People come to government web sites to do and find things. They seek answers to their specific tasks, not information. This presentation lays out the psychological underpinnings and design patterns for using questions and interaction to personalize online government services. Videos have been removed but a video of the presentation, including videos, is available via Lisa's linked in profile.

1. @lisavation #GCDigital
Answers not Information
Using questions and
interaction to personalize
online services
Lisa Fast

3. Instructions: We are interested in whether you actually take
the time to read the directions. So, in order to demonstrate
that you have read the instructions, please ignore the
question below. Instead, simply put your hand on your
opposite shoulder. Thank you.
Do you use or contribute to Canada.ca?
Yes – put your hand up
No

4. Oppenheimer, Meyvis and Davidenko via https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/evidence-really-dont-read-instructions-lisa-fast

5. •Perception
What we see
Attention
What we focus on

6. People KNOW their
attention is limited – so they
spend it carefully.

8. Attention online appears
to be different than pape

9. Questions distill
personal meaning from
prose

11. not information
People are seeking
answers

12. Oppenheimer, Meyvis and Davidenko via https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/evidence-really-dont-read-instructions-lisa-fast

13. Intent was ‘Attention Filter’ – to filter out
Instead use interaction to funnel in

14. Design Patterns
for Answers not
Information

15. Use questions when there
is If – then – else…
Just one question or a full
wizard sequence

16. 2013: IF applying in Canada THEN mail in or apply in person
ELSE IF applying from the US THEN mail in

19. First prototype tested

20. Final version

21. Use questions when:
there are exceptions to a
main path

22. Only 2 of 9 participants
succeeded at exception tasks

23. New video from usertesting
All participants succeeded

24. Use interaction for: any
math at all, or even
tables of numbers

26. 2014

27. 2017

28. Use radio buttons for: a
long list of policies by type
of person or activity

29. Work Permit 2014
14 /19 participants found right page
Only 10 derived the correct answer

31. Tricky: if you DO fit one of these
categories – you DON’T need a
work permit.

32. 2016

33. All correctly selected “My job is not on
the list” but only 11/16 solved the task.
People didn’t see answer (perception!)
• team had missed prototyping step

35. Created a prototype with
Survey Gizmo – embedded it on
Canada.ca page
Tested again

36. 10/10 successfully found the answer

37. Answers not information

38. Tip: Use SurveyGizmo or other survey
software embedded on a page to
design, prototype and test.
Live page with WET
Field Flow plug-in
Surveygizmo
prototype
https://toufics.github.io/visit-demo/IRCC/visit/pre-find-en.htmlhttps://neoinsight.github.io/smartpages/sdingov/pg2.html

39. This registration page
you used was
embedded
SurveyGizmo

43. Questions?
@lisavation
lisa@vation.ca
lisa.fast@tbs-sct.gc.ca