Naomi Wu

Growing up in Silicon Valley – constantly surrounded by computerese and guided by peers and parents alike down the track of engineering – has prepared me for life in the technology industry. However, I never felt this was the path for me. Only in the last few years have I discovered that user experience would be the perfect blend of what I was brought up with – engineering and technology – and what I hope to do – expressing creativity and designing.

Since childhood, a favorite activity has been to go around surveying friends and family. Throughout my academic career, I have learned to hone and develop this hobby, transforming it into a profession. Now as I enter the workforce, I step into the research industry feeling prepared and well-equipped, having fostered this interest through theoretical knowledge. Not only has academia has taught me theories that will lay the foundation for forming properly reasoned decisions and solutions, but it has prepared me for the process of research – I am proficient in planning and proposing, carrying out, and presenting studies.

I am well-rehearsed in research methods, whether it be qualitative or quantitative. Qualitative user interviews – while difficult to generalize to a population – are more in-depth, leading to a better understanding of personal ideas. Such individual opinions are necessary when formulating solutions for a minority population, like older users of technology, for example. Quantitative research such as quick polls or surveys enables pattern finding and correlational regressions, allowing improvement suggestions that may be implemented for a more general population.

Working with Bookboost introduced me to the hospitality industry; interviewing hotel staff and guests allowed me to glean insight on the hotels' aims, the guests' goals, and the gap between the two parties. I gained valuable experience utilizing my theoretical know-how in a practical situation. For instance, traveling can be a fun, albeit stressful, journey which can be made easier with technological intervention. Guests no longer want to trek to the lobby to seek the concierge when most things – ordering food, paying bills, opening a bank account – can be done on the phone. While the obvious response would be to convert the guests' voyage to the mobile via text messaging solution, creating such an artifact is no simple feat. The placement of the artifact on the hotel website, the color of the artifact, the number of notifications, and the wording all affect the guests' ease of use in interacting with the artifact and thus, their trip.

Whether through my passionate interest in clinical psychology or through an understanding of necessary improvements in technology, I am dedicated to helping others. With the rapid growth of technology usage, user interfaces must be amended to become more intuitive for all users, for those that have grown up with such advances and, perhaps even more importantly, for those that may be more unfamiliar with technology in order to improve user experience. Moreover, my fascination has always been with how people think and behave, and industrial research allows me to bridge these two elements – comprehending the perceptions of and aiding others – together.