FAQs – Rachel M. Murray Design

faq

Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about myself.

		What associations do you belong to?
		I belong to the Information Architecture Institute, the Interaction Design Association, and BayCHI, the Bay Area chapter of the Computer-Human-Interaction Association. I’m also branching out into non-design related organizations in the Bay Area.
		Are you available for contract work? I have a small web site…
		I’m actively looking for full time work or contract work. Feel free to contact me via email to discuss user experience as well as sustainability consulting- I don’t mind advising or providing some direction to people, especially small businesses and non-profits. If you are looking for an IA or UX designer, try the following organizations (all links open in a new window) in general: the Information Architecture Institute Job Board , the Interaction Design Association Discussion list (where you can post jobs), or your local CHI chapter. in the San Francisco Bay Area: the BayCHI Job Bank in Toronto: the UX Irregulars Group (links to their Google groups), or Toronto Interacts (formally the Toronto User Experience Association).
		How did you get started in user experience design? I see you took…philosophy in university.
		Here’s the story. While working as an information management consultant, I attended a presentation about taxonomies. As part of my job was to build file plans for how people can better file their papers – and these file plans are essentially taxonomies. I started researching about taxonomies the day after that presentation; while I’m very glad to have learnt about Information Management, I found that the problems in an discipline are more than just managing information or organizing or ‘architecting’ information – it’s about designing a user experience with that information, to solve the user’s problems. The tools, methodologies and medium of delivery must all serve that aim – designing a superior user experience. I didn’t realize that that was what this discipline was called at the time, because it hadn’t been invented.Eventually we’d recognize it as user experience design – but the path that lead me there (through the jungle of information management, down a path of information architecture) make me absolutely sure of my destination. Philosophy – studying the love of wisdom – means honing one’s critical thinking abilities, and I can’t think of a better background of understanding experience than understanding how we know what that experience is, and should be.
		What’s the difference between User Experience and Information Architecture? I’ve never heard of User Experience Design
		Glad you asked. Take a look around my site – if you don’t understand something, I’d be more than happy to explain it or to point you in the right direction. I’m working on a ‘dejargonizing’ page explaining these concepts. There is no one ‘book of user experience design’, but I can happily point you in the right direction.

		What are some of your favourite Web sites?
		Here’s a quick rundown. All links open in a new window artist: still deciding – definitely someone more modern contemporary and multidisciplinary (like Olafur Eliasson) film: Fargo, film noir, independent, La Faut a Fidel, Mike Leigh’s ‘Naked’ – and Babe. font: Currently Georgia for the body text, Sketchetica for the headers musician: the Kills, the White Stripes, and other bands with more than 2 members Web site: too many to mention – here are a few: Flickr (for the community experience and feature set – this is my account) Nice Cup Of Tea And A Sitdown (for the tone) Scrapblog (for the ability to try things out) Slideshare (for the community and functionality) This Next (for the discovery) Yoox (for the ecommerce experience)
		Do you do anything that’s not related to sitting in front of a computer? (question symbolically submitted by my mother)
		Ironically enough, yes. I go to various local groups out here in the Bay Area – some professional (like BayCHI), some not related to my profession at all (Peninsula Peace and Justice Center events, a local Craftster group, the Bay Area Bertrand Russell Society, the monthly Socrates Cafe group, and the expat Canucks in the Bay Area group). There’s never a shortage of things to do out here in the Bay Area- the trick is, of course, to keep track of them. Luckily I subscribe to a bunch of feeds that keep me in the loop, and I let people know what I’m attending via upcoming.org.
		I see you’ve listed going to Burning Man on your ‘Woman’ biography page as ‘one of your interests’. I didn’t take you for the naked hippie stoner type. Is it as trippy as everyone says it is?
		Yes, it’s a bit trippy; no, there aren’t quite as many ‘naked hipped stoner types’, and yes, feel free to ask me questions regarding my experience, which was a blast. I go primarily for the art – honest.
		I see you’re Canadian – do you know my friend Bob from Canada?
		Probably not, although you never know. I don’t, however, know any Bobs or any of them from Canada. Contrary to public belief, Canadians don’t all know each other (it being the second largest country in the world and all, and a population of 30 million and growing). Having said that, yes, the Bay Area has a large concentration of Canadians, some of which I know and hang out with. A good organization for Canadians in the Bay Area is the Digital Moose Lounge.