Hunch Hub

much better, both for the immediate payback and in terms of communicating to users how the recommendations work (ie. the recommendations update with each answer so we see how our responses impact the results). nicely done!

Posted at: 3:29PM on Nov. 20, 2009. [ permalink ]

Overall its a good idea, but I'll admit it feels a little anticlimactic to me. There didn't seem to be any noticeable appearance change at the end of the questions. I feel like I would've been happier if something happened other than just suggesting other topics for me on the left. A lot of times, after enough questions, the results are pretty well locked in no matter what the answers to some of the final questions end up being. Something as simple as flipping the page so that my final results appeared more prominently on the left and the suggested topics were on the right would give me enough of a visual cue that I wouldn't be surprised that it was the end.
I'm not sure if I would want this on any topic across the board. I think it might take away a bit of the pleasant surprise that comes from not knowing the possible outcomes of a topic. A useful analogy: its like looking at a still picture which depicts the end of a movie you're watching. This isn't to say that's a bad thing... it definitely poses benefits to certain types of topics (i.e. deciding on just about any purchase). For others, though, half the fun is not knowing what's available before I get there (i.e. most of the stuff in the Just For Fun category).
Finally, I like that it displays multiple results instead of one main result with tabs behind containing others. If a person can see multiple results, they'll be more likely to think the topic guided them well, because they'll have the top three immediately and prominently displayed instead of just the first (which they may or may not like).

Posted at: 4:12PM on Nov. 20, 2009. [ permalink ]

I like the concept, but:
• It seems to results-focused. My eyes were drawn away from the questions. That's not right.
• There wasn't much feedback once I'd answered all the questions. More "oh" than "boom". More road-that-suddenly-turns-into-a-dirt-track than purple cow in a field.
• What marlin said about the pleasant surprise—I agree. The previous, sequential format allowed for much better use of humour.
• The top result needs to stand out. Notice how in Tweetie's conversation view, the top tweet is larger than the rest. grab.by/D9X I think in the Refiner, the top result should be a full result, and the rest should be shorter, smaller, and of equal height to each other.

That's all I can think of…for now :)

Updated at: 6:10PM on Nov. 20, 2009. [ permalink ]

I don't really like this concept (but maybe I'm just conservative;-) Let me give some reasons:
- First of all, this is announced as a new question flow, but it would better be described as a destruction of the question flow. Before, you only had to answer questions at the start, now you easily get distracted by the recommendations on the right. Too much information at once.
- When you play a topic you're not an expert on, the presentation of the recommendations an sich is meaningless (unless they're visual where what you see is what you get e.g. cars or which colour palet etc). So you have to click on them to learn something more.
- So it certainly promotes more exploring, but this can easily lead to getting lost and anxiety (overstating a bit here :-).
- I don't think this reveals anything in particular about the way the recommendation works, unless you're very familiar with the topic.
- Do users really want a look under the hood? For example do users want to know how google get its searchresults? Now it seems to be the case that hunch has no faith in its own recommendations.
- Lastly the presentation of results: they aren't very delineated. I also miss the idea of ranking, unless you think the top-bottom presentation is enough.

Regards.

Posted at: 1:09PM on Nov. 21, 2009. [ permalink ]

I tried it, liked the idea, although I did turn it off. Peraphs you thought of this alternate display because you noticed users were consistently skipping to the results, which is something I have done too,. Here are my comments:

- I like it enough to have it available as an option.
- When using this new approach, I would make it so all the applicable questions are listed in the left column, by doing so users can pick which questions to answer in order to narrow down the results.
- Relative to the standard question flow currently in place, you could still start with the questions (and not the answers) but put all questions in one screen (or a couple of screens for, say when there are dependencies). This would give users a sense of control which is now missing because users have to answer questions in the preset order and lenght. Such approach may not sit well with the impatient (which may skip to the end, pick what they like therefore killing the purpose of giving you a resoned answer) or people who like the question format but want to have a bird's eye view of all questions, control which questions to answer, and therefore getting to the result faster.

Posted at: 3:44PM on Nov. 22, 2009. [ permalink ]

I've turned it off for now, but I enjoyed this new approach. The reasons are, mainly, that it allowed me to see more than one option suggested for me at once, without having to click through the results. It also shows where my answers are leading me, which gives me a heads-up to go back and fix something if I don't like where it's heading. Altogether, I think it's a good idea, though I'm not head-over-heels for it. I suggest making it an option rather than just the way things will go from now on. Great idea!

Posted at: 9:12PM on Nov. 22, 2009. [ permalink ]

@eb09 & @spikesnsilk
you both liked the idea, but preferred to turn it off for now ;-)
Actions speak louder than words :-)

Posted at: 5:03AM on Nov. 23, 2009. [ permalink ]

Now serious ;-)
After my initial skeptical responce, I played around with it . Believe it or not, but I'm starting to like it.
Curious to see how you're going to implement this for yes/no questions.

Posted at: 5:17AM on Nov. 23, 2009. [ permalink ]

I like certain aspects of the refiner, but like others have stated, it does have some usability issues:

First, the abrupt change from answering questions to being at your answer. It would be nice to have an indication that the topic has ended. Right now, it feels really choppy.

Second, consider posting maybe the top rated pro/cons for the top result. I enjoy viewing the pro/cons when I arrive at a result and it detracts from the submission of pro/cons. Since you kind of get your results right away, you don't have as much motivation to click on the result for pro/cons.

Third, I'm still a little sad to see the wild card gone, but I guess it doesn't have to be there. However, I liked seeing the correlations for results and you could consider adding that to the top result in the list so users can get a feel for the popularity of the result without having to click for more.

So, I think it's a good idea, but with some kinks to fix out. I am slightly bitter about the change, but I will adjust to it. Looking forward to the final product.

Posted at: 12:31PM on Nov. 23, 2009. [ permalink ]

I'm not really feeling it, but that may be because it seems like it makes it more difficult to edit topics and/or add questions and results. The interface itself looks quite nice. I agree that having such an emphasis on results detracts from the value of the questions, though. A new user may just click on a topic, get results, and reject them as inaccurate because they didn't notice that tiny question box over on the side.

Posted at: 12:22AM on Nov. 30, 2009. [ permalink ]