In May, I was invited to speak at UX Lisbon, on Preventing Digital Harm in Online Spaces. At the main event, I presented the Internet Safety Lab’s framework for preventing digital harm in connected products. This included a discussion of the relationship technologies have with consumers. I demonstrated techniques designers should adopt to mitigate the digital harms and dark patterns that could potentially violate that relationship. You can download my presentation below.
![](https://whysel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/384339F0-AA58-4392-B32B-CB235FF256AE-300x146.png)
On the first day of the event, I ran a half-day, pre-conference workshop titled “Designing Effective Search Strategies.” In this session, I introduced a new framework using observation as a powerful tool to understand site search behavior. To explore this, we broke into seven groups and worked on empathy maps, search personas and mapping the user journey. I also introduced including group personas (2 of the groups took as a hint to discover cocktail lounges in Lisbon). As a takeaway, all participants received a toolkit for crafting these artifacts and a step-by-step process to enhance product search. We got to eat yummy Portuguese snacks, too!
![Lisbon Convention Center](https://whysel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/LX-Convention-Center-1024x768.jpg)
![Search behavior workshop: three woman and a pair of hands at a table with pens, sticky notes and a closed laptop computer](https://whysel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/UXLX-workshop-3-1024x768.jpg)
![Search behavior workshop output: empathy map and task flow diagrams with yellow and pink sticky notes on white butcher paper.](https://whysel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/UXLX-workshop-1-1024x768.jpg)
![Search behavior workshop output: empathy map made of black and purple marker on white paper](https://whysel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/UXLX-workshop-2-1024x768.jpg)
![Two trays of breakfast sandwiches and pastais de natas, a Portuguese custard tart](https://whysel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/UXLX-pastries-1024x768.jpg)
“Noreen … made the interesting point that if we build an accessible design we’ll also be solving many search problems.”
— UXLx: UX Lisbon
What a wonderful event, interesting and welcoming people and an absolutely unforgettable time!
I am available to teach your team preventing or mitigating digital harm. Or lead a workshop on how to understand user search behavior. I can lead workshops solo or with my colleagues at Information Architecture Gateway. Let me know if we can help.
Read the UXLX Write-ups at Medium: