 84 - nada

116. search volkl wide ride - nope

117. pop up ad – I need a bike

118. but where’s the bike?

119. how about this nice tent

120. same item, different info
sign
catalog
site

121. and more different info
eMail
site
in-store product handout
product tag advertising

122. whoops

123. everyone is
struggling

124. here is Nordstrom

125. and my mom

126. it’s her favorite store

127. they have navigation

128. categorization

129. labeling

130. sounds like
taxonomy
stuff, huh?

131. mom’s favorite department

132. but…

133. no encore

134. but they have plus sized clothes

135. lots of them

136. and they are tagged encore

137. mom was sad

138. so what do we do?

140. design holistic,
interactive experiences
that satisfy whenever,
however, and wherever
our users need
information

141. we are the right people!

142. information is the bridge
http://www.flickr.com/photos/the-o/330134132

143. information needs
to be organized
across touchpoints,
channels, mediums
& devices

145. start now
1. open your eyes
2. get outside your box
3. create the vision
4. bridge between silos

146. 1. open your eyes

147. notice the world around you

148. where does info help?

149. where is it missing?

150. is it confusing?

151. is the terminology helpful?

152. is it wrong?
or right?

153. does digital & physical match?

154. do all touch points match?

155. how would taxonomies help?

156. 2. get outside your box
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaboobie/4756495600

157. don’t hide in spreadsheets

158. holistic
experiences

159. can’t be created in a vacuum
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seandreilinger/316273612

160. you don’t have
to be an expert

161. from one of my employees
“an interesting thing
happened today – we were
invited to help Visual Merch
decide what shelf labels to
use in the retail stores .”

162. eek – I don’t know store design
http://www.twobackpackers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/REI-Backpacks.jpg

163. my employee was smarter
“an interesting thing happened
today – we were invited to help
Visual Merch decide what shelf
labels to use in the retail stores .”
“This is a great win for us”

164. get out of your cube

165. go to another department

166. immerse in the physical

167. even try it yourself

168. 3. create the vision
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pasukaru76/3998273279

169. know the big picture
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aatemu/4784742636/

170. when is physical important?
Trying on tent
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hollabackpack/184849492

171. what makes people happy?

172. create a story of the vision
Meet Aaron
Outdoor Loyal
31, Chicago
Weekend warrior
involved in many sports,
knows a lot about gear,
and loves to research
“I push myself in work
and play and need my
gear to keep up with me”

173. illustrate information needs
I’ll visit REI for gear suggestions for my upcoming race…

174. showcase end results
Here is my bike research list…

175. (remember it’s
about the results,
not a pristine
taxonomy)

176. 4. bridge between silos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/5500714140

177. people keep
pretending they can
make things deeply
hierarchical,
categorizable and
sequential when
they can't.
Everything is deeply
intertwingled.
Ted Nelson

178. everything is connected
via Peter Morville
http://www.slideshare.net/morville/ubiquitous-ia

179. information needs to bridge

180. BE the bridge
http://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/5500714140

181. between
digital and
physical

182. between
services and
products

183. between
people and
departments

184. leave the computer

185. share your work

186. learn from others’ work

187. plan together

188. work together
UX Mag

189. design together

190. start now
1. open your eyes
2. get outside your box
3. create the vision
4. bridge between silos

191. one last
thing…

192. consumers cited their greatest
frustration as when the
experience does not match the
promise a company made to
them up front.
The New Realities of “Dating” in the Digital Age: Are Customers Really Cheating, or Are You Just
Not Paying Enough Attention?
Accenture 2011 Global
Consumer Research Study

193. executives care about this

194. entire industries are in
their customer experience
infancy
(…health insurance, TV service, Internet
Service providers, PC manufacturers,
wireless service providers, airlines and credit
card providers)
2011, Forrester Research, Inc.

195. get yourself a raise
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68751915@N05/6355231757

196. get a seat at the strategy table
http://media.nara.gov/media/images/29/4/29-0378a.gif

197. remember…

198. you are ALL designers

199. be an information hero
http://www.flickr.com/photos/baking_in_pearls/3960662314

200. thank you!!
Samantha Starmer
@samanthastarmer
starmer@gmail.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/baking_in_pearls/3960662314