One thing we’ve always wanted to have is a way to allow multiple people watching one of our research sessions to take automatically time-stamped, collaborative notes–everyone working in the same document, live, with entries labeled by author. Then I realized that it’s been under our noses the whole time: IM chat rooms! With a simple piece of free software, you’ve got a time-stamping, notetaking powerhouse at your disposal. And it even supports smileys. All it takes is a little ingenuity!
At the clubs, people are always asking the same thing: “I love UserVue for remote user research, but I hate that I can’t use it internationally!” For those unhappy party people, here is a guide to dialing internationally with UserVue.
Download and register for an account.
STEP 2: Login to Skype and start a UserVue session, like normal.
Click “Call” in UserVue.
Put your desk phone number in as Your Phone Number put the Skype call-in number as Participant’s Phone Number, and then click “Dial”.
STEP 5: Have the first Twix bar (there are two to a package). You’ll need the energy for the next few steps.
Pick up your desk phone when it rings, and then dial “1” when the cold mechanical voice prompts you.
Answer the call in Skype. Your desk phone will be connected to your Skype line.
Mute and silence the desk phone. You won’t be speaking through it at all.
In Skype, click Add Caller, and enter the participant’s number. If the built-in nternational line menu doesn’t work for any reason, then try setting the country to US and then typing in 011, the desired country code, then the participant’s number. Click Call.
When the user picks up, you win. Direct him/her through the UserVue process like normal.
Consume the second Twix bar–you’ve earned it. (There should be no more Twix bars. If you still have a Twix bar remaining by the end of this study, then you did it wrong, and the police will already be on their way to your house.)
(OR JAIL)
Though it works and you can usually talk to your users just fine, there is a drop in the sound quality of the UserVue recordings. Also, the usual caveats apply when calling internationally with Skype, i.e. it drops out sometimes. You have been warned.