Exploring the Knowledge Creation Practices of UX Designers on Stack Exchange
Yubo Kou, Colin M. Gray · 2018
The contours of user experience (UX) design practice have been developed by a diverse array of practitioners and academics in an array of disciplinary traditions, leaving UX without a coherent and agreed upon body of disciplinary knowledge or a concrete path to become a professional. Consequently, UX designers rely upon online knowledge resources to develop and maintain their competence. In this work-in-progress, we conducted an exploratory investigation of question and answer (Q&A) communication within the UX Stack Exchange community, analyzing the topics that UX designers have raised in questions and answers. Our preliminary analysis contributes a typology of knowledge needs that were articulated by UX designers as a support for their practice. Drawing on prior work, we discuss three distinctive characteristics of UX knowledge desired by designers.