Ok, this information has been helpful. What Elizabeth and Steve say about the statistical methods (clustering, etc.) behind persona creation makes sense, and that kind of analysis is something that I already do.
The problem is that I've never witnessed nor heard of personas being created in such a manner (which is perhaps part of a larger problem). Rather, I see examples of personas described in an amount of detail that would necessitate a large and comprehensive dataset, built up iteratively based on ongoing analyses. That would be ideal, I think, but it seems to be something of a rarity in industry, and so my concern is that such detail is often added based just on a hunch. Also, classification and grouping methods have been around for a while. If personas make use of the same methods, does persona creation mainly involve adding another step to the process: instantiating the different classifications into individual characters? If so, the primary benefit of doing would seem to be the achievement of a possible means of communication with others (clients, developers, etc.). I can see using the instantiations as a focus for design, too, but there's a risk of treating the creation as more than a statistical representation, which could lead to assumptions about the character's behavior, motivation, and characteristics that are based on the designer's stereotypes rather than on actual data. However, I can imagine that being either a good or a bad thing, depending on the designer. Thanks for all the info so far. Mike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=35624 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
