ericsson user research

At Ericsson...

I spent the summer learning through a hands on process, how to develop user research protocols at a large company. I worked with other researchers to develop a research question to explore potential use cases for using metadata to enable a more interactive video experience. This internship had two goals: (1) understand what users want when it comes to their video experience and (2) help establish the first internal user research protocols within Ericsson Research.

Taking a Step Back

Initially the plan for my summer internship project was to user test a platform to understand what types of video content users like and dislike. The assumption was that by understanding this, researchers could understand what particular metadata could be programmed to automatically block or blur content during certain video scenes. The problem with this was, first, the platform didn’t exist, and second, did users even want their content to be automatically blocked?

Reframing the Problem and Identifying our Research Question

After realizing our need to reframe our initial inquiry, we performed a literature review around video media, parental controls, and exposure to video content. We then identified our research question: “When, why, and how do people seek, avoid, and attempt to control video content?”

Defining our Constraints and Methods

I worked with our research team to help define our constraints (such as time and resources) and weigh the pros and cons of different methods, ways to recruit and pay participants, and logistics and legality of collecting data. We decided an internal participants study using exploratory user interviews, and an internal reward system was the best way to collect the most valuable data with the resources we had. I created a recruitment screener survey, consent forms, and a semi-structured interview questionnaire to address our research question.

Collecting our Data

Data was collected by a semi-structured interview process. Interviewees were recruited internally within Ericsson using a screener-survey. The screener-survey was a pre-selection survey that allowed us to recruit and diversify participants selected for interviewing. We interviewed 10 participants, transcribed their recordings. Each interview session was 60 minutes. The interview addressed both short form video (less than 10 minutes) and long form video (over 10 minutes) from any source (YouTube, Instagram, Netflix, Hulu, etc.). 

Thematic Analysis

Interview data was coded using five preconceived categories stemming from our original research question. Two unexpected categories emerged: internal conflicting behavior and context changes behavior. Using thematic analysis, these eight categories were further analyzed for reoccurring topics and themes.

Findings

What we found suggests that there is a complex and dynamic interaction to how people seek, avoid, and attempt to control the video media they see. Factors such as the user's current physical location, social relationships, social obligations, parenting styles, and context such as video storyline can affect whether the user wants to expose themselves to certain content at that time. 

Since what the user desires and is willing to watch changes depending on this interplay of factors, it is difficult to concretely and automatically define video content as liked or disliked.

Impact

These findings helped Ericsson to modify long term research goals focusing on novel technology development around video. This research also helped to promote further investment into human-computer interaction research within the department.

You can read more in the articles and paper linked below: 

• Ericsson Blog: User Study for Media Metadata
• Ericsson Blog: UX Intern in Silicon Valley

Writing about the work was published in the human-factors in computing conference (CHI) under the title "'I don't need to see that': Seeking, Avoiding, and Attempting to Control Video Content" in April 2018.

A side project

Alongside the main UX research project, I participated in Ericsson's intern project as a project manager. We explored how we can apply technology to tackle one of the United Nation's 17 sustainability goals. 

We explored design methods such as "how might we..." statements, brainstorming exercises, problem mapping, and stakeholder analysis to create a technology solution for goal #12: Responsible Consumption and Production. 

Our team consisted of interns located in California, Texas, New Jersey, and Canada.